Next day I was in Dublin, and duly left my captain's letter at the Admiralty. I was instructed to report myself on board the _Zebra_ before sundown, as there was much work to be done getting crew and stores in order ready for our immediate departure. Having an hour or two at my disposal, I took a walk through the streets. Dublin, to all outward appearance, was in an orderly and peaceable state, and gave few signs of being, what it actually was at that time, the hotbed of a dangerous rebellion. It was only when I dived into some of the lower streets near the river, and saw the mysterious and ominous groups which hung about at the corners, and noticed the menacing looks with which they greeted any chance passer-by who was known to be a servant of the government, that I realised that I walked, as it were, on the edge of a volcano. How soon I was to experience for myself the terrors of that coming explosion the reader will hear. I had got beyond the streets and into the Park, attracted thither by strains of martial music, when, in a retired path, I encountered a gentleman dressed in a close-fitting, semi-military coat, with a green scarf round his neck, and switching a cane to and fro as he paced moodily along. I recognised him as Lord Edward. He looked up as I approached and at once recognised me. "Ah, Gallagher, what news from Donegal? How is the charming fair one?" said he. "The charming fair one," said I, with a bitterness that startled him, "is a victim in the hands of your lordship's followers. She has been decoyed away and carried off to Holland as an act of reprisal against her father." "What?" said he. "Tell me what you mean." And I told him my story. He listened, switching his cane against his leg, and watching my face with keen interest. "It is part of the fortune of war," said he, "that the innocent suffer for the guilty. But this must be seen to at once. The _Scheldt_ will probably make for Holland by the north route. If so, she will not arrive at Rotterdam for a week or two. By that time I will communicate with some one I know near there, and see she is taken care of. Hang the fools!" muttered he. "What good can come to any one by such an act?" "Indeed, my lord," said I, "if I may venture to say so; Ireland has little to look for from her professed friends in Donegal, where private spite and greed are the main support of your confederacy." "You are not the first who has told me that," said he gloomily. "No doubt you are glad to see our weakness in this quarter." "I should be but that my brother, although absent, is the nominal head there, and it's little credit to him." "Tim Gallagher is too good a man to be wasted." "Do you know where he is?" I inquired. "Abroad on his country's service," said Lord Edward. "You must be content with that. Here our ways part. Good-bye, my lad." And he gave me a friendly nod.