had need of all that unyielding firmness of character
for which he had obtained credit. Castle after castle
belonging to his cousins and himself was taken by the
powerful siege trains of President Perrott; Castlemaine,
the last stronghold which commanded an outlet by sea,
surrendered after a three months' siege, gallantly
maintained. The unyielding leader had now, therefore, no
alternative but to retire into the impregnable passes of
the Galtees, where he established his head-quarters. This
mountain range, towering from two to three thousand feet
over the plain of Ormond, stretches from north-west to
south-east, some twenty miles, descending with many a
gentle undulation towards the Funcheon and the Blackwater
in the earldom of Desmond. Of all its valleys Aharlow
was the fairest and most secluded. Well wooded, and well
watered, with outlets and intricacies known only to the
native population, it seemed as if designed for a nursery
of insurrection. It now became to the patriots of the
South what the valley of Glenmalure had long been for
those of Leinster--a fortress dedicated by Nature to the
defence of freedom. In this fastness Fitzmaurice continued
to maintain himself, until a prospect of new combinations
opened to him in the West.

The sons of the Earl of Clanrickarde, though released
from the custody of Sidney, receiving intimation that
they were to be arrested at a court which Fitton, President
of Connaught, had summoned at Galway, flew to arms and
opened negotiations with Fitzmaurice. The latter,
withdrawing from Aharlow, promptly joined them in Galway,