“It all seems simple enough, Kennedy, and, if it were a citizen, one would think nothing of the undertaking.  But it is nothing short of high treason for us thus to make free with the person of the chief minister of England.”

“That is a matter that does not concern me at all, O’Neil.  If we were captured now, we should be executed for high treason with the others; and if we carried off Anne herself, they could not do much more to us.

“Now, it seems to me that if you are both agreed that we should carry out the plan, the first thing to be done is to arrange for horses; or, better still, for a light cart to carry the four of us.  I should think that Mike would, among his acquaintances, be able to hear of a man with a couple of fast horses and such a cart as we require, who would agree to drive us to the coast, arranging a change of horses on the way.  He could offer ten louis, which would be a sum that a man of that kind would be well satisfied with.”

“I will see to that, your honour.  I have no doubt that I can find such a man without difficulty.  When would you want him?”

“Tonight, certainly, with the arrangement that, if we do not come to the appointed spot, we shall be there tomorrow night.  Recollect ten louis is all we can afford, but if he wants any more, he must have it.

“Well, we will leave that to you.”

Then he went on to the others: 

“We had better go down to Saint James’s.  Mike can go out and buy us three shock wigs, with which we can cover our hair and look our parts better.  We had better separate when we get there, and watch the entrances to the palace, gazing about like rustics; then we can get into a conversation with any servant that we see, and try and find out from which door members of the council usually issue, and at about what hour.  We could succeed without that, because we should notice the chairs waiting for them.  Still, it is as well that we should get all the information we can.  There will be, doubtless, personages leaving who have been with the Princess Anne.  They might go out by another entrance, and therefore we should miss our man.”

“You will have more than the two chair men to deal with, your honour, for there are sure to be two link men with the chair.”

“Well, it will be as easy to dispose of four men as of two, Mike.”

“Every bit, your honour, and the more of them the more divarsion.”

An hour later they set out, now so well disguised that no one would have dreamt that the three Irishmen were officers in a French regiment; and before noon Desmond succeeded in obtaining, from a scullion employed in the palace, the particulars that he required.  On saying that he had but just come to London, and wanted to get a sight of the great people, the present of a shilling sufficed to extract the information from the boy; and Desmond then rejoined his companions, and they at once returned to their lodgings, where they found Mike awaiting them.