the company of the MacCarthys, O'Sullivans, MacSheehys, and O'Connors, he marched to Bewley at the tidal high point of the Finisk, where he demanded service of Maurice Fitzgerald in the formal way, according to the customary military exactions of coyne and livery. Fitzgerald offered to go to arbitration, but Desmond insisted on the sole decision of his brehon; they could not agree. Desmond pitched camp, ordered the slaughter of 60 cattle, sent some horseboys out to fire a few houses and sent others to Dungarvan for wine. Three houses were set on fire, and Ormonde came down the mountain with the O'Kennedys, Gillapatricks, and Burkes. A local man advised Desmond to attack immediately, lying to him that Ormonde himself was absent. Lord Power, however, urged him to retreat to his house at Curraghmore and consider his position. Desmond's assessment was that the opposing forces were weak and could be taken with ease, and so he chose to attack. The Geraldines set off for Dromana in the parish of Affane, the chief seat of the Fitzgeralds of the Decies, taking up reinforcements at Lismore on the way. At this point Ormonde had progressed to the ford of Affane, a short distance below Lismore Castle, where his forces, bearing a red flag, were passed by Desmond's foot soldiers at the crossroads. Desmond's men hoisted their banner, and matters came to a head. Desmond spotted Ormonde and spurred his horse onward, causing a desultory exchange of gunfire. Ormonde fell into defensive formation. Ormonde's brother, Sir Edmund Butler of Cloughgrenan, hit Desmond in the right hip with a pistol-shot, cracking his thigh-bone and throwing him from his horse. With their leader fallen, the Geraldine troops were routed and the Butlers pursued them to the riverbank. About 300 Geraldines were killed, with many drowning as they were intercepted by armed boats in crossing the river. As the badly wounded captive Desmond was being carried shoulder-high from the field, an Ormonde commander rode up and jubilantly inquired, "Where is now the great Lord Desmond?" Whereupon Desmond is said to have retorted, "Where but in his proper place, on the necks of the Butlers?" Ormonde took the wounded Desmond in captivity to Clonmel and then to Waterford city, where Lord Deputy of Ireland Nicholas Arnold took custody of him after a legal wrangle with Ormonde. Sir Henry Sidney replaced Arnold, but his attention was initially occupied in