future for you, and if, in any way, my aid may be of use to you, believe
me, it will be at your service."

"It was well you were a good swimmer, sir," Walter said, "for we could
not have helped you, if you had not been able to help yourself, for the
sea was covered with pieces of wreck, and as the boat was only covered
with canvas, the slightest touch from one of the jagged ends would have
made a hole in it. I am very much obliged to you for your kind offer of
assistance; but, at present, we have not made up our minds what I am to
be.

"Have we, father?"

"No, indeed, Walter. You have told me that you would like, at any rate
for a time, to see something of the world before settling down here for
life; but it is no easy matter to say what is best for you to do. Ireland
offers but little field for anyone's ambition. Since King James came to
the throne, and especially since Tyrconnell became governor, things have
been a little more favourable for us; and I have hopes, yet, that justice
will be done to the Catholic population of this unhappy country.

"Is it not monstrous, Colonel L'Estrange, that the very men who had a
hand in the rebellion against King Charles the First, should still be in
possession, during the reign of his son, of the lands which were taken
from my father because he was loyal to his king? And so it is all over
Ireland. The descendants of Cromwell's men lord it in the homes of those
who were faithful to King Charles."

"It certainly seems so, sir," Colonel L'Estrange said; "but I am no
politician. I am simply a soldier, and obey orders; but I own that it