Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/589

 1566.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 569 vided with shoes or tools or clothes. But foraging parties drove in sufficient beef to keep them in fresh meat. Randolph, who seems to have been a man of fine foresight, had sent to the English Pale for a supply of forage before the winter set in ; he had written to Eng- land ' for shirts, kerseys, canvas, and leather ; ' he kept Cecil constantly informed of the welfare and wants of the troops ; 1 and for some time they were healthy and in high spirits, and either worked steadily at the fortress or were doing good service in the field. While Sidney was in Connaught, Shan, who had fol- lowed him to Lifford, turned back upon the Pale, expect- ing to find it undefended. He was encountered by Sir Warham St Leger, lost two hundred men, and was at first hunted back over the Border. He again returned however with 'a main army/ burnt several villages, and in a second fight with St Leger was more successful ; the English were obliged to retire ' for lack of more aid; ' but they held together in good order, and Shan with the Derry. garrison in his rear durst not follow far from home in pursuit. Before he could revenge himself on Sidney, before he could stir against the Scots, before he could strike a blow at O'Donnell, he must pluck out the barbed dart which was fastened in his unguarded side. Knowing that he would find it no easy task, he was hovering cautiously in the neighbourhood of Lough Foyle, when Randolph fell upon him by surprise on the 1 2th of November. The O'Neils fled after a short, sharp Edward Randolph to Cecil, October 27 : Irish MSS. Molls House.