D’Aquila did not justify the hopes which the Irish had entertained of his protracted resistance. He was sick of thcountry and the people, and desired nothing but to see the last of both. The disasters of the campaign he attributed to the treachery and cowardice of the Irish. Almost immediately he began negotiations with Mountjoy, who, eager ” to see his heels towards Ireland,” treated him with the utmost consideration and politeness. The conditions were soon arranged. D’Aquila handed over to the Deputy not only the town of Kinsale, but also the various castles which had been entrusted to his care by the chiefs, their owners. In February he and his men set sail, taking with them their arms, supplies and money

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For more than a year the war dragged on, but, unless speedy succours came from abroad to the Irish, its end was a foregone conclusion. O’Sullivan Beare, indignant at the treachery of D’Aquila in delivering over to the English his ancestral castle of Dunboy, succeeded in recovering it by a stratagem, and put into it a small garrison of Irish troops. In June, Carew, with a force of over 3,000, laid siege to Dunboy. The little garrison resisted bravely, but after ten days the castle, battered by red-hot shots from the English cannon, was crumbling to pieces around them. Still they fought on, retreating first to the great hall, which had remained intact, and, when driven from there, to the basement, where they made their last stand.

Hugh O’Neill had not favoured the Spaniards, at least openly. Indeed, he professed zeal against them, but the English authorities appear to have had considerable doubt as to the sincerity of his professions. They had begun to entertain doubts even of his loyalty, and indeed with reason. He had probably long before this conceived the idea of uniting all Ireland in one great effort to shake off the yoke of the stranger, and attain actual or virtual independence.

Still, Hugh was in no haste to begin the contest. At home in Tir Owen, he was drilling the men of his clan ; hiring English captains to teach them the new methods which were to replace the old tribal tactics, as the muskets were to replace the bows and arrows and the spears. He succeeded well, for later we have Essex’s testimony that, in the use of these arms, the rebels were better skilled than were his own soldiers. Meanwhile, to the authorities in Dublin, Hugh ” played the good subject.” In 1589 Hugh Gaveloch, one of Shane’s sons, informed the English authorities that he had learned in Scotland that the Earl of Tyrone was preparing to rebel, and had been seeking aid from Spain.

The Earl gave the luckless accuser no time to furnish proofs of his charge. He got him into his hands, and at once caused him to be hanged. Such an act required an explanation, and Hugh had one to offer. Hugh Gaveloch, he said, had committed several murders and other acts of violence in Tir Owen, and Irish customs, still followed by many other chiefs, allowed him to put malefactors of this sort to death. When summoned to London, he repeated this explanation to the Privy Council there, and showed himself so ” loyal ” and so anxious to enter into all their plans that they were delighted with him, and he returned to Ireland without a stain on his character.