leave stopped, and we not even allowed to go out for a day's fishing."

Three days later the expected order arrived. As the baggage had all been
packed up, that which was to be left behind being handed over to the care
of the barrack-master, and a considerable portion of the heavy baggage
sent on by cart, there was no delay. Officers and men were alike delighted
that the period of waiting had come to an end, and there was loud cheering
in the barrack-yard as soon as the news came. At daybreak next morning the
rest of the baggage started under a guard, and three hours later the Mayo
Fusiliers marched through the town with their band playing at their head,
and amid the cheers of the populace.

As yet the martial spirit that was roused by the struggle in the Peninsula
had scarcely begun to show itself, but there was a strong animosity to
France throughout England, and a desire to aid the people of Spain and
Portugal in their efforts for freedom. In Ireland, for the most part,
there was no such feeling. Since the battle of the Boyne and the siege of
Limerick, France had been regarded by the greater portion of the
peasantry, and a section of the population of the towns, as the natural
ally of Ireland, and there was a hope that when Napoleon had all Europe
prostrate under his feet he would come as the deliverer of Ireland from
the English yoke. Consequently, although the townspeople of Athlone
cheered the regiment as it marched away, the country people held aloof
from it as it passed along the road. Scowling looks from the women greeted
it in the villages, while the men ostentatiously continued their work in
the fields without turning to cast a glance at them.

Terence was not posted to his father's company, but was in that of Captain
O'Driscol, although the lad himself would have preferred to be with
Captain O'Grady, with whom he was a great favourite. The latter was one of