themselves into Lough Erne, rather than face death at the hands of their
savage enemies, and only one of the number saved himself by swimming.

After leaving Derry, the army returned to Dublin, where the parliament
which James had summoned was then sitting. Most of the soldiers were
quartered on the citizens; but, as the pressure was very great, Captain
Davenant easily obtained leave for his troop to go out to Bray, where
they were within a very short distance of his own house.

The day after his return home, Walter went over to give Jabez Whitefoot
and his wife news of John, from whom they had heard nothing, since a
fortnight before the siege had begun.

"Your son is alive and well," were his first words. "He has been all
through the siege of Derry, and has behaved like a hero."

"The Lord be praised!" Jabez said, while his wife burst into tears of
relief, for she had gone through terrible anxiety during the long weeks
that Derry had been suffering from starvation.

"But how do you know, Master Walter?" Jabez asked. "Seeing that you were
on the side of the besiegers, how could you tell what was passing on the
inside of the walls? How do you know John is alive?"

"Because I saw him first, a month before the end of the siege, and
because he came regularly afterwards, to fetch away some provisions which
I had placed for him."

And Walter then gave a full account of John's visit to the camp, in
search of food for the children who were sheltered in the tanner's house.