So decided the majority.  It was then proposed that we should scatter, and take shelter individually as best we could until harvest time.  But Mr. O’Brien refused to hear counsel which involved, as its first principle, the idea of becoming fugitives.  A middle course was therefore decided on.  It could not fairly be said that the country had been tested, and we were not, at the time, aware how far people at a distance were prepared to second our efforts.  The strength of the Government, too, seemed paralysed.  For miles on miles around, one solitary soldier or policeman was not to be found.  The small garrisons had been withdrawn, and all the available forces stationed in the county had been concentrated in the large towns.  The idea of maintaining our position for a few weeks seemed not at all improbable; and, meantime, we would have an opportunity of organising the distant parts of the country, and of preparing those then around us for active service.  When men differ, a compromise is sure to prevail.  It did so on that occasion, and it was accordingly resolved, that we should return to the neighbourhood of Carrick, wait the arrival of the expected assistance from Waterford, and keep the neighbouring garrison of Clonmel in awe, by signal-fires by night and scattered parties by day.  We immediately returned and rode most part of the night on our way back.  We slept a few hours at Brookhill and had interviews next morning with men who, on the previous day, were in high heart and hopes.  We at once saw the effect that delay and indecision had produced on their minds.  Reports, the most contradictory and false, respecting what Mr. O’Brien proposed and stated, had found their way among them, and it took hours to reassure them.  They again promised us to be ready, however, and we proceeded across Slievenamon.  On our journey we had interviews with the leaders of clubs and of other bodies, and at each step we found the difficulties of our position and the weakness of public confidence fearfully increased.  We still hoped that the arrival of assistance which we expected from Waterford would restore unanimity and confidence.

When we reached Kilcash, at the southern base of Slievenamon, we learned that all hope of the expected assistance was at an end.  Mr. Meagher had returned; and having despatched O’Mahony to Mr. O’Brien, to request he would once more return to the neighbourhood of the mountain, where he either could be more safely concealed for a time, or a last desperate effort could be made under better auspices, he waited several hours after the time appointed for his return, and then departed towards the direction of Borrisoleigh, in the northern riding of Tipperary, accompanied by Mr. Maurice Leyne, with whom unhappily he fell in, and to whose weak counsel, according to the information I received, much of his subsequent ill fate was owing.  The distance to Borrisoleigh could not be less than forty miles.  Mr. Meagher must have been persuaded by O’Mahony’s