"He could not get away," the colonel said, from the other end of the table. "If the general had come round and there hadn't been a field-officer left to meet him there would have been a row over it. I have brought pretty nearly all the officers with me, and I dared not stretch it further." "O'Grady," Terence said, "I wish you would carve this hare for me, I have no idea how it ought to be cut. I can manage a chicken, or a duck, but this is beyond me altogether." "I will do it gladly, Terence; faith, it is a comfort to find that there is something you can't do." And so, with much laughter and fun, the meal was eaten. "You have not told us yet where you got all these provisions, O'Connor," the colonel said; "it is too bad to keep all the good things to yourself." "It has been the work of eight officers, Colonel; they rode off this morning in different directions among the hills, and there was not one of them who returned empty-handed." "The wine is fairly good," the colonel said, as he set down his tin mug after a long draught, "but it was scarce worth sending all the way up from Lisbon." "That has to follow, Colonel; I thought you would appreciate it better after you had done eating." "I have not had such a male since we left Athlone," O'Grady said, when at last he reluctantly laid down his knife and fork. "Be jabers, it would be all up with me if the French were to put in an appearance now, for faith I don't think I could run a yard to save me life." The tin mugs were all taken away and washed when the table was cleared. "You are mighty particular, O'Connor," the colonel said. "One mug is good enough for us. If we liquored-up a dozen times--which, by the way, we never do--one of these wines is pretty well like another, and if there was a slight difference it would not matter." When the board was cleared a large jug was placed before Terence, and some water-bottles at various points of the table. "I thought, Colonel, that you might prefer spirits even to the wine," Terence said. "And you are right, O'Connor. A good glass of wine after a good dinner is no bad thing, but after such a meal as we have eaten I think that even this bastely spirit of theirs--which, after all, is not so bad when you get accustomed to it--is better than wine; it settles matters a bit." Terence poured some of the spirit from a jug into his tin and filled it up with water. "Help yourself," he said, passing the jug to O'Grady, who sat next to him. O'Grady was about to do so when he suddenly set the jug down. "By the powers," he exclaimed, in astonishment, "but it is the real cratur!" "Go on, O'Grady, go on, the others are all waiting while you are looking at it. If you feel too surprised to take it, pass the jug on." O'Grady grasped it. "I will defind it wid me life!" he exclaimed. In the meantime the colonel had filled his mug. "Gentlemen," he said, solemnly, after raising it to his lips, "O'Grady is right; it is Irish whisky, and good at that."