Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/146

 126 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [01143. So far all was well. After this there was no more talk of treating; and by the i8th, Sussex and Ormond were themselves at Armagh, with a force had there been skill to direct it sufficient to have swept Tyrone from border to border. The weather however was wet, the rivers were high, and slight difficulties seemed large to the English com- mander. He stayed in the town doing nothing till the end of the month, when his provisions began to run short, and necessity compelled him to move. Spies brought him word that in the direction of Cavan there were certain herds of cows which an active party might cut off; and cattle-driving being the approved method of making war in Ireland, the Deputy determined to have them. The Earl of Ormond was ill, and Sussex, in an evil hour for his reputation, would not leave him. His troops without their commander set out with Irish guides for the spot where the cows had been seen. O'Neil as may be supposed had been playing upon Saxon credulity ; the spies were his own men ; and the object was merely to draw the English among bogs and rivers where they could be destroyed. They were to have been attacked at night at their first halting-place ; and they escaped only by the accident of an alteration of route. Early the following morning they were march- ing forward in loose order ; Fitzwilliam, with a hundred horse, was a mile in advance ; five hundred men-at-arms with a few hundred loyal Irish of the Pale straggled after him ; another hundred horse under James Wing- field brought up the rear.