"At Killybegs," said he, "and Heaven grant we may get out of it. For a while, Tyrone, the O'Neill in these parts, sheltered and fed us. But since the English came, he has left us to our fate, and the men lie rotting here as in a dungeon." "Why," said I, "'twas rumoured in England that the Spaniards had descended on Ireland to take it, and so strike across it at the Queen." He laughed. "May your Queen ne'er have sturdier foes, Humphrey. Come and see them." As we turned the corner of the hill, we came suddenly on three men, standing with their faces seaward and engaged in earnest talk. The oldest of them was white-haired and slight of build. But the nobleman shone through his ragged raiment and battered breastplate, and I knew him in a moment to be Don Alonzo da Leyva himself. He greeted Ludar kindly, and looked enquiringly at me. "Do the spirits of English printers walk on earth?" asked he. "No, Sir Don, not till their bodies be dead," said I, saluting; "I am here to warn your Excellency that the English soldiers are drawing a cord around this place, and will fall speedily upon you in force." "'Tis well they come only to slay and not to eat us," said he, with a grim smile. And I perceived that both he and his companions were half-starved. "Yet they should not delay, for if they haste not, they will find us gone. Sir Ludar, the _Gerona_,"--here he pointed to a large galliass that lay at anchor in the bay--"is ready, and sails to-night for the Scotch coast. I claim your services yet, as you claim those of your squire." Ludar looked at me. I knew what passed in his mind, for 'twas in mine also. How could we leave Ireland thus, on a desperate venture, while those two fair maids-- But before we could even exchange our doubts, there sprang out upon us from behind a rock half-a-dozen fellows with a horseman at their head, who waved his sword and called loudly on us, in the name of the Queen, to yield. I groaned inwardly as I pulled out my sword. Once more I was about wickedly and grievously to wage war on her Majesty, and break my vows of allegiance. Yet, how could I otherwise now? The Don deigned no reply, but waited calmly for the attack. We were but five to six, and the two Spaniards were so lean and ill-fed as scarce to count as a man betwixt them. At the first onset one of them dropped dead, and the other, after scornfully running his adversary through, fell back himself in a swoon of exhaustion. Meanwhile, the Don was struggling with the horseman. I can remember, occupied as I was with the sturdy rogue who flew at me, how noble he looked, as, with head erect and visage calm, he parried blow after blow, stepping back slowly towards the rock. 'Twas a sharp fight while it lasted; for, though Ludar made short work of his first man, the other three were stubborn villains, and, being well-fed and well-armed, put us hard to it.