Whenever the approaching military were observed from the top of a distant hill, where scouts were posted to look out for the enemy, a signal was made to the dealers in the contraband, who were busily employed at their lawless calling, in a poor and roofless hut, situated in a remote corner of the mountain glen. From hill to hill the well known signal spread like wild-fire, and long before the soldiers reached the spot, the chief performers were off, having previously destroyed or removed the whole apparatus of their trade, leaving not a vestige of whiskey or machinery behind. The loud shouting and hallooing of the terrified fugitives, while the gaugers thirsting for their prey gave chase, resounded among the heights. Knowing every pathway they soon outran the cunning excisemen, and by the best of generalship left them to measure back their steps, bewailing their ill fate, in thus losing their prize, that was almost within their clutches. In order to fill up the intervals between these excursions, seeking for outlawed characters, hunting for robbers and highwaymen, or any other honest calling in that line, was the employment of the military. The duty of the officer was no sinecure; nor could he ever enjoy the quiet pillow, so frequent were the demands upon his time. While the 50th was in Derry, Mr. Butler, of Grouse Hall, in the County of Donegal, was cruelly assassinated in front of his own hall door, by a noted villain named Magennis, who fired at him with deliberate aim, from a plantation before the house. Magennis, who had been engaged in other murders, bore a dreadful character, and in such horror was he held, that on hearing of the commission of this last diabolical act, that every well disposed and loyal person was willing to lend a hand in his capture, and an immense reward was offered for his apprehension. The troops of course were employed in this affair, and were out at all hours in pursuit of the outlaw, without success. For months he thus eluded the vigilance of the civil and military powers, outwitting them in their plans, and bidding defiance to their efforts to take (as he thought) his invulnerable body. Disguised in various costumes, he fled from place to place, as best might suit his purpose, perpetually changing his abode, from the remote villages to the mountains, and lying at times concealed in deep recesses of the wildest glen or rocky cavern, where assisted by his friends, (for, strange to say, this wicked man had friends!) he lay in privacy secure by day, while by night he prowled about the neighbourhood of his favorite haunts.