'
"'Av course, everyone has heard the tales of the villains' doings,
Larry.'
"'Well, the young master is mighty anxious about it, as you may guess.
Has Mr. Conyers come?'
"'Yes. He rode in at four this afternoon.'
"'Well, Mr. Davenant says you will all be safe as long as he's here, but
maybe that at some time, when he's away, you may have a troop of these
villains of the world ride in here, and little they care whether it's
Protestants or Catholics that they plunder. So, if they come here and
begin their devilries, you run for your life down to the river, opposite
Ballygan, with a white cloth or a shirt, if it's daytime, and wave it.
You are to have a pile of sticks and straw ready, and, if it's night, ye
will just set it in a blaze, and there will be help over before many
minutes. You stop there till they come, to tell them how strong the enemy
are.
"'The master says you are to tell Bridget about it, so that, if they
misbehave themselves inside the house, she can slip out and let you know.
You understand that?'
"'I do,' says he; 'and its a comfort to me, for it's fretting I have been
over what might happen, if a troop of those murderin' villains were to
come here, and not a sowl save me and the other boys to take the part of
the mistress and Miss Claire.
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