Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/581

1566.] >A Ttf OP s NEIL. 56* help Shan to gather his harvest ; ' 1 and Sidney as from time to time some fresh ungracious letter came from Elizabeth would break into a rage again and press Cecil ' for his recall from that accursed country/ 2 Otherwise however the prospects grew brighter with tLe autumn. In the second week in September the Bristol transports were seen passing into the North Channel with a lead ing breeze. Horsey came over with the money ; the troops of the Pale with the long due arrears paid up ' were ordered to Drogheda ; and on the 1 7th, assured that by that time Randolph was in Lough Foyle, the Deputy, accompanied by Kildare, the old O'Donnell. Shan M'Gruyre, and another dispossessed chief O'Dog- herty, took the field. Passing Armagh, which they found a mere heap of blackened stones, they reached the Blackwater on the 23rd. On an island in a lake near the river there stood one of those many robber castles which lend in their ruin such romantic beauty to the inland waters of Ire- land. Report said that within its walls Shan had stored much of his treasure, and the troops were eager to take it. Sidney selected from among the many volunteers such only as were able to swim, and a bridge was ex- temporized with brushwood floated upon barrels. The army was without artillery ; it had been found imprac- ticable to carry a single cannon over roadless bog and mountain, and the storming party started with hand- 1 Edward Randolph to Cecil from Bristol, September 3 : Irish Rolls House. - Sidney to Cecil, September 10 : MS. Ibid. VOL. vn. 36