LONDON: SMITH, ELDER & CO.
(For the United Kingdom)
IN CONJUNCTION WITH CASSELL AND CO., LTD.; HODDER AND
STOUGHTON; METHUEN AND CO., WARD, LOCK AND CO., AND
LONGMANS GREEN & CO.
(For the British Possessions and Foreign Countries)
1911
| 1908 | July | 1st Edition |
| " | Aug. | 2nd Impression |
| " | Oct. | 3rd Impression |
| 1910 | July | 4th Impression |
| " | Nov. | 5th Impression |
| 1911 | Mar. | 6d. Edition |
| " | Oct. | 6th (Author's Complete Edition) |
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | On Board the "Cormorant" Sloop | [ 1 ] |
| II. | Morristown | [ 15 ] |
| III. | A Scion of Kings | [ 27 ] |
| IV. | "Stop Thief!" | [ 42 ] |
| V. | The Mess-room at Tralee | [ 57 ] |
| VI. | The Maître d'Armes | [ 72 ] |
| VII. | Bargaining | [ 90 ] |
| VIII. | An After-dinner Game | [ 103 ] |
| IX. | Early Risers | [ 119 ] |
| X. | A Council of War | [ 136 ] |
| XI. | A Message for the Young Master | [ 154 ] |
| XII. | The Sea Mist | [ 171 ] |
| XIII. | A Slip | [ 187 ] |
| XIV. | The Colonel's Terms | [ 202 ] |
| XV. | Femina Furens | [ 218 ] |
| XVI. | The Marplot | [ 235 ] |
| XVII. | The Limit | [ 251 ] |
| XVIII. | A Counterplot | [ 268 ] |
| XIX. | Peine Forte et Dure | [ 285 ] |
| XX. | An Unwelcome Visitor | [ 301 ] |
| XXI. | The Key | [ 320 ] |
| XXII. | The Scene in the Passage | [ 336 ] |
| XXIII. | Behind the Yews | [ 350 ] |
| XXIV. | The Pitcher at the Well | [ 368 ] |
| XXV. | Peace | [ 378 ] |
CHAPTER
ON BOARD THE "CORMORANT" SLOOP
Midway in that period of Ireland's history during which, according to historians, the distressful country had none—to be more precise, on a spring morning early in the eighteenth century, and the reign of George the First, a sloop of about seventy tons burthen was beating up Dingle Bay, in the teeth of a stiff easterly breeze. The sun was two hours high, and the grey expanse of the bay was flecked with white horses hurrying seaward in haste to leap upon the Blasquets, or to disport themselves in the field of ocean. From the heaving deck of the vessel the mountains that shall not be removed were visible—on the northerly tack Brandon, on the southerly Carntual; the former sunlit, with patches of moss gleaming like emeralds on its breast, the latter dark and melancholy, clothed in the midst of tradition and fancy that in those days garbed so much of Ireland's bog and hill.