The clearing, itself, was under good cultivation, the spring crops giving fine promise of an abundant harvest. A short distance from the house flowed a beautiful brook, whose murmurs occasionally reached the ears of the inmates; while the thickening foliage of the surrounding groves, as they might be termed, gave shelter to various birds, amongst which might now be heard, at early morn and throughout the day, the clear, round notes of the robin.

"The robin!"—what on earth has, we should like to know, bewitched ornithologists to designate the great, coarse, tuneless bird, that visits us in the earliest dawn of spring, in this far off America, "the robin?" Neither in throat nor plumage is it even a thirty-first cousin of the sweet, timid, little, brown bunch of melody that haunts the hawthorn hedges of Ireland and the sister island, when they are in bloom, or seeks a crumb at the open casement, when winter ruffles all its russet plumes, and sets his chill, white seal on all its stores; We have been often struck with the great dissimilarity between these two namesakes of the feathered kingdom; for never on these transatlantic shores have we heard what might be termed a domestic bird sing a song so sweet as that poured beneath our window in the soft blue haze of an Irish summer evening, by the genuine robin-red-breast, as he sang the daylight down the west, through a sky flushed and flecked with azure, crimson and gold, to such extreme intensity, that the poet or painter might, at the moment, half indulge in the idea, that the sun had fallen into curious ruins upon the verge of the horizon. Oh! the silver thread of such a song, as it flashed and scintillated from that trembling throat! Never shall we forget it, or the land in which it first wound itself around our heart.

But this, we know, is inclined to be sentimental; and as we now have to do with stern realities, we shall resume the chain of our story by saying, that after her first day's residence with the Wilsons, and finding that the uncle of Martha had no intelligence for her on his return home on the evening or night succeeding the one of her arrival, she expressed her great anxiety to Martha, who now devoted every moment she could spare from her other duties, to the pleasing task of rendering her solitude as agreeable as possible.

On the morning of the second day after her arrival she ventured to ask Wilson if he had any idea of when she was to be relieved from her embarrassing position. In reply to her interrogatory he assured her, that he was quite unable to give her any information on the subject, but was led to believe that she should not be long a prisoner, as he termed it. All he could say in relation to the matter was, that some person, with whose name even he was unacquainted, had secured, through a third party, his services as her host, and engaged the apartment she occupied, and attendance, etc. In addition to this, he observed, carelessly, that he was responsible for her safety until the arrival of those who had delegated to him the right to watch over her and shield her from observation until the proper moment arrived.

To all this Kate made no reply; the thought having just struck her, that Nicholas had perhaps learned of some intended design upon her by Lauder, and that he took this method of transporting her to some point unknown to that person, until he himself could offer her his full and unembarrassed protection. Yet she wondered why it was that he had left her in such dreadful uncertainty, and did not write her explicitly upon the subject Again, she was perplexed at the idea that he was in no position to learn anything of the plots or plans of her rejected suitor, if he entertained any; so that, upon the whole, she was in no very comfortable state of mind when she rejoined Martha whom she had left in her chamber, and whom she now induced to make up a bed upon a sofa and consent to sleep in her apartment during her stay.

Martha, on her part, moved by this token of friendship, and while sitting up late on the very night of the conversation with Wilson, became mysteriously nervous and, through various vague hints and insinuations, so far alarmed Kate at last, that the poor girl implored her new acquaintance to tell her frankly if she knew anything that bore upon her ease, or the reasons for her being so singularly circumstanced.

To this solicitation Martha made no direct reply; but rising cautiously, she stepped lightly towards the chamber door, and opening it softly put out her head into the passage and listened for a few moments. Then gently closing the door, she again noiselessly retraced her steps, and drawing her seat close beside that of Kate, began thus, in a low, trembling voice, in which fear and agitation were distinctly traceable:

"Oh! Miss McCarthy, horrible as the disclosure is, I believe that, instead of a smuggler, which my aunt and I long supposed him to be, my uncle is a robber, or leagued with robbers! This, for the first-time, came to our knowledge last night, after his return from wherever he had been. We had been always accustomed to his bringing here, during the night, mysterious packages; but as he informed us that they were goods for merchants who, as he asserted, resided at some distance, we took him at his word, and when he removed the goods again were, of course, under the firm impression that he carried them to their owners. However, as I have observed, on returning last night, when my aunt and I were assisting him to remove a heavy case from his wagon, while carrying it into the stable to place it under the hay beneath which he invariably concealed such things, my aunt and I perceived that, this time, it was a large trunk that he had brought, and that the lock had given way, disclosing gleams within it, as though it contained some bright objects. He did not notice the circumstance of the fastening having failed, and we did not call his attention to the fact; but permitted him to shake the hay over it as usual. Subsequently, however, my aunt and I referred to the matter, when she, taking advantage of my uncle's sound slumbers, he having retired to rest before her, went out again and, re-lighting the stable lantern, removed the covering from the lid of the great trunk, and raising it, perceived that it contained many valuable articles of silver and dress; but all evidently old, and huddled together in a manner the most confused. This almost paralysed the poor woman, and as I subsequently inspected the package, on her retiring for the night, I arrived at the conclusion which she had, as she informed me, herself previously adopted; namely, that the goods were stolen, and that Smith was in some way mixed up with the robbery."

Now, indeed, Kate felt her situation alarming in the truest sense of the term, and sat looking at her companion in speechless horror and amazement. Mystery upon mystery it was; but as the dangers that appeared to surround her, though gloomy, were indistinct, she once more had recourse to her panacea of the token, and seeking her couch with a fervent prayer on her lip, was soon, like her young friend on the sofa, lost in uneasy slumbers.



CHAPTER X.

It was on the night of Sunday the 27th of May, 1866, that Barry and his comrades were to attempt their escape from the Fort; and, as already seen, it was on the same night that the deserter was conveyed in a cab to The Harp, by Greaves. Two o'clock in the morning was the time decided upon, and a rendezvous having been appointed, our hero, who was on guard, saw, without challenging them, six figures steal by him into the darkness and immediately disappear. No sooner had the last of them vanished, than he placed his musket bolt upright in his sentry box, and the next moment was lost also in the gloom, and in the direction in which the figures had melted from his vision. Soon he reached the side of the river, where he found Tom with a boat, beside which stood his six companions. On recognizing him, they all leaped into the boat, and, although the moon was in the heavens, sheltered by the dark overhanging clouds that fortunately filled the sky, they dropped down the river, and landing Tom at a point previously decided upon, they all wrung his hand in silence, and once more put forth into the gloom, heading their craft towards the American shore, under the guidance of a pilot who knew every island and turn in the channel, and who joined them at the spot where O'Brien bid them farewell. With muffled oars and in the most profound silence, they moved along until they arrived at a turn in the channel, where they were instructed to bend to their work by the stranger who held the tiller; when, taking heart from their good fortune, for so far, they made their willing craft almost leap out of the water, as they gave a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether.

As day was beginning to shape the world around them, they found themselves nearing the American shore, and now perceiving themselves beyond the reach of danger and out of the jurisdiction of the flag they had so long and so cordially detested, they rested on their oars, and giving three hearty cheers for the land they were fast approaching, again set to with a will, and soon found themselves beneath the Stars and Stripes of the glorious Republic before which all the nations of the earth now bow, however reluctantly. On leaping ashore, they discovered a short distance from the water a small village to which, on securing their boat, they all posted; and having gained a neat little tavern, the shutters of which were just being opened, they explained their situation to the proprietor, and ordered breakfast, determined to rest themselves for a period, and deliberate upon their future movements, although the destination of Barry had, of course, long been decided upon.

On hearing that they were deserters from the British army, and that, without an exception, they were all Irishmen, who had come to the United States with a view to aiding in any project that had for its object the humiliation of England, and the freedom of Ireland, the landlord, who was a six-footer from Tipperary—one of the Cummingses—gave "a yell out of him" that brought his wife and children in deshabille to the bar-room door, proceeded by a boy of all work, who evidently shared their alarm and surprise to the fullest extent; but when, instead of a bar-room disturbance, they perceived the master of the premises shaking hands over and over again with the new arrivals, and bidding them welcome to the land of the free, they soon disappeared from the hall and regained their chambers, from which they had been so unceremoniously summoned. Cummings was literally in his glory, and instantly had his counter be-littered with glasses, bottles and decanters; while, with genuine hospitality, he made the fugitives partake more than once of some one of the beverages that he had placed before them. Ere long a smoking, hot breakfast was in readiness for them, prepared by the mistress of the house,—herself a comely Irishwoman, with a set of teeth that you'd almost let bite you, they were so white and sunny, and a handsome, fair face, with a cead mille failte in every line and dimple of it. Already the poor adventurers began to feel the exhilarating effects of freedom, and, as soon as they had satisfied their appetites, each set about changing his soldier's coat for a rough, plain one, which had been provided by O'Brien and his friends, and which they found awaiting them when they first entered the boat.

As Barry, who was regarded as chief of the little party, avowed his intention of pushing on direct for Buffalo, the others, who had no fixed point in view, determined to join him; so, when they had taken a few hours repose, they parted from their kind host and hostess, who would not permit them to pay a single shilling for anything they had drank or eaten since they entered the friendly hostel. During the time they were waiting at the railway station, they heard various rumors as to the intended invasion of the Province they had but just left; and from numerous significant hints which they had received, they were fully convinced that some important movement was on foot, which would soon develope itself in bolder outline. On entering the cars that were to take them west, they found the subject of Fenianism freely discussed, and in many cases with a friendliness that showed there was, in some instances at least, a feeling hostile to England among the American people. As they pursued their journey and received other accessions to their numbers as travellers, they found that this aversion was both widely spread and deeply rooted, so that by the time they reached their destination, they were fully satisfied that the people of America, and those of the adjoining English Colony, could never become true friends so long as the latter adheared to the standard of Great Britain, or remained part and parcel of the British empire. The antagonism of institutions, the infamous conduct of England during the late civil war, and the fixed impression of every true American, that the Canadas belong of right to the great people who now rule the continent, made it strikingly apparant that England had but a precarious foot-hold upon the shores of the New World.

On the arrival of the train at Black Rock, Barry, who had been previously informed as to the precise locality in which the relatives of Kate were to be found, stepped off the cars, informing his comrades that he would join them in the city during the day. With but little difficulty he found the dwelling of his friends, and entering it, was received with open arms, and was instantly asked as to where he left Kate. For a moment he did not comprehend the question, but when by degrees he heard the fearful disclosure, that she had secretly left the house, by night, about a week previously, he fell into a chair, almost fainting, while the greatest consternation seized all those about him. Slowly, and with their hearts sinking within them, they recounted the circumstance of the note that had been written and left for them on her bedroom table, and the fact of her having taken some of her wearing apparel with her, but as to where she had gone, or with whom, they were in the most profound darkness. No one had called at the house,—no previous intimation had been given them by her as to her intentions; and, in so far as they were concerned, all was darkness. Lauder, they knew, had been in the vicinity of the Rock, but then, of course, he could have had no hand in the strange transaction, as her detestation of him precluded, as they thought, the possibility of his exercising the slightest influence over any of her actions. However, she was gone, and now, as it appeared, was the victim of some horrible plot or mistake beyond the reach of any elucidation, for the present at least.

Never was a strong man so bowed to the dust as the poor young fellow who now found all his hopes so rudely and unexpectedly dashed to the earth. With a face pale as death he shook throughout every limb in a manner fearful to behold. In vain he looked from one face to another for some explanation of the dreadful calamity that had befallen him—all was dark and blank and silent around him. Even conjecture was paralysed, so completely was the disappearance of his betrothed enveloped in mystery. As a preliminary step, to gain even the feeblest information of her, he did not know how, or when or where to move. Could he get even the slightest glimpse of any link in the chain, he could set about unravelling the tangled and gloomy skein; but as it was, he was as helpless as a child. Secure in her fidelity, however, and trusting to Providence, crushed as he was, his young heart, after the first blow, began to rise within him, and collecting himself, he set about making such enquiries in the neighborhood as he thought were likely to throw some light upon the subject. In this he was warmly aided by the alarmed wife of his friend, who learned that on the very evening of the night of her disappearance, after having given her last music lesson in the house of one of her pupils, she was seen in company with a man, who was recognized as no very respectable character, by one of the hands employed in the rolling mills, who happened to catch a glimpse of them in conversation as he was returning from his work. The name of this latter individual having been ascertained, Barry at once visited the mills and heard, to his consternation, that the suspicious person seen in company with Kate on the evening referred to, was neither more nor less than the Kid, previously introduced to the reader, as one of the keepers of the low gambling house already mentioned, where we first met him and his partner of the blue shirt, alluded to also as a burglar and robber.

This much ascertained, Nicholas prevailed upon the workman to accompany him to the den in question, into which they accidentally dropped as it were. The person they sought was, as usual, about the premises; but from him Barry could gain no information whatever, beyond the circumstance, that he did remember, about a week ago, accosting a lady near Black Bock, having taken the liberty of enquiring of her, whether a certain person whom he was anxious to find resided in the neighborhood.

"I know that's a lie," said the workman, when he and Nicholas had gained the street once more, "for as I happened to come upon them just as they were separating, I heard the lady say, before she perceived me, and as I was turning a corner of the road, 'I'll not fail to be there,' or words to that effect."

To Nicholas this was more perplexing than ever; although he now arrived at the conclusion, that Kate was the victim of some infamous and deep-laid plot, and that Lauder was at the bottom of it. But here again he was embarrassed by the circumstance, that he had never, so far as he knew, seen her rejected suitor, nor was he known to any of his friends at the Rock; from the fact that they had left Toronto before his arrival there, and that, notwithstanding his visits to Buffalo, he had never crossed their path. All, then, that Nicholas had to stand upon was the circumstance that she had actually been seen in conversation with the Kid, and that that worthy had evidently misrepresented the tenor of that conversation, whatever it might have been.

The next day after his arrival, Barry, with a heart sore and dark enough, went in search of his comrades, informing such of them as he thought proper to admit to his confidence, of the dreadful condition of his affairs and mind. While sympathising with him sincerely, however, and offering him all the assistance in their power, they seemed absorbed with some new subject of importance which appeared to engross no ordinary share of their attention. Since their arrival, they had learned that it was a fact and beyond all doubt, that the Fenians were gathering along the frontier for the purpose of making a descent upon Canada and securing a foothold upon its shores, with a view to making it the basis of operations against England in their attempt to secure the independence of Ireland. One and all they had determined to join the expedition as volunteers, and Nicholas, who entertained a lurking suspicion that Kate had crossed the American frontier under some mysterious impulse or influence, half made up his mind to make one of the invading army also. This suspicion was based upon the fact of Kate's having no friends or relatives in the States, save those at the Rock, while she had several in Canada in the direction of which she might have been attracted by letters or representations now a mystery to him. However, he felt assured that, under any circumstance, she was not to be found in Buffalo or its vicinity; so, moved by both love and patriotism, before the evening had set in, he came to the conclusion to join his comrades in the approaching struggle.

This resolution once taken, he made instant application to some of the Fenian authorities of the city, stating the circumstance of his recent arrival, and quickly found himself surrounded by a host of friends who were ready to share their last mouthful or dollar with him. During this juncture, the Irish spirit of Buffalo, strongly impregnated with the generous national sentiment of America, was discernible upon every side. The groups of patriots quietly at first arriving from almost every point of the compass, were received with open arms and the sincerest hospitality by those who had an interest in the cause of freedom and the humiliation of the tyrant England. There were, of course, a few British sympathisers among the people and press who, ignoring their allegiance to the Union, or the principles for which the heroes of the Revolution laid down their lives, threw their voice and influence into the scale on the side of England, but they were in a hopeless minority; as the great heart of the nation beat steadily in the interests of liberty, and inspired its sons with all the confidence necessary to the most complete success.

To decide, with Barry, was to act. Consequently, now that he had made up his mind to join the expedition, he at once acquainted his friends at the Rock, and gave them such information and instructions relative to Kate as he thought desirable; intimating to them, at the same time, that he was of the fixed impression that she had, by some means or other, been lured into Canada; although a telegram, in reply to one dispatched to Toronto, informed his friends that she had not visited that city since she left it. Upon further inquiry, however, regarding the Kid, he learned that that respectable personage, together with his worthy coadjutor, Black Jack, were in the habit of paying frequent visits to Canada on the sly; it being thought that they were employed by persons who were engaged in smuggling. This information he gained while walking near the breakwater with a new acquaintance well versed in city notorieties, and who, at the moment, happened to espy a boat known to belong to the doubtful firm of Jack and the Kid, lying drawn up on the shore.

This craft, of course, engaged the attention of our hero, as belonging, in part, to the individual who seemed to be mixed up in some mysterious manner with the fate of his beloved. Consequently, he stepped over to it and casting a glance of scrutiny at the interior, saw something sparkle among a little sand, that had accumulated at the bottom near one of the stretchers. Picking it up, he found that it was a handsome button that had apparently dropped from the dress of some lady. This he examined with the most intense eagerness; when the thought struck him that it was very like some buttons that belonged to a dress occasionally worn by Kate. Of this, however, he was not sufficiently certain; so, thrusting it into his pocket, he turned away, more perplexed than ever with the mystery that surrounded him. Hurrying to the Rock with the waif as soon as he could, he submitted it to his friends, when it was at once recognized as being similar to a set of buttons worn by Kate, and which belonged to a dress that, it was believed, she wore on the night of her disappearance. Corroborative as this evidence was, it availed him but little for the time being; although it strengthened his resolve to move with the army of invasion; being convinced that his betrothed had, by some foul means, been spirited across the borders, and all through the machinations of her rejected suitor, Lauder.

And now how he cursed the procrastination that had kept him from applying for his discharge long since, when he might have procured it without any difficulty, and have placed her he loved beyond the power of any villain. Again, he was no longer free to search for her in the Province; for he was under the ban of military law there, and, unless supported by a sufficient number of bayonets, could not stem the torrent that should soon overwhelm him if he re-entered the territories of the Queen and was discovered. Yet, even death were preferable to the state of mind in which he now found himself; he therefore at once set to work to prepare himself for the coming contest, in the hope that when once across the borders, if even amid the din of war, he might gain some clue to the fate of all that he now cared to live for.

As may be supposed, the service of such men as Nicholas and his comrades were, at a moment so critical, accepted with alacrity by the military authorities of the Fenian organization of the city. Amongst the various sterling patriots in power here, both he and his comrades were instantly taken by the hand and placed in positions where their knowledge of arms could be made most serviceable to the grand cause in which they had resolved to embark. They were all Irish, and of that stamp that never loses color, how fierce soever the scorching fires to which they might be subjected. Under a special provision, and at Barry's request, they were attached to the same company; while he, from his evident superiority in education and address, as well as from his thorough knowledge of drill and military tactics, was presented, upon joining the organization, with a captain's commission. In the hurry and bustle attending the note of preparation, he found some slight relief from the great and overshadowing trouble that darkened all around him; and finding how necessary it was to keep both mind and body employed, if he was to retain either health or energy to aid him in any of the important projects that now loomed before him, he gave no place to useless repinings, but busily engaged with the necessities of his new avocation, found the hours slipping by which intervened between the period when he swore the true fealty of his soul to the flag of his love, and that which was to see him a hostile invader upon the shores he had so recently left.

As the men steadily poured into the city for a short period before the invasion, and filled the streets and suburbs in groups of various sizes, it became a matter of general conversation and surprise that, in bodies so peculiarly situated, and under such seemingly slight restraint, many of them being far distant from their homes, not a single individual was to be found who suffered in the slightest degree from even the appearance of intoxication. Look where you might, there was nothing but the utmost sobriety and good behaviour. Although the men were, for the most part, young, and many of them just from the bloodiest fields of the South, there hung about them an air of serious decorum that argued well for the mission in which they were about to engage. In addition, notwithstanding that, in some cases, they were badly housed and provisioned, a murmur never escaped their lips; nor could the most bitter of their enemies point to a single act where the law was violated by any of them, or show that even to the value of one mouthful of bread had been appropriated to their use without being paid for honestly, or given to them freely by those who felt for their position. This is so well known that, even at the period at which we write, upwards of two years after the occurrence of these scenes, not a solitary fact has come to light reflecting in any degree upon the honesty, sobriety and good conduct of these noble patriots, many of whom had left home penniless, to wage war against a power that had almost every resource at its command, and which they knew they should meet under circumstances that could not fail to be disadvantageous to them.

And here we may observe, history does not record a more daring or chivalrous project than that entertained by the brave fellows who made the night of Thursday the 31st of May, 1866, memorable in the annals of this continent, as well as in those of Ireland. Although laboring under embarrassments from the most fearful mistakes and criminal neglect of an individual to whom the grand project of the redemption of Ireland from the yoke of the oppressor was, in its strictly military aspect, entrusted in this country—although badly provisioned, uniformed and equipped—although perplexed with mysterious, contradictory and imperfect orders, and although, at the very moment of their destiny, left without the leader whom they were led to expect should command them, they never lost heart for a moment; feeling that heaven would raise up amongst them a chief not only competent to meet the emergency of the moment, but one in whom they should be able to place the fullest and most enthusiastic confidence.

And heaven did not disappoint their noble and confiding aspirations; for, when all looked dark and dreary to the more uneasy of their numbers, the gallant O'Neill, crowned with the laurels which he had so nobly won during the war that had then just closed, and true to the genius of his ancient name and house, stepped in upon the stage, and grasping the drooping standard of the Irish Republic, held it aloft; and, fired with the spirit of the "Red Hand" of yore, raised the war-cry of his race, before which many a Saxon tyrant and slave had trembled in the days long past.



CHAPTER XI.

When Philip Greaves received the note from Barry, to the deserter who was secreted in the suburbs of the city, he proceeded, towards evening, to the point where the soldier lay concealed, and to which he had been directed with unerring accuracy. On reaching the house in which the fugitive was said to be hidden, he found but an old woman, who seemed neither alarmed nor surprised at his arrival. Upon whispering a word in her ear, however, a look of intelligence stole into her eyes, and putting on her bonnet and cloak, in the deep dusk, she motioned him to follow her, having closed and locked to door behind her. After leading him but a short distance, among a number of small though clean huts, she gained one in which the family were seated at their plain evening repast. As they entered the dwelling, he perceived that there was one vacant seat at the table, from which some person had evidently arisen hastily and disappeared from the apartment In the course of a few moments, however, and on the head of the family having been called aside by the old woman, Philip was greeted with a hearty welcome, and instantly led into a little back room, where he found the person whom he sought, gazing about him with a distrustful if not an alarmed air. To this individual he showed Barry's note, which he had previously abstracted from the envelope, requesting him, as he perused it, to return it to him again, as he wished to destroy it himself, lest, by accident, it should fall into other hands, and as he desired to say to Nicholas that he was personally cognizant of the fact of its being put out of the way. To this request the deserter readily acceded, as he would have to any other of a reasonable character, so delighted was he to receive the assurance that the hour of his deliverance drew nigh. Here, then, were the particulars of the plan of his escape settled upon. He was to remain still concealed, until Greaves called for him with a cab, but was to hold himself ready to quit his hiding place at a moment's notice.

These preliminaries being arranged, Philip left the house and speedily proceeded to a neighboring hotel, where he procured a private room, and, calling for pen, ink and paper, at once addressed himself to writing a letter. Various were the rubbings of hands and sinister smiles which punctuated this epistle, until at last, on its being finished, he carefully folded it, and taking from his pocket-book a sealed envelope, one end of which had been previously opened with great care, and the superscription completely removed by a cunning process, he took from another compartment of his book a small note and introduced it into the envelope, adroitly closing the apperture with a little mucilage, so as to completely conceal the incision that had been made, and obliterate every evidence of the envelope's having been tampered with. This done, he slowly, and with apparent great caution as to the conformation of the letters, directed it, and when he found the ink to be completely dried, enclosed the whole in the letter that he had just written; placing it, in turn, in a larger envelope which he hastily directed to some party, from whom he apparently cared but little to conceal his hand-writing. This accomplished, he called for some brandy, and after paying liberally for it and the use of the room, directed his steps towards a stationer's shop where he purchased a postage stamp which he attached to his letter. Here, also, he heard the subject of the threatened invasion of the Province discussed in all its bearings and probable results; and here, too, the bitter murmurs of discontent regarding the criminal conduct of the individual to whom the whole interests of the country were entrusted by the people and the Crown, and who was said to have been already for weeks in a condition of mind and body absolutely loathsome. Not wishing, however, to delay the mailing of his letter, he soon found himself wending his way to the Post-office, where, with his own hand, he consigned the missive to the care of her Majesty the Queen, by putting it in the apperture that opened into the letter-box from the street—the office being already closed. On this, he retraced his steps towards The Harp, where he so managed to thrust himself in among the struggling suspicions of O'Brien, as to almost gain the full confidence of that generous patriot and banish the last doubt from his breast.

"Well," said Tom, when he found a fitting opportunity, "how did you find the poor fellow?"

"Willing enough to leave the Province," whispered Philip, "if he could only manage to get away; but I think that will be easily arranged now, as the storm about his desertion has blown over.".

"On the night after that of to-morrow, then," returned Tom, "they will make the attimpt; and as I can get a man to help them who knows every turn and crank of the river, I have hopes of their success; besides it will be Nick's night for guard, and there's somethin in that, you know; as they can get out at the point where he stands, without much throuble to themselves or anyone else. However," he observed farther, "I hope no one will let the cat out of the bag, as it would be a cryin sin to have the poor fellows 'nabbed' at the very moment when they fancied themselves about to brathe the purest air that ever floated benathe the canopy of heaven."

"There's no fear of that," replied Greaves, "for you and I only know of their intentions; although I feel that you are not exactly at home with me yet, for all your friendly conduct and information; but recollect, that I'll perform my part of the contract, and it is for you and them to do the rest."

This speech made Tom feel a little awkward; and he was about to make a suitable reply, when he was happily relieved by some parties who dropped in, to command the attention he so willingly accorded at the moment.

That Greaves puzzled and perplexed him there could be no doubt; but at no period could that individual elicit from him any information, if he possessed such, in relation to Fenianism. He, of course, knew that Philip learned from Barry that there were many soldiers in the Fort who sympathised warmly with Ireland; but this was as far as he was informed in the matter. It was obvious, however, that for some reason or other, he was anxious to fathom the depths of the actual Organization, if such existed in or about the city; but in every attempt he was foiled; for, notwithstanding his most subtle attacks, he was met at each turn by a spirit of reticence which baffled all his ingenuity and led him to the conclusion that, after all, there were perhaps but slight grounds for believing that the Brotherhood had any very extensive footing in the colony.

Tom sometimes reasoned, that his solicitude on this head was prompted by patriotic motives; and then, again, the idea used to creep in upon him that he sought this information for sinister purposes; and thus the worthy host, trembling in the balance between the two impressions, kicked the beam on the side of prudence, and if he knew anything of the movements and intentions of the Organization, kept it to himself; although the letter in the possession of Greaves might, were he less cautious, have drawn from him some serious information; for Tom O'Brien was, at that moment, the Centre of a Fenian Circle, with three hundred armed men at his command, ready to join the invaders the instant they entered the Province and planted their standard near him upon British soil. This being the case, he was well aware of the intentions of the Brotherhood in the United States; and thus it was, that when he found Barry could not procure his discharge before the invaders were upon them, he instantly endorsed the project of his desertion; well knowing that, should he fail to escape before the hour of the movement arrived, he should be called to take the field against his countrymen and against Ireland; and, perhaps, under circumstances that might preclude the possibility of his acting otherwise than as their enemy. Nor did he relax in his watchfulness and caution when Greaves even brought the deserter to The Harp in redemption of his word, or, more remarkable still, when he learned, on the morning succeeding the night of their escape from the Fort, that seven soldiers of the Regiment had bid their commanding officer an unexpected and unceremonious adieu; and notwithstanding that the garrison was all but alive with sentries and guards patroling every avenue which led from it, made good their escape to the American shore, where they were now beyond the reach of the Canadian or Imperial authorities.

No sooner had Philip ascertained that the party had made good their escape, than he himself prepared to bid good-bye to The Harp. O'Brien was not at all surprised at this sudden resolution, as Greaves had professed to be daily transacting business; which he asserted might be brought to a close at any moment. And so he had been transacting business; for he might have been seen occasionally entering, by stealth, a certain dwelling in the outskirts of the city where Fenianism and all Irish Nationalists had their deadliest enemy; but, as already intimated, this enemy had been rendered powerless by the wine cup for some time past, so that if there had been any matter of importance to transact between them, it would have been useless to have even approached it. Still Philip called and called, but to no purpose; so finding that he had pressing matters in another direction to claim his immediate attention, he left the mystified functionary in disgust, casting a glance at the numerous unopened dispatches on his table, and congratulating Canada on the possession of such a creditable and efficient, leading officer.

Shaking hands with Tom, then, after having honestly liquidated his bill, our mysterious friend soon found himself on board a train bound direct for Toronto, where he arrived in due course, amid hosts of rumors, and military movements which were being accomplished in that reckless and inefficient haste, that went to prove a screw loose somewhere. Here he found himself on the evening of the 29th, and being obliged to remain in the city all the next day, he started the following morning for the West, when he learned, while journeying onwards, that the Fenian forces were massed at Buffalo and along the American frontier, and that a descent upon Fort Erie was sure to take place within a very few hours. Although he had intended to reach his destination before night, he was delayed at the various stations, by rumors which tended to make it important for the train not to proceed in haste, it having been alleged, more than once, that the Fenian army was already in the Province, and burning and destroying all before it, In turn, however, each of these rumors was contradicted; and so the cars proceeded until another was encountered. In this way the morning of the first of June overtook him before he had yet reached the point for which he was bound. Now, however, he ascertained that the Province was, without any manner of doubt, invaded by the army of the Irish Republic, and that even then the "Sunburst" was flying over the village of Fort Erie.

This intelligence seemed to confound him, and to have exceeded anything that he could have anticipated. He hod fancied that, notwithstanding all the rumors he had heard within the last few months, there was no real intention on the part of the Irish Nationalists of the United States to actually invade the Province; and believed the reports of their having congregated upon the American frontier as either unfounded or tremendously exaggerated. Now, nevertheless, they were within a very few miles of him, and might be upon him and the neighborhood he was approaching, at any moment.

There was something in this latter conviction that appeared to move him greatly as he stepped off the train at Port Colborne, where he found the inhabitants in a state of the direst alarm. Being a stranger, and unable or unwilling to account very clearly for his sudden presence here, and at a juncture when suspicion was so rife and every new comer subjected to the closest scrutiny, he was put under surveillance and not permitted to leave the village, as he was about to do, until he had explained his business to the authorities. Chafing with disappointment and anger, he was taken into custody and confined in one of the rooms of his hotel, until a magistrate could be found to look into his case. Here, notwithstanding his protestations and willingness to prove that he was a loyal British subject and one of importance too, he was detained nearly the whole day; tormented by the uncomfortable misgiving that perhaps, after all his generalship, Nicholas Barry might again be in the Province and at a point, too, where he should be able to frustrate all the plans he had laid so deeply and executed for so far with the utmost secrecy and success. At last, however, a magistrate was found and a private investigation of his case granted. The examination was brief; for scarcely had that functionary been closeted five minutes with him, before he was set at liberty and again stepped forth a free man.

So utterly helpless were the people of the section of the country in which he now was, that they must have fallen before any considerable force of the invaders, had such entered the Province. The greatest distrust obtained among themselves; there being a strong body of Irish and Irish sympathisers in their midst, who scarcely cared to hide their sentiments. And although there was an element in the little town that was truly loyal to the Crown, yet it is still a matter of doubt as to its having been in the ascendant, in so far as numbers were concerned. True, that if the census of the place had been taken at the moment, and the tendencies of every man registered according to a public statement, extracted from his own lips, England should have carried the day by an overwhelming majority, as, on the same basis, she should at this present hour throughout the whole of the New Dominion. But had one glimpse of a victorious Irish army been caught in the distance, the case would have been widely different, indeed; and those who were constrained, through the force of circumstances, to fall into line with the paid, official squad who ruled the roast for the time being, would soon hoist their true colors and step out beneath the folds of that glorious banner of green and gold before which, with all her boasting armaments, the tyrant power of England now trembles to its very base. And so it will be throughout the Colony at large, whenever the Irish Nationalists, or any other people inimical to England, enter it with a view to tearing down the skull and cross-bones of St. George, and ultimately replacing it with the proud and invincible banner of the United States of America. Not a single doubt obtains in well informed quarters on this head; so that the tyrant England cannot fail to be swept ultimately from this continent, never to lift her dishonored head upon its free, historic shores again.

And what wonder that the thinking portion of the people of Canada—men who have its material prosperity and its happiness at heart—should long for a union with this Republic, with which their interests are so intimately identified, and upon which they are almost solely dependant for a market and that good will that is not only necessary to their peace, but to their very existence? Shut out from the ocean, that great highway of nations, for six months of the year, they are, almost daily, at the mercy of the United States for any description of commercial intercourse, or exchange of thought, in relation to the material condition of the continent or their own probable future. Lying a frozen strip against the North pole, with all their available lands settled, if we are to credit the assertions made by their own statesmen, were this great Republic to close its doors against them, they should be obviously cut off, in a measure, from all civilization, and dwarfed both mentally and physically into the most contemptible dimensions. As it is, they are depending upon America for every refining and practical influence that warms their partial life, or gives any value whatever to their social status. American literature, tastes, habits, inventions and even foibles color all their internal intercourse; although the fact does not seem apparent to those who are interested in perpetuating British rule amongst them, and is denied by others from motives of envy or vanity. Add to this the circumstance that their government is the most wretched that could possibly be found among a people professing to be free. Scarce a single department of it but is stained with fraud of the vilest description to the very lips, and neither more nor less than an instrument of public plunder in the hands of corrupt officials. Even while we write, and for years back, a charge lies in the department of the Minister of Finance, against the present Premier of the Dominion, accusing that unscrupulous individual of conspiring with a whisky dealer, while he himself was First Minister of the Crown, to defraud the revenue—a charge made by the present Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Excise, whom this same Premier has been obliged to retain in office to the present hour, with a view to saving himself from disclosures calculated to drive him from office in disgrace. So dreadful have been the circumstances of this case, that when an offer was made subsequently, through the public press, to produce bank, official and mercantile evidence that the government functionary who preferred this frightful accusation was dishonest and incompetent, and that he had purloined public documents and destroyed them with a view to concealing his crimes, still this Premier dared not summon him to trial, although, times without number, he gave assurances, as did the then Inspector General, that the culprit should be brought before the proper tribunal, and justice done in the premises. But why need we complain, when Canada takes the matter so coolly; for will it be believed, that these two worthies—both the accused and the accuser—both disfigured by the most damning accusations, are still in the pay of the Canadian people, and have been so ever since the circumstances of their official character were laid through the daily press before the world. Not a single move has yet been made in the direction of justice, nor an inquiry instituted as to the truth or falsehood of these frightful charges. The Premier still carries the filthy load upon his shoulders, while his subordinate, of the stolen bank receipts and false report, laughs in his sleeve at the rod that he holds over his naked shoulders.

Nor is this more than an individual case amongst others of a similar class. What of the tens of thousands of the people's money given, without the sanction of Parliament, to the Grand Trunk Railway in the interest of English stockholders; and the postal subsidies handed over to the same line, in excess of the tender made by the Managing Director for the carrying of her Majesty's mails? Was not the government liberal with the hard earnings of their poor dupes throughout the land, when they virtually informed the authorities of the Grand Trunk that they were altogether too modest in their estimates, and that the country ought not to take advantage of such nice young men, but give them more than they asked for performing the service mentioned? Glorious! wasn't it? We might also allude to the manner in which Sir John A. taxed the struggling industry of the Province, millions to build up his pet Parliament Houses at the back of God speed—buildings that almost rival those of England—and refer also to the delightful manner in which the Crown Lands were dealt with by another member of this happy family: citing the case of the Wallace Mine Claim, in which the Commissioner managed to dispose, at a mere nominal figure, of a portion of the public domain by private sale among a few of his friends, including a gentleman presumed to be his own agent, and that, too, in the face of a law which made it imperative upon the government to advertise all lands in the Canada Gazette before they were put upon the market. For appearance sake, the lands were advertised in the Gazette; but when a purchaser dropped in to make inquiries, it leaked out that they had been all disposed of previously. In this way the business of the people has been conducted for years; and what is the result? To-day they are without immigration, trade or commerce—to-day there is no public confidence existing in any portion of the Dominion; for the government seem to grasp the purse-strings with one hand while they hold a drawn sword in the other. There is no security to be found in any corner of the State; and no projects, formed for the future of its people. To be sure, certain parties prate and jabber about the Volunteer Service and national defenses; but what have they to defend? If their frontier were bristling to-morrow with forts and bayonets, all they could hope to accomplish would be the shutting out of American liberty and national prosperity from the people. This must be self-evident to any individual who is at all conversant with the true nature of the case, or cognizant of the fact, that there cannot possibly be any hope for Canada so long as she holds herself aloof from the great social and political compact of this Union, upon the pulses of which, in her present helpless and isolated position, she will always have to dance attendance and pay the piper besides. Either the sunlight or the shadow of the Republic must fall on her without intermission. If she choose the former, well and good; let her cut herself free of the despotic tyrant that now holds her in cunning thrall, and step into the broad effulgence of American freedom, or if she will it, until circumstances of themselves precipitate her into the arms of the Commonwealth with less grace than she might otherwise have fallen into them, let her feel the blighting influence of the cold clouds that cannot fail to envelope her and paralyze all her energies in the interim. There is no need of mincing the matter—Canada beneath the skull and cross-bones of St. George, must ever remain a poor, puny starveling; while under the proud and ample folds of the glorious flag of this mighty Republic, she should at once become great, powerful and prosperous, as yet another star added to the refulgent galaxy that now rides high amid the noontide of nations.



CHAPTER XII.

One grand evidence of the deep rooted sentiment that actuates Fenianism in the great Irish American heart, is to be found in the fact, that at the time of the Pittsburgh Convention, the Organization was in debt, and that within the brief space intervening between that period and the invasion of Canada, the Brotherhood armed and equipped thousands upon thousands of their number, and still had not expended the last dollar in their treasury. This is, of itself, a most significant fact, and one that goes far to exalt the Irish element on this continent in the eyes of both soldiers, citizens and statesmen. The abiding faith of our people in the justice of their cause, and the fixed conviction that it shall one day triumph, enable them to deal with reverses and opposition in a manner at once intelligent, dignified and philosophic. They know that repeated failures have been the crucible in which the holiest and the most successful projects have been tried in all ages; and, like that of the spider of Bruce, the heart never fails within them. Amongst them, too, were found upon the eve of their descent upon the Province, as well as long previous to it, men of undoubted patriotism, genius and chivalry. And at no point was this more obvious than at Buffalo. We say, more obvious, for we know that scarce a city, town or village in the State, and far and wide outside it, but contained just us good men and true as were possessed by Buffalo; but we refer to it thus particularly, as it is more immediately connected with our tale. We could mention many names as sterling in every relation as those we now introduce; but none, we apprehend, more intimately blended with the actual descent of the brave O'Neill upon Canada, save the handful of heroes who joined him in that proud and daring expedition; and none which, in the hour of the sorest need of the Organization, sacrificed more for the sake of Ireland.

When the moment was considered ripe for the movement, then, the eyes of the Fenian authorities were turned towards Buffalo, and other points on the frontier lying close upon the Canadian borders. In this city, Francis B. Gallagher, Esq., and five or six others were regarded as marked personages towards which a peculiar portion of the movement should gravitate before finally crossing the lines. These gentlemen, from their independent circumstances, excellent social standing and undoubted patriotism, were regarded as pillars of strength upon which the expedition might properly lean for a moment, and adjust itself before attempting to cross the Rubicon and enter the country of the enemy. There were more, also, in this city, who evinced a spirit of the truest love of Ireland upon that occasion, as upon all previous once, and who assisted in forwarding the grand objects of the organization to the utmost stretch of their abilities, but as their names are too numerous to mention here, and as they had their counterpart, as they have to-day, in various localities throughout the Union, we shall merely note the circumstance of their existence. As to the Brotherhood in its military aspect here, no portion of the State or Union was better represented in this connection, or more competent to distinguish itself upon the field. Its civil relations, also, were equally creditable; Mr. Gallagher, as the period for action approached, becoming active, anxious and restless; devoting his time assiduously to the affairs of the Brotherhood, and constantly communicating with headquarters on some point of importance. And thus affairs stood when the first draft of men arrived in the city under Senator Bannon, of Louisville, Ky., and Senator Fitzgerald, of Cincinnati, and when the movement on Canada might be said to have fairly commenced.

Soon, however, it began to be discovered that, although Buffalo, and other places, were alive to their duty and ready to contribute their quota to the expedition, there was a screw loose somewhere; and on the evening of the thirty-first of May, it was ascertained that, although numbers of volunteers had arrived from various points, through the unfortunate neglect or incapacity of the then Secretary of War, there was no one to command them. This was a dreadful state of affairs indeed, and one which admits of no palliation. It was expected that General Lynch, or some other distinguished officer, would take charge of the expedition from this point; but that gallant and experienced soldier, owing to the receipt of incorrect orders, did not arrive in time to assume the command. Up to this point, and for some time previously, matters had been conducted in a manner so careless by the War Department, that the mere casual observer might reasonably presume some parties connected with it courted failure. Arms and ammunition had been despatched to the frontier without due precaution, and to parties to whom they ought not have been transmitted, for various reasons. Again, the massing of forces at the various points of debarkation was neither compact nor simultaneous,—a circumstance which occasioned so much delay, that the American government could not possibly close their eyes to the fact of the invasion, without compromising themselves before the world. Had one simultaneous and compact movement characterized the expedition, the American authorities would never have interfered with it; but when it was rubbed under their nose for days, through the blundering or criminality of those who undertook to direct it from the War Department, what was to have been expected other than is now known to have occurred?

In addition to this, no transport had been actually secured for the troops that had arrived at Buffalo, and the dilemma was intensified to the extremest pitch. What ship-owner, in the face of such bungling, would run the risk of placing any of his vessels at the disposal of a party so uncomfortably situated? That was a question which presented itself at the last moment, and which was more easily put than answered.

When all was dark and uncertain, however, and when the heart of many began to fail, in stepped the gallant O'Neill upon the platform, offering to command the expedition. He had arrived previously from Nashville, Tenn., with his contingent, and felt how dreadful the position in which the project was placed. A council of war was held, at which Captain Hynes was present; and as this latter gentleman had delegated authority from Gen. Sweeney, Colonel O'Neill—now General—was at once placed in command. So far so good; but how were the troops to get across the river? The interrogatory, as already observed, was a perplexing one; but it was instantly solved by Mr. Gallagher and one or two other gentlemen, who voluntarily, and at the imminent risk of every dollar they possessed, pledged all they were worth in the world, and procured the necessary means for crossing the river, and landing the first instalment of the army of the Irish Republic upon British soil.

The number of men assembled at Buffalo on the night already mentioned was about eight hundred,—being detachments from the following regiments:—13th Infantry, Colonel John O'Neill; 17th Infantry, Colonel Owen Stan; 18th Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Grace; 7th Infantry, Colonel John Hoy, and two companies from Indiana, under Captain Haggerty; but the number of men that could be gotten together when the expedition crossed did not exceed six hundred.

An authentic report of this brief but glorious campaign will be found at the close of this work. We introduce it as historical information, from a most unerring source. The subject, it will be perceived, is treated in the most impartial and unimpassioned manner; dealing simply in dry details, and in that curt, soldier-like matter of fact style, which aims at nothing like effect, and seeks only to recount circumstances as they occurred, and that, too, in the briefest possible manner.

Scarcely had the last boat, with the invading expedition, pushed off from the American shore, on the night of the 31st of May, already mentioned, when another craft, pulled by two men, its only occupants, followed in the wake of the receding troops, dropping a little further down the river, as it neared the Canadian side. From their dress and appearance, the rowers might have been recognized by many a Buffalonian, as Black Jack and the Kid, who were evidently bent upon dogging the invaders, and, while keeping at a safe distance, dealing in such plunder on their outskirts as might swell their own villainous coffers, while the criminality should attach to the Fenians. This course was prompted on their part by a sort of blind, bull-dog adherence to everything English, and a hope of picking up in the red trail of the campaign such valuables as would increase their already large though ill-gotten store.

On reaching the Canadian shore, both these worthies, who had but a few nights previously conveyed Kate across the Niagara, set out for the village of Fort Erie, which lay about four miles up the river, and which they did not wish to approach directly from the American side, but creep towards in the rear of the moving mass.

Under no circumstances does the human wolf exhibit itself to such monstrous intensity as under those of war. Not the wolf in the uniform of the soldier, for, let him be as blood-thirsty as he may, he buys, on the field, to some extent at least, the right to be savage. The current coin in which he deals is human gore; and in this relation he freely exchanges with his antagonist the circulating medium, and gives or takes, as the necessities of the moment may demand. He stands a nine-pin on the great bowling-alley of the field, and takes his chance of being knocked down in common with his opponent, who occupies a precisely similar position. He offers life for life; and, lamentable as the doctrine may be, he seems licensed to plunder, and, if needs be, kill. Here, of course, we speak of the mere hireling, who has no higher object before him than that of simple gain—who is actuated solely by a sordid love of gold—whose soul and body are as purchasable as a pound of beef in the shambles, and who is moved by the wretched pulses of mammon only. Such an one, although low in the scale of humanity, and unworthy of being mentioned in the same breath with the glorious patriot who unsheathes his sword for Father-land, Liberty and Heaven, is an angel of light compared with the lynx-eyed, dastardly prowler, who, when the heart of his quarry has been stilled by some other hand, gropes, gloved with clotted sore, among the mangled remains for the booty he never earned; or who, when the thunder of the field, or the onward course of a victorious army lays waste the fair land, takes advantage of the dread and confusion of the inhabitants, and gorges himself with plunder, as though he were a victor to whom should belong the spoils. Such wreckers of the dead are the ghouls of our race; and never had they more faithful representatives than the two villains who, in due course, mingled with the invaders in the village, anxious to commence their depredations before even a single shot was fired.

Barry, as already intimated, joined the expedition, and was now numbered among the invaders. Of course he perceived that with such a mere handful of men, nothing could be effected in the Province; but, then, he never supposed for a moment, that they were other than the simple advance-guard of a numerous following close upon their rear. In addition, it was anticipated that the landing of troops upon the Canadian shore would be effected simultaneously along the frontier at different points. This was the settled conviction of O'Neill, and of his officers also, as the scheme formed a leading feature of the programme of the campaign. But here the fates were against them; for transportation, as we are led to believe, was not secured effectively at any point save Buffalo. In fact, this city appears to have acquitted itself with regard to the invasion, in a manner that reflects the highest credit upon the Fenian authorities of the district; for even when the expedition, on finding that the American Government had interfered with the transport of reinforcements, had considered it prudent to return, the means of reaching the American shore were placed at its command by the patriotic gentlemen already alluded to; while, farther still, when the United States authorities were seizing the arms of the Brotherhood in every direction, Buffalo, through the admirable management of these persons, contrived to keep its quota intact.

During the morning of the landing, Nicholas happened to get a glimpse of the Kid and big dark companion in the village; and the circumstance awoke strong hopes in his bosom in relation to gaining some intelligence of Kate. From all he had heard, and from having found the trinket in their boat, he felt convinced that either one or the other of these scoundrels knew something of her. He, therefore, kept track of them until a fitting opportunity, when he accosted the Kid, as a sort of half acquaintance, and, by way of attempting to surprise him into a confession of some knowledge of Kate, produced the silver chased button already referred to, and asked him if he knew the name of the lady that had recently dropped it in his boat. For a moment the villain, who was, of course, none other than the Stephen Smith that was in the habit of visiting the Wilsons, seemed taken aback; but instantly recovering himself, replied, that his boat was so often hired by fishing parties, it would be difficult to tell the name of the lady from whose dress it might have dropped—that was, "provided it had dropped from a lady's dress, at all."

Although the thrust was adroitly parried, Nicholas, who was on the qui vive, noticed his momentary confusion, and determined to keep his eye upon him, in the hope that something might soon turn up that would throw the villain more completely into his power, and enable him to extract from him the intelligence which he still felt satisfied was in his possession. With this end in view, he set one of his comrades, who had escaped from the Fort with him, to watch with the utmost caution and secrecy every manoeuvre of the wretch and his companion; fully satisfied, as he was, that both the rascals were determined to follow in the wake of the army, for purposes already mentioned.

The conduct of the Invaders at Fort Erie was of such general excellence, that the inhabitants of that place speak of them, up to the present hour, in terms of such admiration as to excite the jealous animadversions of many of the Canadian people themselves. Notwithstanding that the village and its vicinity lay helplessly at their disposal, and was, for the moment, theirs by right of conquest, they entered it rather in the character of guests than in that of masters. Although the usages of war placed all that it contained at their feet, they never appropriated to their use even one solitary loaf of bread or glass of ale without having first paid for it. As to their generosity and chivalry in this connection, let us quote from the work of Major George T. Denison, Jun'r, commanding "the Governor General's Body Guard," Upper Canada; author of "Manual and Outpost Duties," "Observations on the best Defensive Force for Canada, &c."—an officer who took part in the campaign against the Fenians, and who cannot be charged with partiality to the invaders. In this work, published in June, 1866, by Rollo & Adam, Toronto, and entitled "The Fenian Raid on Fort Erie, with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway," the author, page 62, observes, first, as to the disastrous result of the collision between both armies, to the Canadians:—

"The loss of this fight was the loss of the whole expedition. The two Commanding Officers were wandering about the country, the main body of the men captured or lying wounded about the village; the Captain of the Artillery struck down with the loss of a leg, and the Tug almost denuded of men, and the few left so hampered with a lot of useless prisoners, as to be unable to undertake anything."

And again, after having complimented the invaders on some instances of personal bravery, he remarks, page 69:

"Before closing this chapter, I must mention that, from all accounts, the Fenians, except in so far as they were wrong in invading a peaceful country, in carrying on an unjustifiable war, behaved remarkably well to the inhabitants. I spent three weeks in Fort Erie, and conversed with dozens of the people of the place, and was astonished at the universal testimony borne by them to their unvarying good conduct. They have been called plunderers, robbers and marauders; yet, no matter how unwilling we may be to admit it, the positive fact remains, that THEY STOLE BUT FEW VALUABLES; THAT THEY DESTROYED, COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING, LITTLE OR NOTHING, AND THAT THEY COMMITTED NO OUTRAGES UPON THE INHABITANTS, BUT TREATED EVERYONE WITH UNVARYING COURTESY. On taking a number of the Welland Battery and the Naval Company prisoners, THEY TREATED THEM WITH THE GREATEST KINDNESS, putting the officers under their parole and RETURNING TO THEM THEIR SIDE ARMS; taking them down to the wharf on their departure, and releasing them, bidding them adieu with EXPRESSIONS OF GOOD WILL."

"Another incident," he goes on to say, same page, "occurred, worth mentioning: A number of them went to a widow lady's house, near Fort Erie, and asked her for something to eat. They were about going into the kitchen to sit down, and she told them she would not let them in,—they laughingly replied, 'very well, ma'am, we'll do here very well, it is a very nice yard;' and accordingly they sat down on the grass and ate the bread and butter and milk she gave them. Another squad in the same way took breakfast there. In the evening a man came, ragged and tired, looking for something to eat. Seeing a loaf of bread on the table he took it up. The lady said: 'That is the last loaf I have.' The man looked at her and said slowly: 'Is that the last loaf of bread that you have? then I'll not take it,' and laid it on the window-sill. Seeing this, she asked him to take half. After pressing it upon him, he at length took a portion of it. This story is undoubtly true, as I obtained it from the lady herself, with whom I am intimately acquainted."

"It perhaps," he continues in the next paragraph, page 70, "does not come with a good grace from a Canadian to give any credit to the Fenians, who, without any ground of complaint against us, invade our country and cause the loss of valuable lives among us; but as a truthful narrator of facts, I must give them credit on the only ground on which they can claim it."

This is honest and soldierly on the part of Major Denison; but should these pages chance to meet his eye, he will find his theory untenable in relation to the immunity of Canada from the consequences of any acts for which England may seemingly be responsible only. The war of 1812 was not a war against Canada, but against Great Britain, and yet Canada was invaded by the Americans and made the principal theatre of the conflict. How multifarious soever, or widely scattered its colonies or dependencies, every nation is a unit, and consequently amenable as well in detail as in the aggregate, for any offence committed against public justice or humanity. When you quarrel with a man, you don't quarrel in particular with his eye, his foot, or his nose, although you may punish him as a whole by inflicting injury upon all or any of these organs; and thus it is in the case under consideration; the New Dominion is the foot or the eye or the nose of John Bull, and as such, any enemy of England is justifiable in maiming him in any or all of these parts. This is the hard logic of the point; and if Canada wishes to escape its consequences, she must demonstrate to the Irish people, or to any other who may be at enmity with England, that she is neither part nor parcel of the British Empire. How ridiculous the plea set up by Canada, that because she was not forsooth an active individual agent of gross tyranny and injustice towards Ireland, she ought to be exempt from any of the consequences arising to the real culprit in the case. The same argument might be urged with as much reason, by half the population of England herself, who are just as innocent in this respect as the people of Canada; they having never been consciously concerned in any oppression of Ireland, either individually or collectively. But they are the friends, allies and abettors of the government which has perpetrated such crimes in relation to Ireland,—nay, more, they create and sustain the agencies through which these wrongs are committed; and in this they are joined heart, hand and soul, by the people of Canada or the representatives of that people. Canada, then, having sworn allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain, is constructively, as well as virtually, as much an enemy of Ireland as England is. The Firm, comprising Great Britain and all its colonies and dependencies throughout the world, is known as John Bull & Co., and the distinctive sign of the house, in all its ramifications, is the Union Jack or some adaptation of the red cross of St. George to local predilections. As in ordinary mercantile transactions, a debt incurred by any branch of the establishment involves the responsibility of the whole, and can be levied for in London or Hokitika. This is the true state of the case, and any individual who would advance a doctrine contrary to it, is either a simpleton or a knave.

Black Jack and his companion were astonished to find such order reign in the midst of an invading army, and to perceive that the inhabitants of the village were not subjected to instant plunder, if not fire and sword, by the troops now in possession of the place. They had come over in the hope of being able to make some bold strokes in the wake of the soldiery, and the confusion that they had fancied should obtain among the people; but finding that they were foiled in this direction, they cast their eyes about them to see what was best to be done under the circumstances.

"I'll be blowed," growled Jack, as they both rambled in the outskirts of the village the morning of their arrival, "if this ain't a go. Honly fancy, Kid, vot a set of spoonies these 'ere fellows har, not to be goin it like the Hinglish in Hindia, or in the Peninsoola under the Duke. I 'eard a fellow as vos there say, that they used to steal hoff at night and 'av hodd sport and leave none to tell the tale in the mornin. Glorious, vosn't it? And then ven they gathered hup the svag, they made it hall right vith the sentries and sometimes vith the hofficers themselves."

"Jack, I'll never make anything of you," returned the Kid; "your language is so vulgar, and your address altogether so ungentlemanlike, that you at once peach on yourself; for anybody, with even half an eye, that either sees you or hears you speak, would take you for the villain you unquestionably are."

"Oh! bless'ee, but you're a sveet cove," rejoined Jack, "and no vun vould suppose for a moment that you cut Sal Gordon's throat, the night you coaxed her hoff to marry her, just because you took a fancy to a couple of five-pun notes she had in her trash-bag that she refused to give hup afore the knot vos tied."

"Come, come," winced the Kid, "no more of that, but let us see if we can't do a little business here, or, at least, before we return, which I venture to say we shall manage if we keep in the wake of these fellows without arousing the suspicions of any of them."

"Yes, yes!" said Jack, "but vot hif ve should run foul of the henemy and be taken hup as belongin to these 'ere chaps, hif so be they're beaten, as I hope they vill?"

"I tell you what, there's but one chap among them all that'll keep his eye on us," replied the Kid, "and that's the fellow who thought to surprise me into a confession, by suddenly producing a button that, I apprehend, dropped off the dress of the lady that we, recently ran over here for our new employer. I have found out his name, and learned that he was engaged to be married to this same beauty, who is now safely caged at Wilson's, where she'll soon be apt to learn that she's in about as nice a fix as ever she was in during her life. But," he continued, "I don't know what to make of that Martha. All I can do or say, whenever I happen to be at the house, has no other effect than that of apparently making her more and more opposed to her uncle's wishes, until I am convinced shell never be mine, willingly at least. And after all, I love the girl well enough; although I feel I should kill her before she was mine a month."

Thus baffled and circumscribed, these two scoundrels prowled about the village until near ten o'clock, when the troops moved down the river about four miles, and went into camp at Newbiggin's farm. At this period the gallant O'Neill was in great uncertainty. Here he was in an enemy's country with but a handful of men, and in utter darkness as to what was going on at other points. Already, at Buffalo, he had a taste of the manner in which the War Department had conducted the expedition to that point; and was, of course, afraid that the inefficiency of that department would make itself apparent in more relations than one. In the ability, activity and devotion of President Roberts, Vice-President Gibbons and the Senate, he had the fullest confidence; but Col. Roberts did not take it upon himself to dictate to a department that was in charge of what was believed to be an old and experienced military officer, and one on whose judgment and practical skill he placed the fullest reliance. The position was a desperate one; but O'Neill was determined to maintain his ground on British soil, until satisfied that failure had obtained elsewhere, and that there was no probability of his being reinforced. He had long burned for an opportunity of meeting the enemies of the land of his birth in open fight; and now, although all around looked dark and uncertain, he was determined to join issue with any force that was brought against him. His men for the most part, too, shared this sentiment. True, that a few cowardly hounds had deserted his standard almost as soon as it had been unfurled on the enemy's shore; but then these were of that miserable breed that always attach themselves to expeditions of this sort without measuring their motives or the strength of their principles. However, be this as it may, they have forever forfeited their claims to the name of Irishmen, if such they were; while the very recollection will be painful to many, that so dastardly and worthless a crew tainted, even for a single moment, the pure atmosphere in which such men breathed as the following, not to speak of the noble rank and file whose names we are unable, for obvious reasons, to give here, and who, like them, led by the gallant O'NEILL, immortalized themselves on the field of Ridgeway:

OFFICERS OF THE I.R.A., PRESENT AT RIDGEWAY.

Lieutenant RUDOLPH FITZPATRICK, Aid-de-Camp to O'NEILL.

Colonel OWEN STARR, commanding Kentucky troops. Lieutenant Colonel JOHN SPAULDING, Louisville, Kentucky troops. Captain TIMOTHY O'LEARY, Louisville, Kentucky troops. Captain JOHN GEARY, Lexington, Kentucky troops. Lieutenant PATK J. TYRRELL. Louisville, Kentucky troops. Lieutenant MICH'L BOLAND, Louisville, Kentucky troops.

Colonel JOHN HOY, Buffalo, commanding 7th Regiment I.R.A. Lieutenant Colonel MICH'L BAILEY, Buffalo, 7th Regiment I.R.A. Captain JOHN M. FOGARTY, Buffalo. Captain WM. B. SMITH, Buffalo. Lieutenant EDW'D LONERGAN, Buffalo.

Colonel JOHN GRACE, Cincinnati; commanding Ohio troops. Captain SAM SULLIVAN, Cincinnati. Ohio troops. Lieutenant JOHN J. GEOGHAN, Cincinnati. Ohio troops.

Captain —— BUCKLEY, Cleveland, Ohio troops. Lieutenant TIMOTHY LAVAN, Cleveland, Ohio.

Captain —— McDONALD, Pulaski, Tennessee.

Captain LAWRENCE SHIELDS, Nashville, commanding Tennessee troops. Captain PHILIP MUNDY, Chattanooga, Tenn. Lieutenant JAMES J. ROACH, Nashville, Tenn. Lieutenant JOHN MAGUIRE, Nashville, Tenn.

Captain MICH'L CONLON, Memphis, Tennessee.

Captain —— HAGGERTY, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Major JOHN C. CANTY, Fort Erie, C.W.

We trust that we have not omitted here the name of any officer present at Ridgeway. If it should ever appear that we have done so, it will be a source of great pain to us, although we can plead in apology that every effort was made on our part to procure a complete list.

Seeing that there was not much to be made out of Fort Erie, the two comrades, Black Jack and the Kid, moved cautiously in the rear of the troops as they fell down the river; their intention being to remain concealed in the vicinity of any point at which an engagement might take place, and then trust to chance for an opportunity of rifling the dead or picking up whatever spoils happened to drop in their way. While deliberating upon this creditable resolve, about noon, as they had made a detour and pushed ahead of the troops, who were going into camp, their attention was arrested by the noise of some vehicle coming up a side road across which they were wending their way. In the course of a few moments they discovered that it was the wagon of Wilson, driven by that worthy, in the direction of the village of Waterloo; he evidently not having, as yet, heard of the Province being invaded. Immediately a conference took place between the three friends, when it was agreed that Wilson's wagon should be concealed in a wooded hollow close by, and that it should be made the receptacle of whatever plunder might be secured during the struggle that they all felt must soon take place. Consequently, the team was turned aside, and, after being unhitched, was secured in a close clump of trees, that was not likely to be visited by any persons in the vicinity; and more particularly so, when the country was now being alarmed throughout, and people were securing themselves in their habitations.

After this being arranged, and the horses fed and watered, the party again sallied forth towards the main road, with a view to getting as near as was safe to the camp of the invaders, and gleaning some information as to their future movements. They had been hovering about in this way for some time, when they came to a point where two roads met, and where they perceived two wagons in which were a number of people, all standing and reconoitering something, in alarm or surprise, through a field-glass, which they were passing from one to the other. At a glance the trio saw that these persons were Canadians; and, fearing nothing, they made instantly towards them, and as though in ignorance of what had taken place, made inquiries as to what they were inspecting.

While engaged in conversation upon this point, and learning that those in the wagons were observing a body of armed men who were moving at some distance from them, but whom they could not identify as either friends or foes, the whole party perceived an officer riding towards them with the greatest apparent coolness and confidence. On coming up, he informed them that the body of men in the distance were some volunteers who were not very well acquainted with the roads about there, and that he would feel obliged if they would just drive down and give the commanding officer whatever information was in their power upon the subject of the best route to be taken to a certain point, naming it. To this request they all gladly acceded, the Kid and Jack not daring to say a word, and not one of them suspecting anything from the peculiar uniform of the officer; from the fact that they were not aware the hat indicated that he did not belong to any Canadian force; believing, as they did, that the uniforms of the volunteers were of various descriptions. When, however, they arrived at the point where the men were stationed, they quickly found out their mistake, and, to their utter consternation, were all made prisoners, Wilson and his two companions included. The body that made this capture was a reconnoitering force commanded by Col. John Hoy; and no sooner was it made, than the prisoners and the two wagons were at once forwarded under an escort to O'Neill's camp, where, on the Kid and Black Jack being recognized as belonging to Buffalo, they were released at once; the others being held for a short period with a view to gaining some information from them, relative to the movements or whereabouts of the enemy, of which, as it subsequently turned out, they knew nothing whatever.

This introduction to the camp was considered fortunate by the Kid and his comrade, who now, on being acknowledged by some of the men who knew nothing of their real character, seemed anxious to remain under the protection of the Irish flag until, as they stated, they could effect their escape across the river; as they now averred that, should they attempt to regain Buffalo alone, they could not fail to fall into the hands of the Canadian forces, who, it was rumored, were gathering on every side of the Fenian army, with the design of surrounding it and cutting off its retreat. This all seemed natural and reasonable enough; and more particularly as the two villains asserted that they were on their way to Chippewa on business of importance, but should now get back to their home as soon as practicable; they not having had any idea that the invasion was about to take place; and having crossed to the Canadian side early the evening before; that finding they could not get any one to recross the river with them, as things stood, they thought it better to keep in the wake of the army until they had reached some point where they could effect a crossing; not wishing to entrust themselves to the people of Fort Erie, after the troops had evacuated that place, as they felt certain that the inhabitants regarded them as Fenians, and would treat them as such if an opportunity was afforded them to do so.

During the day nothing of interest transpired, until towards evening, when Barry, with two of his old comrades and four others of his company, who were thoroughly acquainted with the locality, were despatched from the camp, as were similar squads in other directions, to make reconnoissances of the enemy, if they were anywhere near the main body of the army. After proceeding cautiously for a couple of miles, and pausing, from time to time, to reconnoitre, on gaining the verge of a small piece of wooded land, they suddenly found themselves almost face to face with ten or twelve armed soldiers, in British uniform, who seemed to be an outpost lying in wait among some pine shrubs, on the opposite side of a narrow ravine. Fortunately for our hero, he was the first to discover the red coats, upon whom the sun was pouring its declining rays, revealing them to the green coats, while at the same time it dazzled and obscured their vision, from the fact that the light flashed full in their faces, while it fell on the backs of their advancing adversaries. A few hundred yards towards the upper end of the ravine, there was a small patch of wood, through which Barry instantly determined to move towards the point occupied by the enemy; hoping to be able to surprise them before they were aware of his proximity. This manoeuvre was accomplished rapidly, and with the utmost caution; but as an open space yet intervened between him and them, when he had gained the verge of the grove, he determined to remain under cover, with a view to ascertaining the strength of the force he might have to cope with; not knowing but it was larger than it seemed to be from the opposite side of the glen.

Here, however, he had scarcely halted when he was discovered by the enemy, who took alarm; but, after a moment's pause, during which a good deal of coolness was observed amongst their ranks, they deliberately poured a volley into the grove where he and his little band stood under shelter, although discernible among the trees. No sooner had the music of the bullets ceased, and as a full view was had of the force of the enemy, than the Fenians dashed across the open space already mentioned, and charged in a spirited manner, although received by the foe with the utmost intrepidity, and an evident intention to work some mischief before they retired from the spot. Barry, however, instructed his little band not to fire until within a few yards of their antagonists, who were now coolly reloading; so, before the redcoats were again prepared to give another volley, one simultaneous crash of the Fenian rifles threw them into momentary confusion; and, the next instant, both parties were closely engaged in a life and death struggle.

The fire of the Fenians had made sad havoc amongst the small force, which was now cut down to the proportions of that of their own; still those that remained never swerved an inch, but joined with their adversaries, hip and thigh. There was but one volley fired on either side; and, now that the shrubbery was so thick and withal so inconveniently high, both parties had recourse to their side arms to decide the day. Hand to hand, and desperately they fought, without much indication of the mortal strife, save the low groan of the dying and the thick breathing of those who struggled upon the green sward among the roots of the young pines that so thickly studded the place. Already had Barry silenced forever the pulses of more than one of his antagonists, when their leader, a powerful man of about thirty-five, made a sudden bound towards him, after having in turn brought his own assailant to the ground, and instantly both their swords were crossed, as they stood, alone, in an open space of a few feet square, while the deadly conflict still half silently raged around them among the three or four who now survived to battle for their respective flags.

Barry, although but a private soldier when in the British service, was regarded as one of the best swordsmen in his regiment. In fact, he was that sort of person who took delight in excelling in every military exercise, so that his task-masters should have no grounds for wounding his feelings or his pride in any matter connected with the discipline of a soldier. So skillful was he in this connection, that the moment he caught sight of the manner in which his enemy grasped his weapon, he looked for but one issue touching the encounter, and that was, the probable destruction of both. He felt that he had an antagonist before him worthy the occasion, and braced himself for the work with all the energy of his being. Swift as lightning, both weapons flashed in the sunlight, and the next instant lay pressing uneasily against each other in mid-air; forming a shifting and glittering arch of death, beneath which either its crimson or emerald pillar was soon to fall in ensanguined ruins. Not a word was spoken on either side; each believing that his hour or that of the other had come! The conflict in the surrounding shrubbery had already almost ceased. Brief as the period was, the remaining few of the enemy were vanquished and soon had fled, pursued by a victorious two or three, being scarcely themselves more than that number, having suffered severely, although they fought with great bravery. It was the seven hundred years of hate and the red blood of Ireland, that decided the conquest for so far in favor of the green; and now, face to face, with lips compressed and glaring eye, stood the two representatives of the individual antagonisms, which had been pitted against each other for ages, and which never can breathe in peace the same vital air. As if understanding, thoroughly, the power, agility and skill of his antagonist, the opponent of Barry, who was an Englishman by birth, and had been in the British service, never sought for a moment to gain any advantage of the ground. In this relation, he seemed satisfied to fight his adversary on equal terms; being well aware that a single move might be fatal, inasmuch as it could not fail to distract his attention to some extent from his watchful enemy. The sward sloped down rapidly to the ravine; so that he who occupied the most elevated position would have his adversary at an advantage; but, although this conviction was impressed upon the minds of both, neither seemed anxious to avail himself of it; and thus they stood upon equal terms, in every way antagonists worthy of each other. In height, the Englishman had it somewhat in his favor; but, then, not above an inch or so; while Barry, in agility and compactness, seemed to be vastly his superior. And such they were, when the first thrust and parry told that the work had begun. This was immediately succeeded by a furious clashing, that evidenced a rising tempest of anger in the breast of either, or both, and which gave promise of being speedily followed by some fatal stroke that was sure to terminate the encounter. During this ominous flurry, Barry stood on the defensive, coolly eyeing his brave adversary, and watching for the unguarded moment when he could either kill or disarm him; but this was not so easily found, as the Englishman was every inch a soldier and a superb swordsman; and Barry knew it well.

Notwithstanding the violence of the attack, so adroitly was it met, and so firmly was it withstood, that our hero never gave way a hair's breadth of ground, or suffered a single scratch; and now only, in reality, the murderous conflict commenced. The Englishman perceiving that our hero was not to be moved or thrown off his guard for an instant, became more fully satisfied that he had a dangerous antagonist to deal with, and so commenced to be himself more cautions and guarded. Seeing that mere personal strength availed him but little, he fell back on his admirable swordsmanship and fought with coolness the most undaunted. Barry now, in turn, became the assailant, and pressing his antagonist with great skill and courage, gave him a slight flesh wound, followed rapidly by another in the sword arm, from which the blood began to flow copiously. Perceiving that the conflict must be decided at once, as he should soon become faint from loss of blood, once more the red coat became the assailing party; but this time, as he was pressing our hero, but somewhat more feebly than before, his foot caught beneath the tough, fibrous roots of one of the pine shrubs by which they were surrounded, and the next instant he was thrown headlong towards Barry, while his sword flew out of his hand far beyond his reach.

The fight was over; and fortunate it was for the prostrate soldier that it was brought to so singular a determination; for, from the manner in which he was bleeding, if from nothing else, the day was sure to be decided in Barry's favor. Regaining his feet, as soon as possible, he looked aghast for a moment, as if expecting his death blow; but found his antagonist not only presenting him his sword, but begging him not to continue the conflict, as from his wound he was in no situation to keep it up longer with any show of success.

"By my faith," he replied in return, "I believe, under any circumstances, the fates were against me; so, understanding what is due to a brave man, keep my sword and find me some water, as I begin to feel a little shakey about the knees."

Just at the foot of the slope, and but a few yards distant, there was a brook, to which our hero now led his prisoner, and where, after bathing his temples and bandaging his wound with a handkerchief, he left him for a moment to look after those who might need his aid more urgently, hard by. He found, after all, that but one of his party was killed, although two others, who managed to creep in amongst the shrubbery, were severely wounded. Not knowing how the contest was going, and seeing themselves completely hors de combat, they waited in silence the result, fearing to call out, lest the enemy might be upon them and despatch them. The red coats suffered most severely; six of their number having been killed outright. Strange to say, however, that there appeared to have been none of them simply wounded; for, although groans were heard to proceed from the point where they lay, they must have been uttered in their death agonies, so mortal was the damage dealt them.