This answer seemed to have gained the good opinion of some of the bystanders, but suddenly a man who recognised Dermot sprang up from among them.
“He has become a young heretic; he goes to the house of the Protestant minister, you can never trust him after that,” he exclaimed.
“He knows our secrets, and it is dangerous that he should possess them,” observed two or three of the leaders, “and it is evidently necessary to put him out of the way.”
Again there was a warm discussion among them, and the remarks of most of the speakers were evidently averse to him.
“He must die—he must die!” exclaimed several voices, and Dermot found himself once more hurried close up to the gallows.
The brutal fellow who had been selected to act as herald, provoked by the reception he had met with, undertook to act as executioner. Dermot’s arms were bound tightly behind him, and he was again placed on the pony from which he had dismounted. The rope was secured to the beam, and the savage remorselessly prepared to adjust it round his neck.
Chapter Seven.
In another minute the young boy would have been put out of the world by his savage countrymen, when a loud cry was heard, and a woman was seen rushing towards the spot. A red cloak was over her shoulders; her long dark hair streamed in the wind.