CHAPTER ELEVEN.
FUGITIVE BUT NOT VAGABOND.
His Honour was quite right; there was trouble enough out of that night's business.

But more for me than for him.
For him, as he was then situated, playing a fast and loose game between the side of order and the side of treason, the fact that his house had been attacked by friends of the latter party stood him in good stead with the former.

And if any of his brother magistrates had been inclined to suspect him of half-heartedness before, this outrage might be counted on to confirm his zeal for the right cause.
Under cover of this new security he was able to play even more than before into the hands of the lawless party.

His first act was to hush up the affair of the night attack and procure the release of the two prisoners.

His next was to abandon me to the tender mercies of those who sought vengeance for the blood of the dead man.
Once as I crossed the lough in a boat on his honour's business a shot across the water, which buried itself in the gunwale, made me look round, and I perceived one of the Rathmullan long-boats, manned by four of the party I had overheard in the inn weeks before, in full chase.
The wind was slack, and escape was almost impossible.