[Transcriber's Note: The following synopsis originally appeared at the beginning of the third installment.]

The scene is laid in Ireland during Cromwell's time, when the whole country was in arms for or against the various parties. Brian Buidh, or Brian of the Yellow Hair, himself The O'Neill, comes home from Spain, where he had been brought up to fight for his country. After a mysterious warning from the Black Woman, an old hag, he wins forty men from O'Donnell More, the Black Master, by a trick, and wins the friendship of Turlough Wolf and Cathbarr of the Ax. His intention is to gather a storm of men and hold an independent place near Galway. He forms an alliance with Nuala O'Malley, known as the Bird Daughter because of her carrier pigeons, for the purpose of recovering her castle, Bertragh, which O'Donnell had won years before from her parents by black treachery.

By warlock arts O'Donnell More brings Brian and a handful of men through a snowstorm to Bertragh and makes him prisoner. He proceeds to torture him fiendishly, ending by nailing him to the castle door by one hand. Just then Colonel James Vere, British officer, arrives, and demands Brian in order to hang him comfortably in Galway. Red Murrough, O'Donnell's lieutenant, agrees, for the promise of ten English pounds, to pretend that Brian is worse off than he is so that he may take longer to recover. Cathbarr comes in, and offers to take Brian's place if O'Donnell will release Brian; and when the Black Master makes fun of him, he goes berserk and cleans out the hall, escaping with Brian to Nuala. Then they besiege and best O'Donnell, who escapes.



[Transcriber's Note: The following synopsis originally appeared at the beginning of the fourth and final installment.]

The scene is laid in Ireland during Cromwell's time, when the whole country was in arms for or against the various parties. Brian Buidh, or Brian of the Yellow Hair, himself The O'Neill, comes home from Spain, where he had been brought up to fight for his country. After a mysterious warning from the Black Woman, an old hag, he wins forty men from O'Donnell More, the Black Master, by a trick, and wins the friendship of Turlough Wolf and Cathbarr of the Ax. His intention is to gather a storm of men and hold an independent place near Galway. He forms an alliance with Nuala O'Malley, known as the Bird Daughter because of her carrier pigeons, for the purpose of recovering her castle, Bertragh, which O'Donnell had won years before from her parents by black treachery.

By warlock arts O'Donnell More brings Brian and a handful of men through a snowstorm to Bertragh and makes him prisoner. He proceeds to torture him fiendishly, ending by nailing him to the castle door by one hand. Just then Colonel James Vere, British officer, arrives, and demands Brian in order to hang him comfortably in Galway. Red Murrough, O'Donnell's lieutenant, agrees, for the promise of ten English pounds, to pretend that Brian is worse off than he is so that he may take longer to recover. Cathbarr comes in, and offers to take Brian's place if O'Donnell will release Brian; and when the Black Master makes fun of him, he goes berserk and cleans out the hall, escaping with Brian to Nuala. Then they besiege and best O'Donnell, who escapes.

Brian goes after O'Donnell with a couple of hundred men, having recovered from his hurts, and all but catches him in a valley, just as he is working some kind of a divination with a bowl of water. Brian gets back his Spanish sword, but O'Donnell escapes with some of his men, and Brian loses all of his in chasing him to keep him from joining with his pirate friends. Brian and Turlough get back to Bertragh exhausted. He goes cruising with Nuala, and they meet a small vessel laden with wine and food for some of O'Donnell's men. Brian goes back with it to Bertragh, while Nuala goes on to Gorumna Castle, her own home. But the captured wine proves to be poisoned—it is a trick of the Black Master's.



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Transcriber's note:

The following typographical errors present in the original magazine publication have been corrected for this electronic edition.

In Chapter V, a missing quotation mark was added after "I am for Brian Buidh."

In Chapter VI, "Dhar mo lamb" was changed to "Dhar mo lamh".

In Chapter VII, "which were small carracks" was changed to "which were small caracks". (While "carrack" is the more common English spelling, the author used "carack" consistently elsewhere in the text.)

In Chapter XI, a missing quotation mark was added after "I would take your life for his."

In Chapter XII, a missing period was added after "shifted thither in readiness".

In Chapter XIII, "coming ing in one of his ships to marry me" was changed to "coming in one of his ships to marry me", and "Beannact leath!" was changed to "Beannacht leath!".

In Chapter XIV, a missing quotation mark was added after "has joined with those friends of his".

In Chapter XVI, "those of the Dark Maser were no better" was changed to "those of the Dark Master were no better".

In Chapter XVIII, a missing quotation mark was added after "They'll have the gates down in a minute."

In Chapter XIX, "Mhuire as truagh, Muire as truagh" was changed to "Mhuire as truagh, Mhuire as truagh".

In Chapter XXII, a missing comma was added after "curse Turlough".

No other corrections were made to the original text.

THE END