"There's plenty of room for good men, and yesterday's affair has made some vacancies in my own troop.
"What do you say, lads?
You would have a chance of crossing swords with the Enniskilleners, and you could always come back here when the war is over." "What do you say, boys ?" the man asked his companions.

"I am just wearying for a fight, and I could die contented, if I could but send a few of those murdering villains to their place, before I go." The other two men at once agreed.

They talked well into the night, and Walter heard many tales of the savage butchery of unoffending peasants, by the men who professed to be fighting for religious liberty, which shocked and sickened him.
It was arranged that they should start on the following morning.

The men said that they could guide him across country to Dundalk without difficulty, and assured him that he would be little likely to meet with the enemy, for that the whole country had been so wasted, by fire and sword, as to offer but little temptation even to the most insatiable of plunderers.
Accordingly, the next morning they set out, and arrived late that evening at the camp.

Walter found that his father and his followers were absent.
They had returned, much surprised at not having been rejoined by Walter's party, but on their arrival they had found there the survivors of his command, who had ridden straight for Dundalk.
After a few hours' stay, to rest the horses, Captain Davenant, with his own men and two of the troops of cavalry, had ridden out in search of the Enniskilleners.