The story of their tragic fate is admirably told by Mr.
Froude:--'The situation and the difficulty of access had thus long marked Rathlin as a place of refuge for Scotch or Irish fugitives, and, besides its natural strength, it was respected as a sanctuary, having been the abode at one time of St.Columba.A mass of broken masonry, on a cliff overhanging the sea, is a remnant of the castle in which Robert Bruce watched the leap of the legendary spider.

To this island, when Essex entered Antrim, M'Connell and other Scots had sent their wives and children, their aged and their sick, for safety.

On his way through Carrickfergus, when returning to Dublin, the earl ascertained that they had not yet been brought back to their homes.
The officer in command of the English garrison (it is painful to mention the name either of him, or of any man concerned in what ensued) was John Norris, Lord Norris's second son, so famous afterwards in the Low Countries, grandson of Sir Henry Norris, executed for adultery with Anne Boleyn.

Three small frigates were in the harbour.

The summer had been hot and windless; the sea was smooth, there was a light and favourable air from the east; and Essex directed Norris to take a company of soldiers with him, cross over, and--' What?
Bring those women and children, those sick and aged folk, back to their homes?
Essex had made peace by treaty with the O'Neill.