diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/53324-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/53324-0.txt | 8519 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 8519 deletions
diff --git a/old/53324-0.txt b/old/53324-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4b705be..0000000 --- a/old/53324-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8519 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Tales of the R.I.C, by Unknown and The Royal Irish Constabulary - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Tales of the R.I.C - -Author: Unknown and The Royal Irish Constabulary - -Release Date: October 19, 2016 [EBook #53324] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF THE R.I.C. *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - TALES OF THE - R.I.C. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TALES OF THE - R.I.C. - - - William Blackwood and Sons - Edinburgh and London - 1921 - - _ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - I. THE INFORMER 1 - - II. ON THE RUN 20 - - III. THE LANDING OF ARMS 37 - - IV. THE RED CROSS 54 - - V. THE R.M. 69 - - VI. AN OUTLAW 79 - - VII. THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES 97 - - VIII. MR BRIGGS’ ISLAND 108 - - IX. THE REWARD OF LOYALTY 120 - - X. POTEEN 137 - - XI. THE MAYOR’S CONSCIENCE 152 - - XII. A BRUTAL MURDER 166 - - XIII. SEAL ISLAND 176 - - XIV. A FAMILY AFFAIR 191 - - XV. THE AMERICAN NURSE 208 - - XVI. FATHER JOHN 223 - - XVII. THE BOG CEMETERY 236 - - XVIII. A JEW IN GAELIC CLOTHING 253 - - XIX. MOUNTAIN WARFARE 262 - - XX. THE GREAT ROUND UP 281 - - XXI. THE TRUCE 300 - - - - - TALES OF THE R.I.C. - - -[Illustration] - - - - - I. - THE INFORMER. - - -In many parts of the west of Ireland one finds small mountain farms of -from five to twenty acres, generally consisting of twenty-five per cent -rock, twenty-five per cent heather, and the remainder of indifferent -grass-land. On such a farm a peasant will rear a large family, and how -it is done is one of the mysteries of Ireland; but done it is, and -often. - -Patsey Mulligan was one of a family of ten, brought up on one of these -farms until he was seventeen, when his father told him that it was time -he thought of keeping himself, and, incidentally, of earning some money -for his mother. Patsey quite agreed with his father, but soon found that -it was much easier to talk of getting work in such a poor district as -Cloonalla than to get it. - -In the end Patsey made up his mind that the only thing to do was to go -to England in search of work, and one cold winter’s morning he set off -from his home, in company with three other lads from the same townland, -to walk the fifteen miles across the mountains and bogs to the nearest -railway station at Ballybor. Arriving in England, they made their way to -a town in Yorkshire, where one of them had a brother working in a -coal-mine, and within three days of leaving his home in Ireland Patsey -found himself a Yorkshire miner. - -Hardly had he settled down to his work in the coal-mine when the war -broke out, followed by a rush of young miners to enlist, amongst others -Patsey Mulligan; and before he realised what he was doing, he was a full -private in a famous Yorkshire regiment. Patsey had, however, enlisted in -the name of Murphy, hoping to keep his people in ignorance of the fact, -knowing it would break his mother’s heart if she knew he was fighting. - -Patsey thoroughly enjoyed the training, and within seven months of -enlisting embarked for France; and after a few weeks’ pleasant life in -billets, gradually moved north until finally the battalion took over -trenches in the famous salient of Ypres—a great contrast to Patsey’s -home in the west of Ireland. - -There happened to be in the battalion a young Irish subaltern by name -Anthony Blake, and when Blake told his Company Sergeant-Major to find -him a servant—an Irishman if possible—Patsey at once volunteered for the -job, and between the two young Irishmen there soon sprang up a -friendship through the common bond of danger and discomfort. - -After some time Patsey learnt through one of the boys with whom he had -first crossed to England that his mother was dangerously ill, and that -she had repeatedly written to Patsey to come home and see her before she -died, but had naturally received no answer. In his trouble he appealed -to Blake, and that night found him waiting at Popperinghe Station for -the leave train with a return-warrant to Ballybor in his pocket. - -On his arrival at Ballybor he set out on his long fifteen-mile tramp to -his home at Cloonalla, and late on a summer’s evening the family of -Mulligan were startled by a British soldier in full marching order -walking into their home. - -Before his mother died she made Patsey promise that he would not go back -to France, and that he would stay at home and help his father to mind -the other children. It is hard for a son to refuse his dying mother, and -doubly so for an Irish boy. - -When his mother’s funeral was over, Patsey buried his uniform and -equipment in a bog-hole at night; but his rifle he hid in the thatch of -an outhouse, and it was given out in the neighbourhood that he had been -discharged from the Army as medically unfit. - -After the usual time Patsey was posted as a deserter in his battalion; -Blake found a new servant and forgot all about his late one, while -Patsey settled down to work with his father, and the memory of Blake and -the British Army faded from his mind. - -Though wounded three times, Blake was one of the lucky men to return -home to Ireland at the end of the war, and at once set about looking for -a job. The son of a country doctor in the south of Ireland, at the -outbreak of war he had just left school, and had not had time to settle -on a career. - -But if in England it was hard for ex-officers to get employment, in -Ireland it was doubly so; and Blake soon found that it was next to -impossible for a man who had worn the King’s uniform to get any work or -appointment. The power of Sinn Fein was beginning to be felt in the -land, and though many people would have gladly employed men returned -from the front, they dared not. - -At last, when he had quite given up hope, he received by post an offer -to join the newly-formed Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish -Constabulary, and, gladly jumping at such an offer, was soon in training -at the depot in Dublin. After a tour of duty in the south, the -authorities offered him a cadetship in the R.I.C., and in the course of -two months Blake found himself the District Inspector at Ballybor. - -At this time the R.I.C., after about as bad a hammering as any force -ever received, were beginning to get their tails up again; and whereas -previously no policeman dared show his face outside his barracks after -dark, they were now occasionally sending out strong patrols at -night-time, to the great concern of the local Sinn Feiners, who for a -considerable time had had things all their own way in the south and -west. - -The police district of Ballybor is, like many others in the west of -Ireland, large, consisting chiefly of mountains, bogs, lakes, and a few -small scattered villages, some of them hidden away in the mountains—an -ideal district in peace time for a D.I. who is fond of shooting and -fishing, but in war time a hard district to control with the small force -of police at a D.I.’s disposal. - -Previous to Blake’s arrival all the barracks in the district had been -vacated with the exception of Ballybor and “Grouse Lodge,” a small -barrack at the foot of the mountains in the Cloonalla district; and as -each barrack was vacated, it was blown up or burnt by the local -Volunteers. - -In all former rebellions in Ireland the Government have found that to -get information it was only necessary to pay money. Sometimes it did not -cost much, other times they had to pay generously, but always money -produced information; and at the beginning of the Sinn Fein trouble the -Government naturally assumed that money would produce the informers as -before. But this time they were wrong, and it was only—when the -Government were at their wits’ end—by a lucky chance of finding -important papers on a man, who was shot at night during a military raid -on a Dublin hotel, that at last they received the information which -enabled them to grapple successfully with Sinn Fein. - -There is no doubt that the originators of Sinn Fein had read their -country’s history carefully, and were determined that this time there -should be no informers; and to this end they organised a “Reign of -Terror” throughout Ireland such as few countries have ever seen at any -time in history. Their chief obstacle was the R.I.C., and once this -force was reduced to a state of inactivity—they thought they had broken -it for good and all—their task appeared comparatively easy. Every man, -woman, and child in the south and west of Ireland knew that if they gave -any information to the police they would be shot, and shot they were. - -When Blake took over his duties at Ballybor, he found that the police -had no source of information whatsoever, with the result that each -attack on a barrack and every ambush of a patrol came as a surprise to -them. So great was the “Reign of Terror” in the Ballybor district that -no person dare speak to a policeman, and the shopkeepers were afraid to -serve one, even with the necessities of life. - -Blake quickly realised that if he was ever to get the upper hand in his -district, he must discover some source of getting information, and find -it quickly, before the whole population were driven to join forces -against him. - -One of Sinn Fein’s principles has been that the fewer who know the fewer -can tell, and, as a rule, there has only been one man in a -district—usually the local captain of the Volunteers—who has information -of coming events; and Blake knew that his only chance of reliable news -lay with this man, and with him alone. - -About the only information which his men could give him of his area was -that a young man, who lived in the townland of Cloonalla, named Patsey -Mulligan, was the captain of the local Volunteers, and that his house -was close to the barracks at Grouse Lodge; so he determined to go out to -Grouse Lodge Barracks and stay there until he had either come to terms -with Patsey Mulligan, or saw that it was hopeless. - -On a fine winter’s morning Blake set out from the barracks at Ballybor -in the Crossley tender with an escort of six police, the most he dared -take with him for fear of weakening the Ballybor garrison. It was -market-day in the little town, and all along the road to Grouse Lodge -they met the country people coming in—some in horse-carts, others in -ass-carts, and the poorer ones on foot—but not one of them would speak -to or even look at the police, the people on foot even getting off the -road into the fields directly they caught sight of the police-car -approaching. - -On learning from one of the constables that Mulligan’s house was not on -the main road to Grouse Lodge Barracks, but on a byroad, Blake ordered -the driver to go by this road, and when he came to Mulligan’s house to -stop the car and pretend that something required adjusting in his -engine. After a time the driver stopped outside an ordinary thatched -cottage on the side of the road, and, as Blake had expected, the -inhabitants came to the door to see who it was. - -The first to appear was a young man, and as the constable whispered to -Blake that he was Patsey Mulligan, Blake nearly shouted for joy, for he -saw that the man was none other than “Murphy,” his former servant in -France, and a deserter from his Majesty’s Army in the field! - -At once, before Patsey could get a good look at him and possibly -recognise him, Blake ordered the driver to go on to the barracks as fast -as the bad road would allow them. - -The question now was how to get hold of Mulligan alone, and this was -settled by the information which a constable at Grouse Lodge was able to -give. It appeared that this plucky constable had for some time past been -in the habit of slipping out of the barracks by the back entrance at -night in plain clothes and returning before daybreak. He had discovered -that Mulligan was in the habit of meeting a girl nearly every night at a -certain lonely spot about a mile from his house; and from overhearing -their conversation, had found out that Patsey wanted to marry this girl, -but that she had refused to marry him until he had enough money to take -her out of the country and to buy a small farm in America. - -On questioning this constable, Blake was able to get a detailed account -of Mulligan’s movements since the time of his desertion. It appeared -that for a considerable time after he came back he hardly left his home -at all, contenting himself by working on his father’s farm, and it was -not until the Sinn Fein Volunteers were started in the district and -Mulligan was elected captain that he appeared in public. - -About the same time there was a report in the neighbourhood that Patsey -Mulligan was courting a girl called Bridgie O’Hara, who lived in the -Cloonalla district; also that another man in the same townland with -money was doing his best to make her marry him. - -Bridgie had two brothers in the Royal Irish Constabulary, and as the -Sinn Fein movement grew stronger and the resistance of the Government -weaker, the Volunteers started to boycott the O’Hara family. So savage -had the boycott become lately that not a soul dared speak to them, and -it was only by going to a town several miles away that they were able to -obtain food. - -As soon as it was dark that night Blake and the constable, both in plain -clothes, slipped out at the back of the barracks and made their way to -Mulligan’s trysting-place. As usual, Mulligan and Bridgie met, and when -they parted Blake and the constable followed Mulligan until the girl was -well out of hearing, when they called on him to halt, at the same time -covering him with their automatics. - -Mulligan at once stopped and put up his hands, but did not speak, and -while Blake continued to cover him, the constable searched him for arms. -Blake then ordered Mulligan to walk in front of him until they came to a -mountain track which was off the road; leaving the constable on guard, -he ordered Mulligan to walk up the track in front of him. - -After they had gone about a hundred yards, Blake stopped and asked -Mulligan if he knew that he was liable to be arrested and shot for -desertion from the British Army, and waited to see the effect of his -words, as the whole success of his plan depended on this. - -By now Mulligan had recognised Blake’s voice, and knowing well what -would happen to him if he fell into the hands of the military, fell on -his knees and begged Blake to spare him. Blake at once explained his -terms, which the boy eagerly accepted, thankful to get off at any price, -though not counting the cost and danger of what he was doing. - -Blake’s terms were that Mulligan should give him information well -beforehand of every contemplated outrage in the district, and, in -return, promised him, on behalf of the British Government, a free -pardon, £500, and a passage for himself and Bridgie to any country he -wished to go to, but not until the Sinn Fein movement was crushed in the -district. - -As it happened, only the evening before, Bridgie had told Patsey that -she could not stand the boycott any longer, and that if he could not -take her away to America at once she would marry Mike Connelly; hence -the promise of the £500 seemed to poor Patsey like a gift from heaven. - -It was arranged, in order that no suspicion should be drawn down on him, -that Mulligan should leave his letter at night-time when going to meet -Bridgie O’Hara under a certain large stone a few feet from where they -were, near the point where the track and road met. As there was nothing -more to settle, Blake told Mulligan to go home at once, while he and the -constable made their way back to the barracks, and the following day -Blake returned to Ballybor. - -At this time Blake found that several of his men showed a strong -disinclination to leave the barracks, and remembering how hard it used -to be sometimes during the war to get men who had been stuck in trenches -for months to go “over the top,” he decided to organise strong daylight -patrols so that each man should leave his barracks for a certain number -of hours every day. In addition to patrols round Ballybor, he sent out a -strong patrol on certain days to work its way across country—always by a -different route—to Grouse Lodge Barracks, where the patrol spent the -night, returning to Ballybor across country the following day. - -Taking advantage of mistakes made in other parts of the country, he sent -no patrols on the main routes, but made them all go across country, only -using the roads for short distances when they were open, and when it was -practically impossible to be ambushed. - -For some time there came no information from Mulligan, and when at last -a note was brought from him from Grouse Lodge, it only contained the -laconic news that the price for shooting a policeman had gone up from -£60 to £100; and though no further message came from Mulligan for -another ten days, as no outrages had been committed during this time, -Blake had no reason to think that he was not fulfilling his part of the -bargain. - -Early one morning a bicycle patrol arrived at Ballybor Barracks from -Grouse Lodge, and the constable who had been with Blake the night he met -Mulligan handed him a note to the effect that two car-loads of arms were -to arrive in the Cloonalla district that night for the purpose of an -attack on Grouse Lodge Barracks the following night. Mulligan gave the -route the cars would take, but did not state at what hour they might be -expected. - -On looking at an Ordnance map, Blake noticed that the cars would have to -pass through a small wood, and that the road took a sharp bend where it -entered the wood. Taking a leaf out of the Sinn Feiners’ book, he -determined to ambush the cars at the bend, and to try and seize cars and -arms. - -The difficulty was to know what to do with the cars once they had gained -possession of them. The Volunteers would no doubt collect in the -Cloonalla district to take over the arms, hence it would be dangerous to -attempt to take them to Grouse Lodge Barracks, which was much the nearer -barrack to the proposed scene of the ambush; so in the end he settled, -if he came off victorious, to take the cars by byroads to Ballybor and -risk being attacked in the town at night. A few days before this Blake -had received his first batch of “Black and Tans,” bringing his force up -to a respectable number, so felt quite justified in making the attempt. - -As soon as it was dark that night, Blake with five of his men left -Grouse Lodge, and made their way by the starlight across country to the -wood. The men brought axes with them, and soon had the road blocked with -two small fir-trees, after which they took cover on each side of the -road and waited. - -At ten the moon rose and the night still remained fine, but it was not -until after two that they heard the cars approaching. The leading car -came round the bend at a good pace, pulling up just clear of the -barricade, while the second car, failing to see the obstacle on the -road, was unable to pull up in time, and ran into the back of the -leading car. - -Blake at once stood up and called on the men—there were two in each -car—to put up their hands; but for answer they opened fire with -automatics in the direction of Blake’s voice, whereupon the police fired -a volley at the cars, and three of the men were seen to collapse, after -which the fourth put up his hands. - -They found that two of the men were dead, while the third was shot -through the chest. After removing all papers and arms from the dead men, -they hid their bodies in the wood, removed the trees from the road, and -started off to Ballybor, where they arrived without mishap, and soon had -the two cars safely in the barrack-yard. - -On investigation they found that the cars contained thirty carbines and -rifles, several thousand rounds of ammunition, and two boxes of -home-made bombs. - -This capture had a great effect on the police _morale_ in the district, -and, in fact, marked the turning-point in the Sinn Fein campaign in that -area, while the two captured cars made a welcome addition to the police -transport. - -Shortly afterwards Blake received a warning from Mulligan to expect an -attack on a named night on the barracks in Ballybor, and that an attempt -would be made to blow up the gable-end of the barracks. The night before -the expected attack Blake brought all the men that could be spared with -safety from Grouse Lodge, and made his preparations for defence. - -The attack opened with heavy rifle-fire from all the surrounding houses, -which drove the unfortunate inhabitants of Ballybor in terror from the -town, and after an hour a determined rush was made under heavy covering -fire to ram the barrack door; but the fire of the police forced them to -drop the ram and run for shelter. Only one attempt was made to blow up -the gable, the police allowing the attackers to start laying the -gelignite, and then dropping a Mills bomb from the window above, where a -projecting V-shaped steel shutter had been put up, with deadly effect. - -After this the attackers kept up an intermittent rifle-fire for another -two hours, and towards daybreak withdrew, leaving the police victorious; -and although several men had been seen to fall during the attempt to ram -the door, by the time it was light their bodies had been removed. - -A subsequent attack on Grouse Lodge Barracks was also successfully -beaten off without any police casualties; but an attempt Blake made to -capture an important Volunteer staff-officer in the Cloonalla district -one night failed—the bird had flown a quarter of an hour before the -patrol surrounded the house where he had been staying. - -This attempt to seize the staff-officer convinced the Volunteers that -there was a traitor in the district, and a Volunteer intelligence -officer was sent down forthwith from Dublin to investigate. - -Blake now felt that he was really beginning to break the Sinn Fein in -his district, and decided to take the offensive to the full extent of -his power. Not only did he have the town and country patrolled night and -day, but he also sent out parties of “Black and Tans” to search houses -in the country for suspected stores of arms, and also to try and obtain -information by all means in their power. - -Though at this time the people were beginning to get restive under the -Sinn Fein tyranny, yet so great was the terror that not a single person -in the whole district dared to give the police one word of information -of his own will; and though the information from Mulligan was of vital -importance as regards attacks and movements by the Volunteers, yet Blake -was still in complete ignorance of the names of the most dangerous Sinn -Feiners. - -Blake felt that he was winning, but he knew that there would be no peace -or rest in his district until he had arrested the leaders: the others -would then be like sheep without a shepherd. To this end an interview -with Mulligan was necessary, in order to get from him the names of these -leaders. - -This time Blake waylaid Mulligan as he was going to meet Bridgie O’Hara, -and at once saw that the boy’s nerve was fast breaking. Mulligan gave -him the names and addresses he wanted readily enough, and then implored -Blake to have him arrested at once and taken to a place of safety, as he -was in terror of his life. - -He told Blake that the Volunteers were already suspicious of him, and -that an intelligence officer had been specially sent down from Dublin to -watch him and report on the leakage of information, and that he could -not stick it any longer. Blake, knowing that once Mulligan was removed, -he would not get any information at all, managed after a long argument -to persuade him to carry on a little longer, by promising to arrest him -when the other leaders were taken. - -After parting from Blake the unhappy Mulligan met his girl, who by this -time was half-mad from the misery of the boycott of her family. In -despair she told him she had made up her mind to marry Connelly, and -they would sail for America as soon as they could get passports. - -Patsey, at the end of his tether and racked with terror, implored her to -wait a little longer, saying that very soon he would have £500, and -directly he got the money he would take her away. - -The girl went home in the seventh heaven of delight, forgot all about -the promises of silence she had made to Patsey, and told her mother, -who, of course, told her husband, and it was not many days before the -good news was common property in the district. A few days afterwards the -intelligence officer returned to his H.Q.’s—his mission was fulfilled. - -Having got the ringleaders’ names, Blake at once set about his plans for -arresting them, realising that not until they were safe under lock and -key could he truthfully say that he had won; but it is one thing to -arrest two or three men, and quite a different story to arrest thirty or -forty, as, if not all arrested at the same time, the majority would get -warning and disappear on the run. - -Once again Blake met Mulligan at night, and arranged with him to call a -meeting of the ringleaders the following Sunday at early Mass outside a -wayside chapel in the Cloonalla district, when he proposed to arrest -them, and promised Mulligan he would be separated from the others at -once and conveyed to England on a destroyer. At first Mulligan refused, -being now demented with the fear of assassination, but when promised the -payment of the £500 on his arrival in England, he consented. - -Blake arranged that on the following Sunday morning as many men as could -be spared should be sent from Grouse Lodge and Ballybor Barracks to meet -near the Cloonalla chapel at the same time, when he hoped to surround -the crowd and make the arrests without any difficulty. - -On a typical soft Irish morning Blake and his men set out early from -Ballybor Barracks on their drive to the chapel, full of hope that the -day’s work would clinch his victory, and that then he would apply for -leave, as the strain of the last few months was beginning to tell on -him, and he needed a rest badly. - -When the Crossley was within half a mile of the chapel and still out of -view from there, Blake stopped the car, got out his men, and proceeded -to surround the chapel, while Blake himself advanced alone towards the -chapel gates. When he drew near he could see that the road in front of -the gates was a mass of country people, who did not move until Blake got -close to them, when they divided, forming a lane towards the gates. - -And to his last day Blake will never forget the sight which met his eyes -as he advanced through the people in a deathly silence. Lashed to one of -the pillars of the chapel gates was the body of the unfortunate Patsey -Mulligan with two bullet-holes through his forehead, and pinned on his -chest a sheet of white paper bearing the single word TRAITOR, while at -his feet lay poor Bridgie O’Hara, her body heaving with sobs, and her -long dark hair, which had been cut off, lying on the ground beside her. - - - - - II. - ON THE RUN. - - -Paddy Flanagan stood in the doorway of his small shop in the main street -of the mean and dirty little village of Ballyfrack, watching the rain -coming down in torrents, while he listened with one ear to his wife -arguing with a countrywoman in the shop behind him over the price of -eggs, and with his other ear for the high-pitched sound of a powerful -car. - -Presently the woman in the shop, having sold her eggs and bought -provisions, wrapped her shawl over her head and started to make her way -home. As Paddy moved aside to let the woman out, his ear caught the -dreaded sound he was expecting, growing louder every second, and -culminating in a shower-bath of mud as two Crossley tenders, full of -Auxiliary Cadets, dashed past the shop and disappeared as suddenly as -they had come. - -Hardly had the noise of the engines died away than Paddy’s quick ear -caught the sound of cars approaching again, and two Ford cars—the first -carrying a huge coffin and the second apparently mourners—drew up at the -small hotel almost opposite Paddy’s shop. - -Some two years previously Flanagan had become a rabid Sinn Feiner—he had -previously been as rabid a Nationalist—with a keen eye to business. For -a long time it looked as though Sinn Fein was the only horse in the -race, and the dream of an Irish Republic seemed more than likely to -become a reality; lately, however, the British Government had been -sitting up and taking a quite unnecessary interest in Ireland. - -First, the British Government had formed the Auxiliary Division—“those -cursed pups of Cromwell,” as Paddy described them to his friends, while -Mrs Paddy used to say that the Government had recruited them from all -the prisons and asylums in England; then, to crown all, the Government -had had the audacity to put several counties within easy reach of -Ballyfrack under martial law. - -So far Paddy had carried on the war for freedom with words only, but a -week before this story starts he had found to his great alarm that he -would be called upon for deeds. On a dark Sunday night, just as the -Flanagans were preparing to go to bed, there came two short sharp knocks -at the shop door, followed by a long one. - -Now Paddy had always had a great dread of night work, and swore that -come what might he would not open his door to any man, be he policeman -or Sinn Feiner: for a minute there was a tense silence in the stuffy -dark shop, save for the heavy breathing of Mrs Flanagan, broken suddenly -by a blow which threatened to break in the street door, and a loud voice -called out to Flanagan to open in the name of the Irish Republican Army. - -“God save us,” said Mrs Flanagan, and dived under the bed; and Paddy -would have liked to follow his wife, but he had heard of the unpleasant -results which always followed a refusal to open to the I.R.A. Before -another blow could be struck on the door he had it open, and at once -three dark figures slipped into the shop, the last one closing the door. - -And in the darkness of the shop Paddy Flanagan listened to his fate: it -seemed that in the adjoining county, where martial law had recently been -proclaimed, the military were making life quite unbearable for the -Volunteers, and the Auxiliaries had openly declared that they would -shoot John O’Hara—the chief assassin of policemen in that county—at -sight. - -Before Flanagan could realise the horror of the situation, two of the -men had disappeared into the night, and he found himself face to face -with the notorious John O’Hara, with instructions to pass him on without -fail to the port of Ballybor (some eighty miles), where O’Hara would be -smuggled on board a vessel bound for England. - -It was some considerable time before Flanagan could induce his wife to -come out from under the bed and produce a meal for O’Hara. Before they -went to sleep his wife reminded Flanagan—quite unnecessarily—of the fate -which the Auxiliaries and “Black and Tans” had assigned to any one who -gave shelter or help to John O’Hara. - -For days past Paddy had been racking his brains, spurred on by the -laments of his wife, how to get rid of O’Hara, and every day the danger -seemed to grow greater, until at last Paddy could stand it no longer. - -The outstanding feature in a western peasant’s character is always -curiosity, and the longer Paddy stood in the doorway of his shop gazing -at the coffin on the car, the greater his curiosity became. He had never -seen so big a coffin; if there was a man inside he must be the “devil of -a fellow and all,” but perhaps it might be a woman—until at last the -coffin drew him as a magnet draws a needle. - -A close inspection of the two cars told him nothing, so there only -remained to go inside in the hope of meeting the occupants. Inside the -hotel he found the mourners seated round the fire in a back room, -drinking porter and discussing the disappearance of John O’Hara, and -after ordering a drink he drew a chair up to the fire and joined in the -general conversation. - -Paddy soon found out that the coffin contained the body of a policeman -who had been murdered in a recent ambush in the adjoining county, and -his relatives were bringing his body home, a village close to Ballybor. -Probably the name of the town gave Paddy the idea, but in a flash he saw -his way clear to get rid of O’Hara, and that at once—if a dead policeman -could be taken in the coffin to Ballybor, why not the live John O’Hara? - -For the next two hours Paddy plied the relations of the dead policeman -with porter, whisky, and poteen, and by that time had learnt all he -wanted to know: they had permits to the police for the two cars to -travel to Ballybor, they were all strong and noisy patriots (in spite of -the murdered policeman outside), and were as ready as the next man to -turn an honest penny. - -Now Flanagan, being no fool, knew that no sane man—drunk or sober—would -take upon himself the responsibility of John O’Hara unless he was forced -to, and bearing this in mind during the negotiations which followed, he -used the threat of the magic letters “I.R.A.” freely—pretending that he -himself was a member of the dreaded Inner Circle. In the end, after much -drink and a lot of haggling, it was settled that the cars should be -taken into the hotel yard for the night. - -Then, during the night, the policeman’s body was to be removed to a -hay-loft and buried secretly the following night, under arrangements to -be made by Flanagan, in a bog outside the village, where several -unfortunate Volunteers, who had fallen in an attack on the local police -barracks, were buried. Meanwhile the hotel boots, who was a carpenter by -trade, would make ventilation holes in the coffin, and the “funeral” -party would set off for Ballybor before daybreak. - -The last part of the negotiations resembled the selling of a horse at a -fair, and the price he had to pay sobered Flanagan and nearly turned his -hair white,—not one yard would they go with O’Hara until they got £100; -but by now Flanagan was desperate, and if they had demanded £200 he -would have paid it. - -At last all the details were settled, and Flanagan went home to warn -O’Hara of his coming journey in the coffin: the thought that in a few -hours he would be free of the man for good and all made life worth -living again. - -But his joy was short-lived. On entering the kitchen he found four -long-haired young men making a hearty meal—more victims of British -tyranny, all on the run for the murder of policemen—and his heart sank -at the thought that there would probably be more to follow: in fact his -house was being used as a clearinghouse for all the “wanted” men of the -adjoining county. - -Flanagan woke up O’Hara, told him of the arrangements which had been -made to get him to Ballybor, and added that four more men had just -turned up, and that it failed him to know how to pass them on. O’Hara -thought for a moment, and replied, “Sure it’s easily known how—why -wouldn’t they do for the mourners?” - -As soon as O’Hara was ready, and the young men could be persuaded to -stop eating, the party set out for the hotel in order to get away before -the mourners woke up. O’Hara took command, found out that one of his -companions could drive a Ford, but that none of them had any idea of how -to get to Ballybor, and told Flanagan that the driver of the coffin-car -would have to go with them as a guide. - -On arrival at the hotel Flanagan roused the boots, O’Hara gave his -instructions about the driver, and they then proceeded to the bedrooms -of the poteen-logged mourners, who offered no protest while O’Hara -removed their topcoats and hats for his companions, Flanagan seizing the -opportunity of transferring his £100 from the sleeping chief mourner’s -trousers pocket to his own again. - -By the light of a guttering candle O’Hara was packed into the coffin, -and in the darkness of a raw early morning the two cars pulled out of -the hotel yard, and disappeared down the road which leads to Ballybor. -Flanagan, with a sigh of relief, wiped his forehead, and prayed that he -might never see O’Hara in this world again, and went home feeling ten -years younger, but determined not to be at home when the mourners got -busy and came for an explanation. - - * * * * * - -On the morning O’Hara left Ballyfrack in the coffin, Blake had motored -to the town of Dunallen to see his County Inspector. On his way back, -about fourteen miles from Ballybor, the road leads over a narrow bridge -and up a steep hill with a sharp blind turn at the top. - -As Blake swung his car, all out, round this corner, he saw about fifty -yards in front two Ford cars standing in the road, the leading car with -a huge coffin tied across the body of the car, and round the other car a -group of young men. Pulling up his car, he sounded his horn, as he had -not room to pass, but with no effect. - -Blake, who was in mufti, had with him an orderly in plain clothes, and -being in a hurry told him to go and tell the driver to go on. As the -orderly returned, both cars started up and went on. Once started, they -went as fast as Blake could wish, and for some miles the three cars kept -close together until they reached a village about ten miles from -Ballybor. - -Here the main road to Ballybor appears to carry straight on through the -village, but this only leads into a cul-de-sac—what looks like a side -road on the left of the main street being the Ballybor turning. The two -strange cars passed the turning, while Blake, once round the corner, -made for home at full speed. - -He thought no more of the cars, but after they had gone about a mile the -orderly asked him if he had ever seen such a big coffin before. Blake -replied that he had not noticed the size of the coffin, and they both -relapsed into silence again, Blake concentrating his attention on -getting back to Ballybor before dark. - -Meanwhile the orderly was thinking the matter out, and came to the -conclusion that the coffin party was not above suspicion. At this time, -when the railway strike was on in the west, it was not unusual to see a -coffin on a car; but, unless the coffin party belonged to the village, -they must be strangers to the district, or they would not have run into -the cul-de-sac. - -When about three miles from Ballybor they had a puncture, and just as -Blake finished changing wheels, the cars of the coffin party drew up -about fifty yards behind, and three men advanced towards them. Blake, -who was still quite unsuspicious, thought that the men were going to ask -him to let them pass, and at once started up his car and got in. - -The orderly, whose suspicions were now turned to certainties, drew his -revolver, covered the advancing men, and called on them to halt; -whereupon the three men opened fire, and the orderly replied. - -Blake yelled to him to jump in, and as the man swung himself into the -seat beside him, he let the car go, while the men on the road continued -to fire. Luckily the light was by now nearly gone, and beyond a broken -wind-screen they got away with a good start. - -It now developed into a race, Blake striving to reach the barracks for -reinforcements to stop the funeral party before they could get clear of -Ballybor, and the others to reach the first turning they came to off the -main road. - -Blake switched on his lights and drove for his life, down hill as fast -as the car would go and round corners on two wheels, with the result -that in rounding one blind corner they nearly ran into a party of -Auxiliary Cadets, whose Crossley had broken down. The Cadets naturally -opened fire without asking any questions—a car going that pace in the -dusk on a country road in the west of Ireland nowadays is asking for -it—and again Blake and his orderly narrowly escaped being shot. - -Blake clapped on his brakes, yelled out “R.I.C.”; the orderly held his -hands high above his head, and the Auxiliaries gave them the benefit of -the doubt. Luckily the leader of the Cadets recognised Blake, the -situation was quickly explained, and they took cover on both sides of -the road at the corner. - -Hardly were they in position when the coffin-car rounded the corner, and -the Cadets opened fire; but so great was the impetus of the car, and so -bad the brakes, that it crashed into the rear of Blake’s car, the coffin -pitched on to the road, burst open, and out rolled a huge wild-looking -man. - -The second car must have closed up with the leading one as the darkness -came on, for no sooner had the first car crashed than the second one ran -into it, overturned, and pinned the big man to the road; whereupon Blake -shouted hands up, but the men started to run back, and the Cadets at -once opened fire. - -Three of them fell, but the fourth managed to get round the corner, and -Blake sent two Cadets after him. The driver of the coffin-car had fallen -clear, and, to avoid the Cadets’ bullets, ran round the Crossley, -straight into the driver’s arms. - -As soon as the firing ceased, Blake made for the big man; the Cadets -lifted the car, and flashed a torch on his face. - -Only that morning Blake had been reading a full account of O’Hara, and -had studied an excellent photograph of him, and as the electric light -shone on the man’s face, he realised the importance of the capture—the -most-wanted man in the west. - -The Cadets rendered first aid to the three wounded men, while Blake -handcuffed O’Hara and placed him in the back of his own car, telling his -orderly to watch him closely, and to keep him covered with his revolver. -In the meantime the two Cadets had returned, having failed to capture -the fourth man. - -Blake was now most anxious to get O’Hara safely in the Ballybor -Barracks, but nothing would induce the Crossley to start. At last, after -an hour’s delay, they got the engine going, and the whole party got -under way, the Cadets taking the three wounded prisoners in the tender, -and Blake, in his own car with his orderly, guarding O’Hara. - -The distance to Ballybor was short, but the delay had made Blake very -uneasy, knowing that the local Volunteers would surely try and rescue -O’Hara if they got word of his capture. Ahead of them was a thick wood -on both sides of the road, and once past this the betting was in their -favour. - -They started without lights, but when they reached the outskirts of the -wood the darkness was so intense that the Crossley driver switched on -his lights and tried to rush the place. Blake was forced to follow his -example, or get left hopelessly behind. - -Faster and faster went the tender, bumping and skidding over the wet bog -road, the lamps throwing a brilliant ring of white light in front of the -car, the rest inky dark. When they had passed more than half-way through -the wood, and Blake was beginning to think that they were safe, the -Crossley suddenly began to pull up with a screech of brakes, drowned by -a volley of shots from both sides of the wood. - -The driver kept his head, switched off his lights, and the dreadful -fight started in the black darkness of the wood. Blake turned his lights -off and started to back his car, but in the darkness and excitement ran -her into the ditch at the side of the road, where she overturned. - -He shot clear of the car, and on regaining the road realised that at -present it was useless to try and get away with his prisoner, so he -shouted to his orderly to guard O’Hara until the fight was over, and -went forward to help the Auxiliaries. - -Blake found them lying down on each side of the road, firing at the -flashes of the ambushers’ guns, while the leader and driver were -struggling to remove the barricade of timber and big stones across the -road under a hail of bullets and shot. By this time a Cadet had got a -Lewis gun into action, and at once sprayed the edge of the wood on each -side of the road with a magazine. Promptly the ambushers’ fire died -down, and after two more heavy bursts of fire from the Lewis gun their -fire ceased. The Cadets quickly switched on the lights of the Crossley, -and started to clear away the barricade. - -Blake suddenly thought of O’Hara, and ran back to his car to find that -he had completely vanished, the orderly lying pinned to the ground by -the overturned car, unconscious. - -The only chance now of recapturing O’Hara was to push on to Ballybor as -fast as possible, collect all the police available, and search the -country round the scene of the ambush. Without a motor it would be -impossible for the fugitive to get far during the next few hours. - -But again the Crossley jibbed, and again a priceless hour or more was -wasted before the barricade could be removed and the car induced to -start. Nearly another hour was spent in reaching the barracks, getting -out the men, and starting on the hunt. - -Until long after dawn they beat the country within a large radius of the -fatal wood, using powerful acetylene lamps, but to no avail: neither in -the open country nor in any village could they find any sign or get any -tidings of the missing prisoner. - -As soon as the light was good, Blake climbed a tree on some high ground -which overlooked the country, and searched in vain with a powerful pair -of Zeiss glasses. At last, thoroughly exhausted, the police returned to -Ballybor, beaten. - - * * * * * - -When Blake’s car upset in the wood, O’Hara had the good luck to fall -clear, and to roll into the ditch at the side of the road. Here he lay -still for several minutes until he saw what move the orderly would make. -When the shooting slackened for a few seconds he could distinctly hear -the groans of the orderly pinned under the car, and at once realised -that if he could only crawl into the wood he might be free again. - -With great difficulty he managed to drag himself out of the ditch and -over the bank, only to find another and deeper ditch on the far side. -Along this ditch he made his way until he judged that he must be close -to the attackers; then he wriggled into the wood, and lay down to await -further developments. - -O’Hara was now afraid to go nearer to the ambushers, lest they should -mistake him for a Cadet; but before he could make up his mind what to do -the firing died down, and he could hear the attackers retiring through -the wood. Realising that his only hope lay with these men, he got up and -rushed after them, being mistaken in the darkness and confusion for one -of themselves. - -Once clear of the wood, O’Hara found himself close to one of the -attackers, and while they ran explained to him who he was, and learnt -that the ambush had been organised in a village close to by the man who -had escaped from the two Cadets. - -On reaching this village the handcuffs were soon filed off O’Hara’s -wrists, two bicycles provided, and in a few minutes he was on his way to -Ballybor with a guide who took him along a byroad. It was essential if -he was to catch the steamer the next day that he should hide that night -in Ballybor, and the chances were that the police would never think of -O’Hara hiding in the town, practically within the shadow of the police -barracks. - -Owing to the delay in starting the Crossley, O’Hara and his guide were -actually in Ballybor before the police: as they neared the turning to -the barracks they could see the lights of the Crossley behind them. -Passing through the town they made their way to the quay, where it was -arranged that O’Hara should spend the night with a Volunteer called -Devine, from whose house it was hoped that he would be able to pass on -to the steamer next day in the company of the stoker. - -At this time the police, except in strong force, did not leave the -barracks at night, and it was thought quite safe for O’Hara to remain in -Devine’s house. After a change of clothes and some food, he retired to -bed, hoping that his troubles were nearly over. - -Early the next morning Devine woke O’Hara up with the bad news that a -picket of Cadets guarded the approach to the steamer, and that the game -was up. On looking out of the window O’Hara could see a sentry with -fixed bayonet on each side of the gangway, while others were resting in -the small weighing-house on the quay-side. - -O’Hara, who a second before had been confident of escape, was in -despair, and collapsed on the bed. After a few minutes he pulled himself -together, and on looking at Devine was at once struck by the sinister -expression on the man’s face. - -Remembering that there was a price of £1000 on his head, and from -Devine’s expression there was no doubt that he also was thinking of this -reward, without a second’s hesitation O’Hara covered him with a big Colt -automatic, and told him that if a way was not found to get him on to the -steamer he would shoot him. Devine, knowing O’Hara’s reputation, and -preferring his life to £1000, at once suggested a plan. - -The town of Ballybor lies about five miles up a river, and all -outward-bound steamers drop the pilot in the bay at the mouth of the -river, where he is rowed to the little fishing village of Dooncarra. The -steamer was due to sail at high tide that afternoon, and Devine -suggested that they should bicycle to Dooncarra, where there ought to be -no difficulty in getting O’Hara aboard by the pilot-boat, as both the -police barracks and coastguard station there had been burnt some time -ago. - -After some breakfast they started off, bicycled boldly past the picket -on the quay, and reached Dooncarra without any mishap, where Devine -arranged for O’Hara to stay in a fisherman’s house until the pilot-boat -left at dusk. - -O’Hara had never been to sea before, and was ill before he ever reached -the steamer. As soon as he got aboard, a stoker, who had been warned by -Devine to expect O’Hara on the pilot’s boat, took charge of him, and at -once put him into a bunk. - -That night the steamer ran into an Atlantic storm, and by the time they -had made the north coast of Ireland, O’Hara was beyond caring whether he -lived or died. - -Blake reported O’Hara’s escape to the authorities in Dublin, who were -most anxious to secure the man, knowing he had been the ringleader in -the worst atrocities committed in the south recently. They at once came -to the conclusion that O’Hara was trying to get away by boat from -Ballybor to Liverpool and then on to America, hence the picket of Cadets -on the quay; but to make doubly sure they ordered an ocean-going -destroyer to search the steamer from Ballybor at sea. - -After rounding the north of Ireland the steamer ran into smooth water, -and O’Hara came on deck for a breath of fresh air. After a time he -became interested in a queer-looking long grey steamer which was -approaching them from the south, and very soon the queer boat came -within hailing distance, and orders were megaphoned for the steamer to -heave to. - -O’Hara was greatly interested in watching the progress of the destroyer -boat, and it was not until a sergeant of the R.I.C. in plain clothes, -who had known O’Hara in the south, covered him with a Webley and -commanded him to put up his hands, that he realised that this -interesting show was all for his benefit. - - - - - III. - THE LANDING OF ARMS. - - -It was the busy hour of the evening in Stephen Foy’s public-house in the -small western town of Ballybor, and Larry O’Halloran, the barman, never -ceased drawing corks and measuring out “half ones” of whisky for the -endless flow of customers. - -Larry was a good example of a new type of Irishman which the Sinn Fein -movement has produced—a type regarded with sorrow and amazement by the -older generation, and at present unknown in England. Whatever faults an -Irishman possessed, he always had the saving virtues of wit and -cheerfulness. - -Probably the British have been the last nation in the world to recognise -the great value of clever propaganda, but there is no doubt that the -originators of the Sinn Fein movement knew the great influence of -judicious propaganda—they had efficient instructors in the Boches—and -wisely started at the beginning, that is, with the children at school, -and the result is sadly apparent in the south and west of Ireland to-day -in the hatred of the British Empire among the young people; and so -obsessed are they with this hatred that they have neglected to learn the -good manners of their elders. - -While Larry’s hands never ceased serving out drink, his brain—trained -from childhood to one end only—never ceased running on one subject, how -and when to obtain arms to defeat the British. Only the previous evening -Larry had achieved the ambition of his young life, when he was elected -captain by a large majority of the Volunteers in place of Patsey -Mulligan, who had been tried by court-martial and executed for treachery -to the Irish Republican Army. - -Larry, in spite of his long hair and dreamy Celtic eyes, was no fool, -and knew quite well that a battalion of Volunteers without arms was -about as much use for fighting as a mob of old women with umbrellas, and -that if ever they were to fight the British with any chance of success, -they must have arms, and not only rifles, but machine-guns. - -Previous to this, by a system of raids at night, every known shot-gun in -the district had been collected by the Volunteers; but Larry realised -that to send a Volunteer, armed with a single-barrel shot-gun, to fight -a British infantryman armed with a magazine rifle, was only a good -example of the old saying of sending a boy on a man’s errand. - -While Larry was racking his brains how to obtain arms, a youth, -obviously an American, walked in, accompanied by a strange countryman, -and proceeded to a small private room at the back of the house. But -though Larry’s thoughts were far away, trying to get Mausers in Germany, -his eyes were busy in the public-house, and as the couple disappeared -into the room, he saw at once that the countryman’s walk was the walk of -a soldier. - -Larry knew the boy, Micky Fee, well. His father was a wealthy -Irish-American, who, amongst other business, owned an arms factory in -the States, and had refused the request of the Inner Brotherhood -repeatedly to send arms to Ireland for the Volunteers. - -It was possible both to oversee and to overhear what went on in the -inner room. Larry saw the couple sitting there in close conversation, -and in a few minutes realised that the strange countryman was in reality -a British Secret Service agent, and that Micky, who had drink taken, was -giving the man all the information of the local Volunteers he could. - -It did not take Larry long to determine what course to take with the -Secret Service agent, and he had decided on the same fate for Micky Fee, -when he suddenly realised that his prayers had been answered. His quick -brain began to work out how many rifles, machine-guns, automatics, and -bombs Fee’s father would value the life of his only child at; the more -he thought of it, the higher he made the figures. - -Micky had been on a visit to his grandparents in Ballybor for some -months past, and had taken an active interest in the Volunteers. About 2 -A.M. the next morning there came a loud knock at the grandparents’ -house. When the old man opened the door he found himself looking into -the muzzles of a ring of guns, and in a few minutes Master Micky left -for an unknown destination. - -About a fortnight later Michael Fee and his wife received the shock of -their lives when they opened their letters at breakfast one morning. -Among Fee’s was one bearing the Ballybor postmark, which stated briefly -that his son had been tried by a court-martial of the I.R.A. on a charge -of giving information to the enemy and condemned to death, and that the -sentence would be duly carried out unless Michael Fee presented so many -rifles, pistols, machine-guns, bombs, and ammunition to the I.R.A. - -The letter also stated that Mr Fee’s answer was to be sent to a named -Sinn Fein agent in New York within seven days of the receipt of the -letter, who would give him a time-limit for handing over the arms, and -would also tell him where the arms were to be landed. A P.S. was added -suggesting that Fee should bring the arms to Ireland in a yacht, and -that he would be able to take his son back to the States in her. - -For many months the Irish papers had been full of accounts of men taken -from their beds in the dead of night and executed outside their homes by -armed and masked men; also of the bodies of missing men being found in a -field, days after they had disappeared, riddled with bullets. Some of -the Irish newspapers tried to throw the blame for these murders on the -forces of the Crown by saying that the men wore “trench coats,” but -never adding that practically every young man in Ireland nowadays wears -a so-called trench-coat. - -Fee knew that many of these murders were “executions” of men who had -given information to the police, and the thought that one morning at -breakfast he or his wife might open an Irish paper to read an account of -the finding of their son’s body riddled with bullets, caused him to -break out into a cold sweat. Being a good business man, Fee made up his -mind at once, and that evening found him in New York making arrangements -with the Sinn Fein agent for the immediate shipment of the arms to -Ireland. - -It’s one thing to talk of smuggling arms into Ireland, but quite another -story to accomplish it. To the Irish peasant, who has never been outside -his own country, it looks as easy as falling off a log; but then he has -no idea of the power of the British Navy, and the British Government -does not take the trouble to inform an Irish peasant that it has the -finest navy in the world—he is supposed to know this, or to find it out -for himself. - -When Fee asked the agent for his suggestions, the agent trotted out the -usual stock dodges—packing rifles in piano-frames, S.A.A. in bags of -flour, and more equally futile plans, and he quickly realised that the -man was a fool, so left him and retired to his room in the hotel to -think out a plan for himself. - -For a long time he could think of nothing but the picture of his son’s -body lying in a vivid green field in his native land: he could even see -the clothes Micky was wearing, and the dirty white handkerchief (he was -quite sure it would be dirty) over his eyes. For hours his mind dwelt on -this picture, but in the end he gained control over himself, and before -he turned in his brain had evolved a sound plan of action, and with an -Irishman’s sanguine temperament he fell asleep, thinking that his boy -was as good as at home already. - -The following morning Fee went to a big yacht agent, but found that he -had only a steam yacht for charter. He explained that he wanted a motor -yacht big enough to cross the Atlantic, and the man referred him to a -firm of builders who had a yacht of this description, which he believed -was on the verge of completion. - -Fee next made his way to the yard of these builders, where he found the -yacht he was looking for, which had been built for a rich American who -had recently died. He soon came to terms, and arranged with the builders -for the addition of large extra oil-tanks, in order that the yacht would -be able to make the double journey to Ireland and back without having to -take in oil there. - -As soon as the yacht was ready for sea, Fee had large man-holes fitted -to the extra oil-tanks, packed the arms inside them, and then filled up -with oil. Within four weeks of the receipt of Larry O’Halloran’s letter, -Mr and Mrs Fee sailed on their new motor yacht, the _Colleen_, for a -pleasure trip to their native land of Ireland. - - * * * * * - -The place chosen for the landing of the arms is one of the most -beautiful places in the British Isles, and one of the least known. If -you picture the wildest Norwegian fjord, and add square miles of -mountain, cliffs, moors, bogs, lakes, and rivers, you may get some idea -of the scenery. - -Before leaving America Fee cabled to his parents in Ballybor that he -expected to be in Ireland on a certain date, knowing that the -information would reach Larry through friends in the Post Office, and -that he would take the necessary steps to meet the yacht at Errinane on -that date, with the result that Larry passed the information on to the -Volunteers in the Errinane district, and in a short time every -coastguard station and police barracks within a twelve-mile radius of -the landing-place was burnt. - -On a fine September day the M.Y. _Colleen_ sighted the west coast of -Ireland, and shortly afterwards made her way up the wonderful natural -harbour which leads to the little fishing village of Errinane, where she -dropped anchor and came to rest after her long voyage across the -Atlantic. In a few minutes a boat left the quay, and Larry stepped -aboard the yacht, and after explaining to the Fees that he had arrived -in the district two days previously with their son Micky, insisted that -the arms should be landed that night; but Fee refused, on the grounds -that the British Navy was bound to know of the yacht’s arrival, and that -if they attempted to land the arms that night they might be caught by a -destroyer. - -A hot argument ensued—Larry, now that at last the arms were almost -within his grasp, being mad keen to get them ashore at once. However, -the argument was cut short by a shout from the deck that a destroyer was -coming up the harbour, and Fee had great difficulty to induce Larry to -leave the yacht. - -The destroyer came to an anchor within fifty yards of the _Colleen_, and -Fee could see two machine-guns on the bridge trained to sweep the -yacht’s deck. Before the rattle of the anchor-chain had died away a boat -was lowered, and in a few minutes a party of bluejackets, headed by a -lieutenant, came aboard the yacht. - -Fee explained to this officer that he was an Irishman living in America, -and that he had come over on a visit to his parents. The officer -examined the yacht’s papers, and then gave orders to his men, who -proceeded to search the yacht thoroughly: mattresses were opened, all -panelling taken down by ship-carpenters, floors lifted, luggage -searched, and even the oil-tanks sounded, while the taps were turned on -to see if they contained oil. - -After three hours’ searching the sailors left the yacht, and within half -an hour the destroyer put to sea. Hardly had she disappeared when Larry -came aboard again, and as it was nearly dark by now, he tried to insist -on starting to land the arms, and again Fee refused. - -The yacht settled down for the night, but soon after midnight a powerful -searchlight was flashed on to her, and again the bluejackets came aboard -and searched the yacht from top to bottom. Eventually they left, the -searchlight was turned off, and the destroyer could be heard putting out -to sea. - -Larry’s original plan had been to land the arms on the north side of the -bay, and to hide them in some caves in the mountains, where French arms -had been hidden during the rebellion of 1798, then to await a favourable -opportunity to remove them to Ballybor. However, the night the destroyer -left the local fishermen filled their boats with herrings, which Larry -found had all been bought by the big shopkeeper in Errinane, who -intended sending them to Ballybor Station the next morning in his three -Ford trucks. Not daring to land the arms during the day, Larry -commandeered the lorries, and as soon as it was dark landed the arms -openly at Errinane quay, packed them in the largest fish-boxes he could -find, and loaded the boxes on to the lorries, putting boxes of herrings -on top. The arms once landed, he restored Micky to his parents on the -yacht, and within half an hour the reunited Fee family were on their way -back to America. - -Not long after the yacht had started, the lorries left Errinane on the -long run through the mountains to Ballybor. When about fifteen miles -from Errinane, Larry halted his convoy in a mountain pass, in order to -let one of the drivers repair a tyre. - -Hardly had they stopped when the lights of two cars were seen behind -them, descending the road into the pass from the direction of Errinane. -Larry knew at once that they could only be police cars, and must have -been sent to Errinane on the suspicion that arms had been landed from -the yacht. - -He at once got his lorries on the move, going in the last one himself, -and in a few minutes could hear the hoot of the oncoming cars close -behind. Ahead of them lay miles of narrow bog road, and as long as he -kept the rear lorry in the middle of the road, the police cars would not -be able to stop them. - -Soon he could hear shouts of halt, followed shortly afterwards by a -volley of rifle bullets, but Larry and the driver were well protected by -the boxes on the lorry. So they continued for about two miles, the -police firing volley after volley at the lorry. - -So far so good; but though Larry knew he could keep the police from -overhauling them for several miles, yet he knew that in the end the -police must defeat him, unless he could find some means of stopping -them, and the only way to do this was by sacrificing the rear lorry. -This he made up his mind to do, as the lorry only carried the bombs; but -the difficulty was to stop the police altogether. - -The idea which saved them came from the driver, who knew every yard of -the road, and reminded Larry that half a mile ahead of them there was an -arched bridge over a mountain river, the very place to block the road. - -Larry climbed out on the boxes, and with great difficulty extracted a -bomb; returning to the driving seat, they waited until the lorry was on -the bridge, when they stopped the engine and started to run for the -lorry in front. When they had gone about twenty yards, Larry stopped, -flung the bomb at the lorry on the bridge, and ran like a hare. - -Luckily there was a steep rise beyond the bridge, and just as they -reached the slow-moving lorry a flame of fire shot up from the bridge -followed by a deafening explosion. They learnt afterwards that the -bridge was completely wrecked, the leading police car badly damaged, and -that the police took three hours to return to Errinane, having to back -their cars for several miles before they could turn. - -The original plan was to hide the arms in a saw-mill in Ballybor, owned -by a notorious loyalist, which fact would divert all suspicion from the -mill; but Larry knew that after the encounter with the police the -hue-and-cry would be up, and that the Auxiliaries would search every -rat-hole in Ballybor before many hours were past. - -On reaching Ballybor in the early hours they proceeded to the mill, -which was situated on the bank of the river, and at once unloaded; but -instead of hiding the arms there Larry ordered the men to carry them -straight to the water’s edge, and then sent them to collect boats and -also fishing tackle. - -Within an hour six boats containing the arms went down the river, and -half an hour afterwards the town was surrounded and searched through and -through by Auxiliary Cadets who had concentrated on the place from three -different points—their only bag being the unfortunate lorry drivers. - -Some three miles below Ballybor there stand on the bank of the river the -ruins of a fine old Franciscan Abbey, in the vaults of which the arms -were safely hidden. Afterwards Larry and his men spent the morning -fishing for sea-trout towards the estuary, returning to Ballybor in the -afternoon, hungry and worn-out, to fall into the hands of the -Auxiliaries, who commandeered their fish and then let them go home. - - * * * * * - -After the murder of Patsey Mulligan the district of Ballybor was -comparatively free from outrages for several months, and Blake, the -D.I., began to think that his troubles were over; but very shortly after -Larry had successfully run his cargo of American arms Blake was -undeceived, and in a short time the district became one of the worst in -the west. - -Success made Larry bolder, and further success made him rash. Being -miles from a road, the old abbey was a most inconvenient place to keep -the arms, and he determined to bring them to the mill in Ballybor. - -Bennett, the owner, had a house alongside the mill, and another house -some miles out in the country, where he was in the habit of going from -Saturday until Monday morning, when the mill house used to be locked up. - -Larry arranged another fishing expedition on a Saturday afternoon, and -when it was dark they transferred the arms from the abbey to the mill, -hiding them under piles of sawdust in the cellars below the saw-benches. -It was then decided to make an assault on the Ballybor police barracks -the following night, and to wipe out the police for good and all. - -But this time his luck was out. On Sunday afternoon Bennett suddenly -made up his mind to return to Ballybor, and motored there in the -afternoon with his eldest son. After tea his son took a walk over the -mill, and to his surprise found a brand-new American repeating-rifle in -the clerk’s office: his father went at once to the police barracks to -inform Blake of the discovery, who arranged to make a raid on the mill -as soon as it was dark. - -Blake had settled to take the arms, if found in the mill, straight off -to the nearest military barracks, and to this end left the barracks with -a strong force in two Crossleys. They went for some distance towards -Grouse Lodge Barracks, turned off at a cross-roads, and made their way -back to Ballybor, arriving at the mill by the time it was dark. - -Leaving the cars about a hundred yards from the mill, Blake walked on to -the entrance with a sergeant and a constable, and as they drew near, to -their surprise they saw that the mill was lit up. Telling his men to -wait, Blake advanced to the door, which led into the machinery -buildings, and on peeping in saw that the place was full of masked men -in a queue, being served out with rifles from the clerk’s office. - -Blake saw that he must act quickly, but that by the time he could bring -up his men all the masked men would be armed, so he determined on a -ruse. In a loud voice he shouted out, “God save us, here are the Black -and Tans; run, boys, for your lives,” and at the same time opened fire. - -The magic words “Black and Tan” have the same effect on an Irish crowd -as the name of Cromwell had during a previous period of Irish history, -and a wild stampede ensued in the mill, the final touch being added by -some one switching off the electric lights. As soon as Blake saw the -effects of his words he dashed in to try and secure a prisoner, and -managed to seize a man near the entrance, and hold him until his men, -alarmed by the shots, arrived hurriedly on the scene. - -By the aid of electric torches the police quickly collected the arms -which the Volunteers had thrown away in their panic, and a constable -having gone to fetch the cars, they were stowed in, and in a short time -were on their long journey to the military barracks. - -Larry stampeded with the rest of the men in the mill, but once outside -he pulled himself together, and determined to make an effort to regain -his beloved arms. Guessing that the police would be fully occupied -removing the arms, he made his way back along the dark streets to the -mill, and saw the cars drive off. - -Part of the preparations for assaulting the barracks had been to block -all roads along which help could come to the barracks; and, as Larry -expected, after some time the cars returned to the barracks, being -unable to proceed in any direction owing to deep trenches cut across the -roads. - -As soon as Larry had seen the cars return, he collected three of his -best men, commandeered a car in the name of the I.R.A.—at this time in -many parts of Ireland a harmless citizen stood an excellent chance of -having his car taken by the military on a Monday, by the police on -Tuesday, by the Auxiliaries on Wednesday, and by the I.R.A. for the rest -of the week—and drove straight to the Cloonalla district, through which -he knew that Blake would have to pass the next day on his way to the -nearest military barracks. They took shovels with them, and soon had the -trench across the road filled in, and made their way to the house of a -local Volunteer. - -That night Larry worked like a man possessed, and by daybreak had an -ambuscade prepared for Blake at a point where the road, following the -shore of a large lake, runs under an overhanging rock, and then turns -sharp to the west. Beyond the bend they cut the usual trench, and above -on the rock erected loop-holed walls of stone and sods, and here they -waited, armed with every shot-gun, pistol, and home-made bomb which the -district could produce. - -That night Blake spent an anxious time in his small barrack-room, his -ears straining for the sound of the first shot of the expected attack, -and his brain striving to work out the problem of how to get the arms -into safe keeping. After a time he tried to attend to some routine work, -but soon gave it up as hopeless. - -Leaning back in his chair he lit a cigarette. At that moment his eye was -arrested by a large photograph of the notorious John O’Hara over the -fireplace, and he began to think of how the man had tricked him by -getting away by sea, while the police were hunting the countryside for -him. From O’Hara’s photograph his eye wandered to a brightly-printed -card hanging on the wall, with a drawing of a steamer on the top. - -For some time he read the letterpress of the card without having any -idea of what it meant; then in a flash he realised that the problem was -solved. At high tide the next morning the s.s. _Cockatoo_ would sail -from the port of Ballybor for Liverpool, and if O’Hara had tricked him -by the sea, then he could trick Larry O’Halloran by the same means. - -The following morning, a quarter of an hour before the _Cockatoo_ was -due to sail, two Crossleys dashed on to the quay, and before the usual -crowd of quay loafers knew what was happening, they were outside the -yard gate, and a strong guard of police with rifles at the ready had -surrounded the gangway to the steamer. In a few minutes more the arms -were all aboard the boat, stacked in an empty passenger saloon, guarded -by police, and two minutes after Blake had given the captain his -instructions, the _Cockatoo_ was on her way down the river for England. - - - - - IV. - THE RED CROSS. - - -An Englishman who has lived in Ireland for any length of time, knows -that rivalry in religion and politics not only divides parts of Ireland, -but even causes divisions in families. At one time recently things had -reached such a state of passion that an Irish soldier or policeman who -visited his home in the south or west was liable to find the door of his -home shut in his face, and even to lose his life. - -In a small town in the west of Ireland—in England you would call the -place a village—there lived some years ago a shopkeeper named John -Dempsey, a steady hard-working man, who left politics alone and attended -to his own business. In due course Dempsey married and had three -children—two boys, Patrick and William, and a daughter, Sheila. - -The children were educated at the national school, and as soon as their -minds were capable of understanding anything, the wicked and stupid -policy of hatred of and revenge on England was drummed into their ears -week by week, month by month, and year by year, until the English -appeared to their childish imaginations to be the greatest monsters of -brutality in the world. - -After the late war started, not before, the British newspapers and -magazines impressed upon us the thoroughness of the German preparations -for this war, and amongst other things, of how the present generation -had had instilled into their minds from early childhood a hatred of the -British by every schoolmaster and learned professor in Germany. For -years past this German method has been carried on in Ireland, Irish -national school teachers preparing the present generation of young men -and women for the present Sinn Fein movement. - -You have in England a saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous -thing, which applies very well to many national school teachers in the -west and south of Ireland, who, though they can tell you of every wrong -which England has inflicted on Ireland during the last three hundred -years, yet know nothing of the greatness and power for good of the -British Empire; nor do they realise the vast benefits which Ireland -reaps as a partner of the Empire. - -As time went on John Dempsey made and saved much money on porter, eggs, -and other things, and as the boys appeared to be clever and anxious to -get on in the world, he decided that they should complete their -education in Dublin, Patrick eventually to become a doctor, and William -to enter the priesthood; but as soon as the father announced his -intentions, Sheila, who had never been separated from her brothers, -implored that she might go with them and become a hospital nurse. - -In the end the old man gave way and the three children went to Dublin, -where Patrick duly qualified as a doctor, Sheila became a nurse in one -of the hospitals there, but William did not become a priest. - -When the brothers and sister first went to Dublin, Sinn Fein was rapidly -becoming the great party of the Celts in Ireland, and every young man -and woman was pressed hard to join. Patrick and Sheila joined eagerly, -but William refused, and the idea of becoming a priest being now -distasteful to him, he joined the R.I.C., to the bitter resentment of -his brother and sister, who refused even to see him. - -During the summer of 1919 the two brothers and sister met again at home, -Sheila on her summer holidays, Patrick waiting for an appointment, and -William, who was now stationed at the neighbouring town of Ballybor, on -leave. At first the other two resented the presence of William, and -there were bitter and passionate political arguments at every meal; but -after a time their natural kindliness prevailed, and the three became -nearly as great pals as formerly, but the shadow of William’s uniform -seemed always to come between them. - -Sheila was the first to go back. A letter from her matron came one -morning asking if she would care to go abroad, to take entire charge of -a patient who had been ordered to live in Switzerland by the doctors. -She did not wait to answer, but returned to Dublin that day, lest she -should be too late. - -Patrick and William were at this time typical of the two parties into -which the people of the greater part of Ireland were divided—in plain -language, Patrick was a rebel and William a loyalist! And though the -loyalist party was very small in comparison to the other, yet it would -never have been so small if proper support from the Government had been -forthcoming at the right time, but would have grown larger and larger as -the outrages increased, and the decent elements of the population ranged -themselves on the side of law and order. - -During his time in Dublin, Patrick, young and enthusiastic, had become -deeply involved in the Sinn Fein movement, and when one day he found -himself bound hand and foot to a policy of outrage and murder, he made -strong efforts to regain his freedom, but was quickly made to realise -that he now belonged, body and soul, to Sinn Fein. - -No sooner had Sheila gone than the two brothers began to quarrel—to end -in hot and bitter words at supper one night, when William left the table -and returned at once to Ballybor. A few days afterwards Patrick received -an order from Dublin to report at once to the Sinn Fein H.Q.’s there, -and though he would have liked to refuse, he dared not. - -On arrival in Dublin, Patrick duly reported at H.Q.’s, and there learnt -that he had been chosen for a most unpleasant job. About this time, -after their signal initial successes, the I.R.A. were endeavouring to -organise a force which would entirely wipe out the police, or at any -rate reduce them to complete impotence. - -To this end the General Staff of the I.R.A. were determined to leave no -stone unturned to achieve success in the ambuscades of patrols and -attacks on barracks. During the preliminary attacks the rebels had lost -heavily through lack of medical care, and it was now determined that a -doctor should attend all ambuscades and attacks. - -Funds were plentiful, and in a few days Patrick found himself set up as -a practising doctor in a large house in Dublin, and it was arranged -that, when an attack was to take place in a certain district, he should -receive a wire calling him to hold a consultation in a district close -by. They supplied him with a good car, there were no restrictions on the -movements of doctors, so that the busy young Dublin doctor, hurrying to -the sick-bed of a country patient, excited no suspicion. - -The plan was quite simple, and worked smoothly. An ambuscade would be -arranged at H.Q.’s in Dublin to take place at a certain point where it -was known that a police patrol passed. The day before Patrick would -receive his wire, and early the next morning would leave Dublin for the -scene of operations. When within a short distance of the attack he would -stop his car, and remain there until the fight was over, attend to the -wounded, and afterwards return to Dublin. - -On two occasions he was surprised by relief parties of military, but -each time he was able to explain his presence—that it was a mere chance -that he happened to be passing, and that his professional instincts were -at once aroused by the sight of the wounded men. - -In the case of an attack on police barracks the procedure was somewhat -different. Some days before Patrick would receive his usual wire—never -from the place where the attack was to take place, but from a -neighbouring town—and at the same time would receive instructions in -Dublin of the time and place of the attack. - -On arriving at the place of attack he would put up at the best hotel, -giving out that he had come to attend a consultation in the town, from -which the wire had been sent. After a talk with the local Volunteer -captain, a house would be decided on as a temporary hospital, to which -the wounded would be taken, and after the attack Patrick would simply -disappear. - -At first the danger and excitement appealed to his high-strung -temperament, but soon the novelty wore off, and he saw that there could -only be one end for him—exposure and professional ruin, if not a long -term of imprisonment. In vain he asked to be allowed to resume his -profession, but he might as well have begged for mercy from the -Inquisition of old. - -One evening, on his return from an ambuscade, Patrick found a wire from -Sheila, saying that her patient had suddenly died in Switzerland, and -that she was crossing to Dublin that night. The next morning she -arrived, radiant with health, and eager for news. - -Under her patient’s will Sheila received a legacy of about £2000 and a -car, which was stored in a Dublin garage, and now she was free to devote -herself to the cause of Ireland’s freedom. On hearing of Patrick’s -occupation, she at once determined to join him. - -Patrick was devoted to his sister, and tried hard to put the idea out of -her head, but in the end had to give way. That very day she made him -take her to H.Q.’s, where she offered the services of herself and car to -the I.R.A. - -Owing to an insufficient number of rifles for ambuscades and attacks on -a large scale all over the country, the General Staff had decided to -collect rifles in Dublin and send them down to the scenes of attacks in -cars. Sheila’s offer coincided with this decision, and to Patrick’s -horror he and Sheila received orders to attend attacks, and also to -carry the rifles and ammunition. - -The car was found to be a large touring car, to which a false bottom was -fitted to take rifles, whilst further false bottoms under the seats gave -sufficient room to hide revolvers, and a dummy space which was packed -with S.A.A. Sheila had large red crosses painted on the lamps and -wind-screen, and the camouflage was complete. - -For months the brother and sister—Patrick looking a typical young -doctor, and Sheila dressed as a hospital nurse—carried arms and first -aid to ambuscades throughout the south and west, and not the slightest -suspicion appears to have been aroused in the minds of the authorities. -Sheila thoroughly enjoyed the excitement, and soon became known as the -Florence Nightingale of the I.R.A. - -One day there came a wire from home that their mother was dangerously -ill, and begging them to go to her at once. Patrick knew that if they -asked leave to go, their taskmasters would refuse, and so decided to -take “French leave.” - -William had also been sent for, and again the two brothers and sister -met. After a few days their mother took a turn for the better, but -Patrick, who dreaded returning to Dublin, insisted on staying, in spite -of Sheila’s urgings to get back to their work. - -Soon after their mother was out of danger Sheila received an invitation -to a dance at a large farmhouse about two miles away, and drove there in -the car, resplendent in a Paris evening dress. Patrick and William -refused to go, the former making the excuse that he did not like to -leave his mother, the latter because he knew that the presence of a -policeman would break up the dance. - -That evening, after it was dark, William walked across the fields to see -an old school friend, one of the few men in the district who would speak -to him at all, and then only at night in his own house. When William -left, this man warned him that Knockbrack Wood would not be a healthy -place for the next few days, but when pressed for an explanation would -say no more. - -When William reached home he learnt from his father that during his -absence a stranger had called for Patrick, and that soon afterwards the -two had left hurriedly to fetch Sheila, Patrick saying that he would -have to return to Dublin that night by car. - -Old Dempsey seemed much upset, and after the warning received that night -William’s suspicions were aroused. As soon as supper was over he retired -to bed, or rather to wait in his room until the house was quiet, when he -meant to bicycle back to Ballybor. - -William had not been in his room more than ten minutes when he heard -Sheila’s car drive up, and the front door open and shut. Then he heard -Sheila come upstairs to her bedroom, followed by Patrick and strange -footsteps, and then the closing of Patrick’s door. - -The bedrooms of the two brothers were separated by a thin partition, and -William managed to overhear enough of their conversation to make out -that there was to be an ambuscade in Knockbrack Wood on Wednesday night -(this being Monday), and that Patrick was returning at once to Dublin. - -William lay as still as a mouse, hoping that Patrick and Sheila would -not realise that he was in the house, and in their hurry forget about -him. He could tell from the tone of his brother’s voice that he was not -for it, but further conversation was cut short by Sheila calling out -that she was ready to start. - -Shortly afterwards William heard the three leaving the house and the car -go off in the direction of Dublin. He waited for a few minutes to give -the stranger time to get well away, then got out his bicycle, and with -his revolver ready in his right hand, started off for Ballybor. - -While William was riding for dear life to Ballybor, Sheila and Patrick -were tearing across Ireland to fetch the arms for the ambuscade. They -reached Dublin without any trouble, had a short rest and a meal, -collected the arms from the secret hiding-place, and then started off on -the return journey by a different route. - -By previous arrangement they were met outside the town after dark by the -local Volunteer captain and a party of men, who took over the arms from -them, when they drove on home. Owing to the fact that they had left and -returned at night, no one in the town had any idea that they had been -away. - -For some weeks past the police had been bringing tremendous pressure to -bear on the rebels throughout the south and west, which pressure -corresponded with the appointment of a new Inspector-General of the -R.I.C. So strong was the pressure growing that the rebel staff were -afraid of a collapse, and when their secret service learnt that the I.G. -would be motoring to Ballybor on this particular Wednesday night, they -determined to ambush him in Knockbrack Wood, and to kill him at all -costs. - -Knockbrack Wood lies along both sides of a main road for a distance of -about a mile and a half, and in the middle the road makes a sharp bend -to avoid a huge granite rock which towers above the trees and makes this -corner quite blind. On the far side of this bend from the direction of -Ballybor the road rises suddenly, so that a car going towards that place -would be likely to approach the bend at a good pace, and be unable to -avoid an obstacle or trench just round the corner. - -Here it was settled to make the attempt on the I.G.’s life, and on the -Wednesday the local Volunteers, under the direction of staff officers -from Dublin, started to make the preparations. By dark all was complete, -except to cut a trench across the road, and a large party of Volunteers -had taken up positions on each side of the road at the bend. - -It was expected that the I.G.’s car would be wrecked, or at any rate -brought to a standstill, just beneath the big rock, on the top of which -there was a bombing post, with orders to drop a flare as soon as the car -was below, to enable the riflemen to aim in the dark, and to follow up -the flare with a shower of bombs. - -Patrick and Sheila waited until it was nearly dark, when they motored to -Knockbrack Wood, leaving the car up a narrow lane in the wood, about a -hundred yards from the big rock on the Ballybor side. They then retired -to a safe distance to await events. - -After several hours of waiting they left the wood and walked up and down -the road to Ballybor, as by this time they were half frozen with cold. -Shortly afterwards they were joined by the Volunteer captain, and as it -would soon be daylight, Patrick suggested to him that the men should be -sent home. - -The Volunteer captain was a stupid fellow, and further, he resented any -suggestion as to what he should do from Patrick; and the three of -them—Sheila, Patrick, and the captain—began a heated argument in the -middle of the road: the captain argued that an order was an order, and -that he would keep his men there until the next night if necessary, or -even longer. - -Patrick saw the mistake he had made, shrugged his shoulders, and started -to return to the car with Sheila. - -Now their whole attention had been centred on the direction from which -the I.G.’s car was expected to come, and the last thing they expected -was a counter-attack from the direction of Ballybor; but as Patrick and -Sheila turned to leave the Volunteer captain, they found themselves -covered by a party of R.I.C., with Blake at their head, and at the same -time heavy firing burst out in the wood on both sides of the road. - -Patrick and Sheila had no alternative but to put up their hands, but the -Volunteer captain tried to escape, and was promptly shot by a constable. -Blake asked what they were doing at such an hour on the highroad, and -Patrick was starting his usual story of how he and his sister were on -their way from Dublin to attend an urgent case in the country, but when -he caught sight of his brother William standing behind Blake, he -faltered and remained dumb. - -Before Blake could ask any more questions they had to jump to one side -to avoid a Crossley full of Auxiliaries, which dashed past, and stopped -a few yards beyond them, the Cadets at once jumping out and taking up -positions on each side of the car with Lewis guns trained to sweep the -road as far as the big rock. Blake, after ordering William and a -constable to take Patrick and Sheila down the Ballybor road out of the -line of fire until he could deal with them, took command of the -Auxiliaries, and waited for the action to develop. - -By this time it was daylight, and the police, who had worked round the -flanks of the ambushers, began to make it pretty hot for the men in the -trenches. Now it is one thing to shoot an unfortunate policeman perched -up in a stationary lorry in the middle of the road, and quite a -different story when the policeman starts to shoot you in the back from -behind a tree, and very soon the Volunteers broke from their trenches -and started to stream down the Ballybor road. - -There was a momentary lull in the firing, broken by two hurricane bursts -of fire from the Cadets’ Lewis guns, and the Volunteers fell in little -heaps on the grey limestone road; the remainder hesitated, and then ran -for their trenches, to be met by a hail of bullets from the police, who -had taken up positions commanding the trenches while the Volunteers were -trying to escape by the road. Again they tried to escape along the road, -and again the Lewis guns spat out a magazine of bullets whilst a man -could count five, the noise of the guns being intensified by the dead -wall of trees. - -The few Volunteers now left threw down their arms, put up their hands, -and the fight was over. - -In the meantime William had taken his brother and sister down the -Ballybor road until they came to the lane where the car was, and here he -told them to wait. After a few minutes Sheila asked him to send the -constable out of hearing, as she wished to talk to him. - -After the constable had retired up the lane there was a terrible silence -for several minutes. Patrick and Sheila both realised too late that -William must have been in the house when they started on their journey -to Dublin for the arms, and that he must have gone straight to Ballybor -to warn the police of the impending ambuscade. They knew that, even if -they were not sentenced to death, they could not escape a long term of -imprisonment, and that they had been betrayed by their own brother, but -would not—or could not—realise that William had only done his duty. - -Suddenly Sheila burst into a passionate denouncement of William’s -treachery to his country and his own flesh and blood, to be stopped by -Patrick with great difficulty, who, controlling his rising passion and -terror by a great effort, implored William for their mother’s sake to -let them escape while there was yet time. At any rate to let Sheila -go—surely the British Government did not wage war on women. - -Poor William was torn between love for his brother and sister and his -duty to his King. In those short moments he went through the agony of -hell, knowing well that if he refused to let them escape he would carry -for the rest of his life the brand of Cain; on the other hand, if he let -them go he would not only be betraying his King, but also he would ruin -his own career, and probably Blake’s as well. - -To William’s great credit be it said, his sense of duty prevailed, and -he refused to let them go; and to his great relief the unhappy scene was -cut short by the sudden appearance of Blake. - -Shortly afterwards the constable returned, and reported to Blake that he -had found a Red Cross car up the lane. Blake gave orders for the car to -be brought on to the highroad, and after collecting his men, started for -Ballybor with Patrick and Sheila prisoners in their own car. - - - - - V. - THE R.M. - - -Since the period of Charles Lever, no book of Irish life has equalled -‘Some Experiences of an Irish R.M.’ in successfully portraying the -character or “chat” of the true western peasant; but, at the same time, -this book only shows the social side of a Resident Magistrate’s life, -and hardly does justice to his work in the wild parts of the south and -west. - -And of recent years the life led by Resident Magistrates has become more -and more dangerous as the country became more and more unsettled. A D.I. -can always take an escort with him, also he can go where and when he -pleases; but an R.M. has to drive alone about the country, and, -moreover, every one knows that at a certain hour on a certain day the -R.M. will drive to a certain Petty Sessions Court, and after the Court -is over he must drive home, though possibly by a different road. It is -one thing to face death with half a score of rifles at your back, and -quite a different tale unarmed and alone. - -Soon after Blake came to Ballybor, the R.M. stationed there retired on -pension, and in his place there came a young man, Anthony Mayne, who had -served with distinction in an Irish regiment during the war. Being -unmarried, Mayne took up his quarters in a small hotel close to the -police barracks, and in a short time struck up a friendship with Blake. - -In addition to attending at Ballybor Petty Sessions once a week, Mayne -had to go to several other small towns twice a month. The district was -very large, chiefly wild mountainous country, and some of the places -were many miles from Ballybor, one place in particular, Ballyrick, being -over thirty miles away on the shores of the Atlantic. - -The first Court which Mayne attended happened to be at Ballyrick, -probably one of the wildest and most thinly populated districts in -Ireland. Soon after leaving Ballybor the road crossed a railway line by -a level crossing close to the sea, and then ran for many miles between -the sea and a chain of mountains to the small seaside town of Ballyrick. - -Mayne found that the people of this district were a race of small men; -they looked as though the terrific Atlantic gales had stunted them in -the same way as the trees are stunted on this coast, and, moreover, -their faces were not pleasing. During his first Court here the nature of -the cases showed plainly that the chief amusement of the peasants was to -beat and batter each other on all opportunities, especially on dark -nights after a fair, and the distillation of illicit whisky their chief -occupation. - -In Ireland the penalty for harbouring, keeping, or concealing a still or -illicit spirits is £100, which can be mitigated to £6, luckily no lower; -and from time immemorial the custom of the shopkeeper class of -magistrate has always been to reduce every fine to the minimum, with the -natural result that the peasants have come to regard the £6 fine as the -legal penalty for the bad luck of being caught by the police. £6 is a -mere fraction of the profits of a successful brew of poteen, and is -looked upon in the light of a tax paid to the Government. - -In one case a man was caught red-handed by the police with fourteen -barrels of treacle, 200 gallons of wash, a complete still, and enough -poteen to stock a fair-sized public-house. The man brought the £6 into -Court with him, being certain he would be convicted and fined the usual -amount. - -But Mayne, the only magistrate on the bench, took a very serious view of -the case, knowing the amount of crime and misery caused by this -abominable drink, and fined the man £50. - -Such a sentence had never been heard in Ballyrick Court-house within the -memory of man; even the police received a shock, and a noise resembling -a swarm of angry bees arose to defy the shouts of the police for silence -and order. That evening, when Mayne returned to Ballybor, he was -followed by a police car for many miles, but the peasants had not had -time to organise their revenge. - -About this time the magistrates of the district received letters from -the I.R.A. calling upon them to resign their Commissions of the Peace, -and giving them a time limit. The shopkeeper and farmer class, being -threatened with that savage scourge in Ireland, a boycott, had no -alternative but to resign, which they did at once with great promptness -and unanimity. In most cases the gentry hung on to their commissions, -but refrained from appearing on the Bench at a time when their presence -might have made all the difference. - -Very soon the Sinn Fein Courts in the Ballybor district were in full -swing; the country people received orders not to appear at a Petty -Sessions Court, and in a very short time every Petty Sessions clerk -found himself completely idle. However, as a matter of form, Mayne -attended every Court regularly, though the only people present were the -police, the clerk, and himself, and their only work to say good-day to -each other. - -By now all the magistrates in the district had either resigned or feared -to attend, and if only the R.M. could be frightened out of the country -or removed, all Petty Sessions Courts would be closed, and the King’s -Writ would cease to run in the country both figuratively and in reality. -With this end in view, the Volunteers began to send threatening letters -to Mayne, and on two occasions he was fired at when motoring back from -holding Courts in outlying towns. - -However, Mayne was made of the right stuff, and determined that as long -as he was alive the usual Courts should be held throughout his district, -no matter whether the people brought their cases to the King’s Courts or -to the Sinn Fein Courts, which were generally held the day before a -Petty Sessions Court was due in a town; and in order to provide cases he -arranged with Blake to carry out a poteen raid on a large scale in the -Ballyrick district, and that the cases should be tried at the next Court -there. Blake duly carried out the raid, which was most successful, and -the defendants were summoned to appear in Court, with the threat of -arrest held over their heads if they did not turn up. - -On the day of the Ballyrick Court Mayne set out, alone as usual, on his -long drive about 9.45 A.M., and on reaching the level crossing found the -gates closed, though no train was due to pass for several hours. After -sounding his horn in vain, he went to open them himself, only to find -that both gates were heavily padlocked. - -He then made his way to the crossing-keeper’s house, which was about -fifty yards up the line. The man’s wife, who was the only occupant of -the house, told him that the gates had been locked that morning by the -Volunteers, after the police cars had passed through, and the keys taken -away. Determined not to be beaten, Mayne now got a heavy stone, and had -actually succeeded in smashing the padlock on the near gate, when he was -shot in the head from behind, and at once collapsed on the road. - -During the late war extraordinary cases were known of men shot through -the head, even through the brain, living for hours afterwards, though -generally unable to speak; and Mayne, though paralysed, was quite -conscious when his murderers came up to where he was lying. - -For some time the murderers argued whether they should finish him off, -or remove him as he was. In the end they put him into his own car, -unlocked the far gate, and drove off in the direction of Ballyrick. - -After proceeding about a mile they came to a lane, which led up to a -lonely farm close to the sea. After driving up to the farm they threw -Mayne—still alive and conscious—on to a manure heap at the back of the -farmhouse, and then drove off. It was afterwards found that they then -took the car to a high cliff and ran it over the edge, to be broken up -on the rocks below in the sea. - -Mayne spent the rest of that day lying on the manure heap, and so -terrorised were the inhabitants of the farm that not one of them dared -go near him. To give poor Mayne even a cup of cold water would have -meant certain death to the giver. - -Late that evening the murderers returned, expecting to find Mayne dead -by now; but he was still alive, though in a pitiable state. Again they -argued among themselves whether they would finish him off or not, and -again for some unknown reason they decided not to. And these are the men -who, according to an English paper (thank God! not an Irish one), are -“entitled to the treatment which, in _civilised_ countries, is given to -prisoners of war.” - -After some time an ass was harnessed to a cart, into which they threw -Mayne’s body, and then proceeded to the seashore below the farm. Here, -after another discussion, they buried him—still alive, though quite -paralysed—up to his neck in the sand, at a place where they thought the -incoming tide would just reach him and slowly drown him during the -night-time. It was now several hours since Mayne had been shot, and one -can only hope that, though he was still alive, his senses had become -numbed. - -The following morning these fiends returned again to find that they had -miscalculated the height of the tide, which had only reached the level -of poor Mayne’s chin, and that he was _still alive_, though probably by -now quite mad. They then dug him up, and this time made no mistake, but -buried him where the tide was bound to drown him. And the next flood -tide put an end to a torture the like of which Lenin and Trotsky could -hardly exceed for sheer malignant devilry. - -Blake and a strong escort of police had motored out to Ballyrick ahead -of Mayne, in case there might be an ambush on the road. The Court was -due to begin at twelve, and when by two there was no sign of the R.M., -Blake left for Ballybor, making inquiries on the way, but could get no -tidings of him anywhere. - -On arriving in Ballybor, Blake wired for a force of Auxiliaries, who -arrived that night, and at once started with Blake and a strong force of -R.I.C. to hunt the countryside for Mayne; but nowadays in Ireland, so -dangerous is it for any civilian to be seen speaking to a policeman, -that it is always quite impossible to obtain any direct information. -People who had seen Mayne set out on his last ill-fated drive denied -that they even knew him by sight. - -For three days and three nights they scoured the countryside from -Ballybor to Ballyrick, and from Ballyrick back again to Ballybor, but no -clue or tidings of Mayne could they get. From the time Mayne left -Ballybor, R.M. and car seemed to have disappeared as though the earth -had opened and swallowed them. - -As there was no evidence of foul play, the police hoped that the R.M. -had been kidnapped and hidden away in the mountains to the east of -Ballyrick. So they posted notices throughout the district to the effect -that, if the R.M. was returned in two days all would be well, but if -not—— - -At the end of the two days’ grace a man, who said he kept the railway -crossing on the road to Ballyrick, arrived on a bicycle at the barracks -ashen with fear, and asked to see Blake. On hearing the man’s story, -Blake went out to the level crossing and there found poor Mayne’s body -in a rough wooden box, lying on the side of the line. The cause of death -appeared obvious; but they were greatly puzzled to find the clothes -soaked with sea-water and full of sand, and to hear from the doctor who -examined the body that death was due to—drowning. - -The level-crossing man was detained at the barracks, and every means was -taken to extract information from him; but he denied all knowledge of -the murder, and proved an alibi to Blake’s satisfaction. - -The police spent the next fortnight searching in vain for Mayne’s -murderers, and it is probable that, but for a curious trait in the -peasant’s character, they would never have solved the mystery. - -Late one evening, about three weeks after the murder, a typical -Ballyrick peasant arrived at the barracks in Ballybor and asked to see -the D.I., and refused to state his business except to the D.I. Luckily -the police decided to admit the man, and he was led off to Blake’s -office. - -When he was brought in Blake was up to his eyes in official -correspondence, with the prospect of an all-night sitting before him; -but hoping that the man might have news of Mayne, he ordered the police -to leave the man alone with him, and then waited for him to tell his -news. - -If a western peasant has a favour to ask or a confession to make, he -will talk of everything and everybody except the object of his visit, -possibly for an hour and probably for two, and will generally not come -to the point until he is preparing to leave. The length of time required -to extract the necessary information depends entirely on the skill of -the interviewer. - -Blake’s visitor was no exception to this rule, and many an Englishman, -cleverer than Blake, would have made the mistake of hurrying his man, -which is always fatal; and even Blake’s patience was nearly exhausted -before he made his confession. - -Whether the man’s confession was genuine, or whether he hoped to save -his skin by turning informer is not quite clear; but at any rate he -confessed to Blake that he and five other men had murdered Mayne at the -level crossing, gave the full details of one of the worst atrocities -which has ever been committed in Ireland, and stated as his only reason -for confessing that he had not been able to sleep since the murder. - - - - - VI. - AN OUTLAW. - - -Probably the great majority of the British public had no idea of the -extraordinary situation in the south and west of Ireland during 1920, -and most likely never will have. In the summer of that sinister year, -when the Sinn Fein tyranny was at its height, an English newspaper sent -a lady journalist over to this unfortunate country to find out what -really was the matter with us, and, if possible, to give the world yet -another solution of the Irish Question. - -In her first letter, this lady, quite unnecessarily, told her millions -of readers that she had never been in Ireland before, proceeded to -relate the peculiarities of the people of Dublin and Belfast, and -finished with a vivid description of the peaceful and happy condition of -the country, in spite of the interested rumours put about to the -contrary. - -At the time when this lady journalist was discovering peaceful and happy -Ireland, the power of Sinn Fein was rapidly passing from the hands of -the hot-air merchants to the direct-action ruffians; in other words, -Arthur Griffiths became a mere cipher, and Michael Collins the dictator -of the south and west. And very soon Collins had several imitators. - -Born in 1889 in the highlands of Ballyrick, Denis Joyce, after working -for a few years as gillie and general boy at a shooting-lodge near -Errinane, drifted to Dublin as a labourer, and at once came under the -influence of Connolly, the prince of Irish Bolsheviks. Taken prisoner -during the Easter rebellion of 1916, he was eventually released with -other small fry, and in return devoted himself to the extermination of -the British Empire in general, and Irish policemen in particular. - -During the spring and summer of 1920, Joyce and his numerous bodyguard, -like an Irish chieftain of old, lived like fighting-cocks. Hailed as the -conquerors of the British Army (they had shot several unarmed soldiers) -wherever they went, not only did they live free, gratis, and for -nothing, but the country people literally fought for the honour of -entertaining these heroes. A great pity that the lady journalist could -not have been present at one of these banquets. What “copy” she could -have sent to her editor, and the certified net sale would have soared to -the skies. - -But though Joyce and his merry men had a great time, they did not -neglect their duty; and on every occasion, when conditions were all in -their favour, they shot down police patrols from behind walls, and -murdered unfortunate policemen when visiting their wives and families. - -However, every dog has his day, and in the autumn of 1920, when the -British Army and the Auxiliary Cadets started to take a hand in the -game, Joyce found himself changed from a popular hero into a hunted -outlaw, with the usual result that, where formerly he had found an open -door and a smiling welcome, he now was met by a closed door and a scowl; -and when seeking board and lodging, it became necessary to persuade the -unwilling hosts with a six-shooter. - -The police and military now commenced paying calls at night; and a -farmer, living in the depth of the country, hearing a knock at his door -during the long winter’s nights, had always the pleasing excitement of -not knowing if he was to have the honour of entertaining some -badly-wanted gunmen, a patrol of the R.I.C., a party of Auxiliary -Cadets, a military search-party, or merely a posse of local robbers, any -of whom might take a sudden dislike to the unfortunate farmer, with -unpleasant results. - -In the winter of 1920, Joyce, who would have made an excellent soldier, -made the bad mistake of mixing up love with war; in other words, he -became greatly enamoured of a girl living in the south, and in order to -be within reach of her, confined his attentions to that district for a -considerable time, instead of moving about the country with his usual -rapidity; and the Auxiliaries, getting an inkling of the situation from -a former lover of the girl, made a great effort to surround and capture -him. - -Though he received repeated warnings of the activity of the Cadets, -Joyce put off his departure, until a day came when word was brought that -the place was surrounded by forces of the Crown, who would close in on -the little town that evening. - -Joyce at once went to tell Molly, whose father kept a small hotel in the -town, and the girl’s quick wit soon thought out a plan of escape for her -lover. Five commercial travellers staying in the hotel, and at the time -out touring neighbouring villages, had left their heavy cases of samples -at the hotel, and their railway passes in the safe keeping of the hotel -proprietor. - -That afternoon the train to the west carried Joyce and four of his -bodyguard disguised as bagmen; the remainder were left to shift for -themselves, and that evening, when the Cadets searched the town from -attic to cellar, they found that the principal bird had flown. - -Joyce knew that it would not be safe to travel by train as far as -Ballybor, and as soon as he thought that they had cleared the Auxiliary -cordon, determined to alight at the next stop and continue the journey -by car. Just as they were on the point of leaving the train, however, -they noticed several Cadets waiting by the station exit, so did not get -out. - -Two stations farther on they left the train, and being now outside the -net, quickly commandeered a Ford from the local garage and set out for -the Ballyrick country, where Joyce had decided to hide and rest for a -while. Keeping to byroads, they made their way westwards at a good rate -until it was nearly daylight, when, after hiding the car in a wood, they -proceeded to search for board and lodging. - -Shortly they came across a good farmhouse, and, after the usual display -of pistols, were admitted reluctantly, made a hearty meal, and retired -to bed after ordering their host to have five good bicycles and another -meal ready for them as soon as it was dark. - -It has been mentioned that Joyce had worked as a boy at a shooting-lodge -near Errinane, and he now conceived the brilliant idea of taking a -rest-cure there until such time as the police took less interest in him. -This lodge, Drumcar by name, belonged to a Connaught squire who had -married an Englishwoman, and except for a short time in the summer was -only occupied by a caretaker. Situated in one of the wildest parts of -the west, a mile from the road, hidden by woods of oak and birch, and -overlooking the bay on which Errinane stands, it was probably the last -place in Ireland where the police would think of looking for an active -gunman, and the chances were that not a single Auxiliary even knew that -such a place existed. - -The gunmen arrived at Drumcar soon after dawn, and after rousing the -terrified caretaker, who lived with his son and daughter in a cottage in -the grounds, they settled down to a life of peace and comfort. The girl -attended on them, while the old man brought food from Errinane in a -donkey cart, and a good supply of poteen from a mountain farm near the -mouth of the bay. - -The lodge was well supplied with turf, contained an excellent library of -novels, and Joyce and his men waxed fat with good living and soft lying; -but it is a case of once on the run, always on the run, until the -inevitable end comes, or the gunman is lucky enough to escape to the -States. - -Now, it is a well-known truth in the west that a “mountainy” man will -always, when sick unto death, home-sick, or in dire distress, make for -his beloved mountains, no matter what far end of the world he may have -drifted to; and when in due course Blake learnt through official -channels that Joyce had escaped from the southern town, he at once began -to keep a sharp look-out for him in the Ballyrick country. - -But when a fortnight passed and there was no sign of Joyce, nor yet any -report of his presence in that part of the country, Blake turned up the -man’s official record, from which he learnt two interesting facts: -first, that Joyce had worked at Drumcar; and, secondly, that he had a -married sister in Bunrattey, a district on the southern border of -Blake’s country. - -Blake now turned his attention to the sister’s house, and when this -proved a blank, he determined to try Drumcar Lodge as a last resource; -but at the time of the landing of arms at Errinane, every police barrack -and coastguard station within a radius of many miles had been burnt, so -that it was impossible to get any news of the place without going there, -the nearest barrack in Blake’s district being fifty miles away. - -A “travelling circus” of Auxiliaries happened to be passing through -Ballybor, and the leader undertook to investigate the lodge and let -Blake know if they found any trace of Joyce. Blake advised them to -surround the lodge in the day-time, as, owing to the wild and -mountainous nature of the country, a night attack would be impossible. - -On the whole, the gunmen treated old Faherty, the caretaker, and his -children well, especially the son, Patsy, in the hope that he would join -them; but, luckily for himself, the lad had a wholesome dread of -firearms. After he had been at the lodge some days, in spite of feeling -quite secure, Joyce, with the instinct of the hunted, began to look -about for a bolt-hole in case of need; though in the midst of the wilds -the lodge had serious drawbacks, being situated on the side of a slope, -so that any one leaving the lodge would at once come under observation -from several points, and, moreover, an arm of the sea cut off all escape -to the north. - -In fact, escape seemed very doubtful, until by chance Patsy mentioned -that in a boat-house, hidden by trees, on the shore of the bay, there -was a large motor-launch, which he had learnt to drive the previous -summer. The next time the old man went to Errinane for provisions, he -brought back with him twenty gallons of petrol (duly entered up in his -absent master’s account), and Joyce felt easier in his mind. - -On a pouring wet afternoon the five gunmen were playing nap in front of -a comfortable turf fire in the drawing-room, while old Faherty’s -daughter brewed poteen punch for them, and Patsy was reading a novel in -an arm-chair, when a long-haired boy dashed in with the news that a -large party of Auxiliary Cadets had rushed through Errinane, taken two -countrymen they had met on the road as guides, and were surrounding the -lodge from all sides except the sea. Joyce had launched the motor-boat -only the previous day, and within a few minutes they were under way, -heading for the mouth of the bay with the throttle full open. Seeing the -launch in the bay below them as they reached the front of the lodge, the -Cadets opened fire, but before they could get on to their target the -launch vanished in the thick mist of rain. - -As pursuit was out of the question, the Auxiliaries drove straight to -Errinane Post Office, only to find the wires cut. They then went on to -the nearest town, and wired to the naval authorities at Queenstown, -hoping that they might be able to get in touch with a destroyer off the -west coast by wireless, and so capture Joyce at sea. - -Joyce knew that the hue-and-cry would be up, and that it would be fatal -to land anywhere on the coast near Errinane; and as the sea was calm, he -made up his mind to cut across a big bay to the north and make for -Buntarriv, a narrow passage between an island and the mainland, which -would lead them to Trabawn Bay, on the shores of which lay his own -country. - -The launch left the slip at Drumcar at 1 P.M., and Joyce made out that -at eight miles an hour they ought to reach Buntarriv Sound at four -o’clock and Trabawn Bay in another hour, which should give them plenty -of time to land before darkness set in. Unfortunately, when out in the -open Atlantic, the engine stopped, and Patsy, who was thoroughly -frightened by now, would only sit down and cry. Two of the gunmen knew -something of motors, and after nearly two hours discovered that the -carburetter was choked with dirt, and it was nearly six o’clock before -the Sound was within sight: another quarter of an hour and they would -have been too late. As it was, a destroyer opened fire on them just as -they were entering the Sound, and they were only saved by the failing -light. - -Knowing that the destroyer could not follow them, and afraid of wrecking -the launch in the dark, they anchored and waited for the moon to rise, -and eventually landed on the shore of Trabawn Bay. Joyce was at last in -his own country, and before day broke the gunmen were safely lodged in -different mountain farms close to Joyce’s home, and the next day Patsy -was handed over to the local Volunteers to be returned to Drumcar. The -following day they took the launch to a bay surrounded by high cliffs, -where no human being except an odd herd ever went, and beached her at -the height of the tide on the sandy shore, where they left her for -future use. - -After a few days at home Joyce began to get restless, and resolved to -visit his married sister in the Bunrattey district; but the local -Volunteers could only supply them with two bicycles, and the distance -was too far to walk—forty-two miles as the crow flies. However, he -learnt from a postman that a police patrol visited Ballyscaddan, a small -village about sixteen miles east of Ballyrick, daily, and were in the -habit of leaving their bicycles outside a public-house which they -frequented. - -The gunmen spent the night in Ballyscaddan, and about eleven o’clock a -patrol of six R.I.C. arrived in the village, left their bicycles outside -the public-house, and went inside to refresh themselves. The gunmen, who -were waiting in the next house, quickly cut the tyres of one bicycle to -ribbons, and rode off on the remaining five, leaving the unfortunate -villagers to bear the brunt of the infuriated policemen’s wrath. That -night Joyce and his four men slept in his sister’s house in Bunrattey. - -Besides his courage, the only redeeming feature about Joyce appears to -have been his love for this sister. As usual, she was delighted to see -him, but by now the other inhabitants would have as soon welcomed the -devil himself as Joyce, knowing that his progress through the country -was blazed by reprisals. - -Gone were the days when he used to hold audience daily in his sister’s -house like a king, and men came many miles simply to see the famous -Denis Joyce. Now the country people would avoid him on the road, and not -a single person came to see him. - -His sister warned him repeatedly that it was dangerous to stay any -length of time with her; but Joyce seems to have lost heart, or perhaps -his Celtic soul had a premonition of coming disaster. At any rate he -refused to go, and spent most of this time sitting by the kitchen fire -brooding. - -Blake soon learnt of Joyce’s escape by sea from Drumcar, and feeling -sure that sooner or later he would visit his sister before starting -operations in the south again, concentrated his attention on that -district. To this end, he kept his men well away, and at the same time -asked for the help of the Auxiliary “travelling circus,” among whom were -three Cadets who knew Joyce well by sight. - -One of these Cadets, whose personal appearance favoured the disguise, -was dressed up as a priest, and sent out on a bicycle to spy out the -land. After two days he returned with the good news that he had passed -the famous gunman on the road in Bunrattey, and at once Blake made -preparations to surround the place that night. - -He knew that success entirely depended on maintaining complete secrecy -until the house was surrounded, and that if even a whisper of what was -in the air got abroad all chances of capturing Joyce were gone. Tired of -seeing operations ruined by well-advertised Crossleys, bristling with -rifles, tearing along the main roads, he determined to try and catch his -man by cunning. - -Directly he received the news that Joyce was at Bunrattey, he left -Ballybor Barracks with four Crossleys, two of R.I.C., and two of -Auxiliaries, in the opposite direction to which Bunrattey lay, until -they came to a small village about ten miles to the north, where there -was a large flour-mill. Surrounding the mill, the police carried out a -perfunctory search and left just before dark, taking with them two of -the miller’s lorries, one empty, and the other loaded with flour sacks -and two large tarpaulins, cutting the wires as soon as they were clear -of the village. - -Making their way eastwards until they reached a long stretch of desolate -bog-road, they halted with one tender about a quarter of a mile behind -and another the same distance ahead. They then proceeded to transfer -half the flour sacks to the empty lorry, built them up with a hollow in -the middle so that both lorries appeared to be fully loaded, filled the -hollows with police, and then threw a tarpaulin over each. - -The two lorries then set off to make a large detour in order to approach -Bunrattey from the south (the opposite direction to Ballybor), and Blake -made out that they ought to arrive there about midnight. The four -Crossleys waited and followed at a time which should bring them to -Bunrattey a quarter of an hour after the arrival of the lorries. - -Joyce’s sister’s house stood back from the main road about eighty yards, -was one-storied, very strongly built, and had a tremendous thatch of -straw; to the front there were four small windows, heavily shuttered, -and a stout oak door, and at the back only a door of the same kind. At a -distance of about thirty yards from the house a low stone wall ran round -the sides and back, enclosing a small cabbage garden and the haggard, -which gave excellent cover for the police. - -The lorries stopped within 400 yards of the house, and the police -quickly and silently surrounded it without raising the alarm. They then -waited for the arrival of the Crossleys, when the Auxiliaries and the -remainder of the police formed a second cordon outside the first one. - -The leading lorry was now brought into the lane which led up to the -house, and left there with the acetylene lamps shining full on the front -door and windows, and at the same time the lamps of the second lorry -were taken to the back of the house and mounted on the wall, so that any -one attempting to leave the house by the doors or windows would be in -the full glare of the powerful lamps. - -Approaching the house from a gable-end, Blake crawled along the front -until he reached the door, on which he hammered with the butt of his -revolver, and called on the inmates to surrender, telling them that they -were surrounded and that resistance only meant death. Receiving no -answer, he called out that if they did not come out at once with their -hands up, he would open fire on the house, and for reply there came a -volley of bullets through the lower part of the door. He then crawled -back to cover, and ordered his men to open fire on the front door with a -machine-gun. - -The concentrated fire of a machine-gun will cut a hole through a -nine-inch brick wall in a very short time, and in a few minutes the oak -door was in splinters. While the machine-gun kept up a continuous fire -at the height of a man’s chest, four policemen endeavoured to get into -the house by crawling up to the door, but when a few feet away two were -shot, and the remaining two only escaped by rolling to one side. - -All that the police had to do now, provided that Joyce was in the -house—and the resistance offered made this a certainty—was to wait until -daylight, when the certain capture of the gunmen would only be a -question of time. But by now Blake was excited, and remembering how -O’Hara had slipped through his hands, he determined to burn the rats out -and finish the show. After getting a tin of petrol from one of the cars, -he again crawled up to the gable-end, set a light to the tin, and flung -it on to the thatch, which at once took fire, burning fiercely. - -Only a few days previously this part of the thatch had been renewed, and -as the weather had been fine it was bone-dry. But after a few minutes -the fire reached the old and wet thatch, and as there was a gentle -breeze blowing from the front, very soon the back of the house was -completely hidden by a cloud of smoke. - -Realising the mistake he had made, Blake ordered his men to keep up a -continuous fire on the back door, and at the same time rushed the -machine-gun round to that side; but so blinding was the smoke by now -that it was impossible to know where the back door was. - -Hearing shouts from the front, on going there he found a young woman -standing in the doorway with her hands up, who told him that all the men -in the house were wounded and unable to move. On entering they found -three of Joyce’s bodyguard and his brother-in-law lying in pools of -blood on the kitchen floor, but not a sign of Joyce or the fourth man. - -There was still a chance that the missing two might be found wounded -outside the back door, which was ajar, but the smoke was still so dense -that no one could approach. After a time the smoke abated, and they -found the fourth man dead a few yards from the house, but not a sign of -Joyce. - -Again working on the theory that the gunman would make for his home in -the Ballyrick mountains, which lay to the westward at the back of the -house, Blake divided his forces into two, sending each out on a flank in -order to get well ahead of the fugitive, and then form a fan-shaped net -and beat backwards towards the house. Four miles away to the west was -the Owenmore river, which ran northwards through Ballybor, and across -the river were two bridges, each about four miles from where they were. - -The two forces crossed by different bridges, each dropping three men at -the bridges, then went on about three miles, and at daybreak started to -beat the country back to the bridges. Here they arrived, worn out, at 10 -A.M., and not a sign had any one seen or heard of Joyce. - -Sure that Joyce had crossed the river, the police started to beat back -again over the ground they had just covered; but by 4 P.M. the men were -done in, and Blake had to call them off and return to Ballybor. - -That night he got out a large-scale Ordnance map of the Bunrattey -district, put himself in Joyce’s place, and tried to think out his line -of escape, presuming that the fugitive had avoided the bridges and swum -the river at the nearest point from his sister’s house. On crossing the -river he would soon come to a thick wood on the slope of a hill, through -which the railway line to Ballybor ran, and here he decided that Joyce -must be hiding. - -Early the next morning Blake set out with a strong force, and -approaching Derryallen Wood from all four sides at once, spent the rest -of the day beating the wood through and through, but without any result, -and they came to the conclusion that by now Joyce must have got clear. - -A week afterwards, when Blake was returning in the dusk from Grouse -Lodge Barracks, a man stopped the car on an open stretch of road about a -mile outside Ballybor. The man turned out to be the loyal guard of the -goods train, and he told Blake that for several days past he had seen -the engine-driver drop a parcel as the train passed through Derryallen -Wood, and always at the same place, into a patch of briers on the side -of the line. - -Blake’s interest in Joyce awoke afresh, but he felt sure that no living -being had escaped them on the day when they searched the wood, and they -had not been able to find any trace of a hiding-place. However, it would -be interesting to know what the engine-driver dropped when passing -through the wood, and by whom it was picked up. - -The main road from Ballybor to Castleport ran parallel with the railway, -skirting the east side of Derryallen; and here, on a pitch-dark winter’s -night, in torrents of rain, two Crossleys stopped for a couple of -minutes while Blake and a party of R.I.C. and Cadets dropped out, and -then drove on again. - -With great difficulty the party found their way in the dark to the -railway line, where they remained hidden in some laurels until it began -to grow light, when they were able to conceal themselves within easy -reach of the patch of briers. - -After hours of weary waiting the goods train passed down, and the -engine-driver dropped the parcel into the briers. At once the police -forgot hunger and cold in their eagerness to see who would pick up the -parcel, but again they were doomed to hours of weary waiting. - -At last, when the men had nearly reached the limit of their endurance -and light was almost gone, they saw a most miserable-looking wild-eyed -man crawling painfully towards the patch of briers. When he was within -five yards of the parcel Blake called on him to surrender, and every man -covered him with his rifle. - -Game to the end, though unable to stand on account of a bullet-wound in -one leg, Joyce drew his pistol and glared defiance at the police; but as -he raised himself to fire, a fifteen-stone Cadet, who had crept up -silently behind him, flung himself on the famous gunman’s back, and the -long chase was over. - -Joyce refused to show Blake his hiding-place, but afterwards they learnt -from the owner of the wood that there was a cave in the middle of the -wood which had been used by robbers over a hundred years ago, the -entrance of which was completely covered by thick heather. - - - - - VII. - THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES. - - -After the loss of the American arms the district of Ballybor remained -quiet for some considerable time, so that the hard-working farmers in -the country and respectable shopkeepers in the town began to hope at -last that the trouble was over, and that they might be free to carry on -their work in peace. Unfortunately, a quiet and peaceful district is -anathema to the Sinn Fein G.H.Q., and before long a Volunteer flying -column received orders to operate in the Ballybor district, with a view -to stirring up trouble and bringing the county into line with the south. - -By this time the large moderate element of Sinn Fein, in other words, -practically every man who had a stake in the country—substantial farmers -with haggards to burn, and prosperous shopkeepers with shops to -burn—realised that they had backed a losing horse, and were prepared to -do any mortal thing for peace, except help the police. Unfortunately, -the farmers’ sons and shop-boys, who, in the usual course of events, but -for the war, would have been in the States by now, took quite a -different view. £20 in the £ rates, burnt haggards, and ruined -businesses meant nothing to boys who paid no rates nor owned shops or -farms. - -Up to the winter of 1919 the rebels moved about the country in motors, -how, when, and where they liked. Even during the time when every gallon -of petrol was being kept for the armies in France, and the Loyalists -were only allowed six gallons a month (on paper), De Valera and his -staff burnt petrol as freely as a Connaught peasant will drink poteen. -In connection with this, it would be interesting to know into whose -petrol tanks the many thousands of gallons of petrol which was washed up -on the western shores of Ireland from torpedoed vessels passed, and the -system of collection and distribution. - -After this winter, when the use of cars for illegal purposes became more -and more restricted as the car-permit regulations became stricter and -more rigidly enforced, the Volunteers began to make great use of -bicycles, and their flying columns consisted of cyclists only. Orders -were issued from G.H.Q. that every Volunteer must be able to ride a -bicycle, and local commandants were instructed to see that every man in -their command had one. - -During the Mons retreat the cyclists were invaluable, both for fighting -small rearguard actions and also for keeping in contact with the enemy. -During the present war in Ireland, the explanation of the mysteries of -how men can shoot policemen from behind a wall and then disappear into -thin air, and of how a column of gunmen can shoot up a train in Kerry on -Monday and ambush a police lorry in Clare on Tuesday, is to be found in -the intelligent use of the humble push-bike. And until the authorities -round up every push-bike in Ireland, these mysteries will continue. - -As soon as G.H.Q. determined that the Ballybor district must be brought -into line with the south, a small party of gunmen, operating at the time -many miles to the south, received their orders, and late that night a -silent and ghostly party of cyclists rode into the Ballybor district. At -a certain cross-roads they were met by guides, and long before daybreak -the gunmen were billeted in ones and twos throughout the townland of -Cloonalla. - -The following night a meeting of the local Volunteers was held in the -National School, and the leader of the gunmen insisted that a police -ambush or an attack on the Grouse Lodge Barracks should take place -within the next few nights. The general opinion being against an attack -on the barracks—the field of fire was too good, and the Black and Tans -too handy with their rifles—it was settled (by the gunmen) that the -police should be ambushed at a favourable spot where the main road from -Ballybor to Castleport passed through a wooded demesne. - -The next morning Father Tom, the parish priest, was besieged by the -young Volunteers’ fathers, men who had homes and haggards to burn, one -and all imploring his reverence to prevent an ambush in the parish, and -to save them from the wrath of the Auxiliaries. Some of them, when -asked, confessed that the gunmen were staying in their houses, but that -their sons had brought them there without leave, and that they were -powerless to get rid of them. - -From the beginning of the movement Father Tom, who was young for a -parish priest and an ardent Sinn Feiner in theory, had been one of the -leaders in the district, and even when burning houses and haggards began -to follow murderous ambuscades in far-away Co. Cork as surely as day -follows night, he still felt a thrill of pride for his countrymen who -were giving their all for freedom, and became a fiercer Sinn Feiner than -ever; but an ambush (and the sequel) in his own beloved parish was a -very different thing, and a calamity to be avoided at all costs (his -house stood high, and would give a splendid view at night of burning -houses and haggards), and there was obviously no time to lose. - -The next day was Sunday, and at mass Father Tom, who was a fine -preacher, thundered forth from the altar. A vivid imagination stimulated -his eloquence to such a pitch that he reduced most of the older members -of his flock to tears. - -He told them that it had come to his ears that certain men in the parish -were harbouring strangers within their gates, and that these strangers -had been trying to incite young and innocent boys to murder policemen. -He then described the result of an ambush—how houses were burnt to the -ground and women and little children were turned out on the road on a -winter’s night (he did not mention the men, knowing that by then they -would be up in the mountains), and how innocent men were shot in their -beds before the eyes of their wives; but he said nothing about the -widows and orphans of the murdered policemen. Finally, he warned his -flock against the strangers, who would fade away before the wrath of the -soldiers and Auxiliaries fell on the parish, and commanded that they -should be instantly turned out under the direst penalties. And with a -last curse on the strangers he left the chapel. - -If Father Tom had thundered from the altar against ambushes many, many -months before, instead of openly encouraging the Volunteers, the result -might have been very different; but a leader of men who gives an order -to-day and a counter-order to-morrow is rarely obeyed. That night it was -learnt that a party of military would proceed from Castleport to -Ballybor on Wednesday night, and it was settled to ambush them at the -spot chosen in the demesne, the gunmen promising that a carload of arms -and bombs would arrive in time for the ambush, and also a doctor. - -In the Cloonalla district there lived, nowadays a _rara avis_ in the -west of Ireland, a Protestant farmer of the old yeoman type so well -known in England, and a staunch Loyalist. To his house there came on -that Sunday night two of the leading farmers, who told him the whole -story of the proposed ambush, and begged him to warn the police. - -The chapel of Cloonalla stands in the centre of the parish, close to a -cross-roads, and on that Wednesday morning the inhabitants woke up to -find a kilted sentry on guard at the cross-roads, and before most of -them could get out of bed, two companies of Highlanders, guided by -Blake, were hard at work searching every house for strangers. - -Blake had brought with him two old regular R.I.C. sergeants, men who had -been stationed in the district for years, and who knew every man, young -and old; but the gunmen had been in trouble before, and were not to be -caught so easily. - -They were all young men and clean shaved, and before the police and -Highlanders entered any of their billets, one and all were dressed as -women with shawls over their heads; and in one house, where two of them -had been billeted, the Highlanders found a young woman sitting on a -stool by the fire, nursing a baby under her shawl, while another pretty -shawled girl was preparing breakfast for the young mother. A big -Highlander could not resist giving her a glad eye, little knowing that -“she” was a notorious gunman, and wanted to the tune of a thousand -pounds for the brutal murder of a D.I. as he was leaving church. - -The only result of the raid was the finding of an old shot-gun in the -bed of the local blacksmith, a man who had always defied the local -Volunteers, and kept a gun for poaching only, and who was taken off to -Ballybor Barracks amidst the jeers of everybody. However, in a few days -they realised how useful and necessary a person a smith is in a country -district, and before the week was out the whole townland was clamouring -for the smith’s release. - -However, the raid had good results; the Volunteers refused point-blank -to carry out the ambush on Wednesday night, though the gunmen stayed -until that day, making every endeavour to bring it off. Finding it was -useless, they disappeared that night as silently as they had come, -promising to return shortly in greater numbers. - -The whole district heaved a sigh of relief when it was known that there -were no longer any strangers within the gates, and settled down to farm -and lead the life God meant them to live, and hoped against hope that -they might never see a cursed stranger again, be he gunman or Auxiliary. -Blake let it be known that it was a case of no ambush, no Auxiliaries, -and every farmer in the district was quite content to keep his side of -the bargain. - -But peace was not yet to be the portion of Cloonalla. Within three weeks -of the first gunman leaving, a party of twenty arrived on a wild -winter’s night, and, as on the former occasion, as silently dispersed to -their allotted billets. This time the leader of the gunmen did not ask -the local Volunteers to help, but ordered them to carry out the ambush -in the wooded demesne on the main road from Castleport to Ballybor, as -previously arranged. - -The gunmen did not appear during the day-time at all, and had been -nearly a week in the district before Father Tom heard of their arrival. -Unfortunately, the priest was very ill with influenza at the time, and -before he could take any action the damage was done. - -As usual, the scene of the ambush was laid with great cleverness. -Between the two entrance-gates of the demesne on the main road there was -a sharp rise in the form of an S bend, with a thick thorn hedge on each -side of the middle of this bend. Where the rise was steepest, there was -a lane leading to the keeper’s house, about fifty yards from the road, -and at the entrance of this lane the gunmen laid a mine in the main road -to be fired by an electric wire running towards the keeper’s house. -After laying the mine they forced the road contractor of that part of -the road to cart broken stones and lay them right across the road over -the mine, so that all traces of the mine were hidden. - -The day after the mine had been laid word came to Cloonalla that the -police had arrested three men in Ballybor during the previous night, and -that it was thought that the prisoners would be sent to Castleport that -night in a Crossley under a strong police escort. As soon as it was -dark, the gunmen, after parking their bicycles in a wood of the demesne, -collected all the Volunteers they could induce or force to accompany -them, and made their way across country to the scene of the ambush. - -The night was unusually fine with a full moon, and two hours after the -Volunteers and gunmen had taken up their positions, the peculiar note of -a Crossley engine could be distinctly heard approaching at a great pace -from the Ballybor direction. The gunman who had laid the mine was a -first-class electrician, and as the car tore past the lane there was a -blinding flash, followed by a terrific roar, and the car seemed to jump -clean off the road and then collapse in a burning heap on the road. - -With the roar of the mine the ambushers opened a heavy fire on the car, -but receiving no reply they quickly ceased fire, waiting to see what -would happen next. But the mine had done its work only too well, and the -only sounds which could be heard were the groans of dying men amid the -burning ruins of the car. After some minutes two policemen rolled out of -the end of the car and lay on the highroad, one man with both his legs -paralysed, crying piteously for water, and the second with part of his -head blown away by a flat-nosed bullet, crying for a priest. - -Up to this point the leader of the gunmen had taken charge of all the -proceedings, and when the Volunteers were collected on the road like a -flock of sheep they still waited for orders. However, after five -minutes, as no order was given, they began to look for their leader, -suddenly to realise that every gunman had faded away. - -At once every Volunteer started to make his way home as fast as he -could, and within two minutes the only occupants of the road were the -two dying policemen, lying like two black logs in the white moonlight. -Presently a terror-stricken keeper crept out of his house, and as soon -as his scattered wits could take in the situation, he got out his -bicycle and rode into Ballybor for help. - -Long before day broke columns of soldiers, R.I.C., and Auxiliaries -concentrated on and met at that horrible scene on the road between the -two demesne gates, and shortly afterwards broke like a tornado on the -townland of Cloonalla, and Father Tom, from his bedroom window, saw his -worst fears realised. When daylight came the parish was at last clear of -all strangers and avengers, but at a terrible price. - -A quick-witted policeman remembered that the only limestone road in -Cloonalla was the road from Ballybor to Castleport, so that it was easy -to tell in a house by an inspection of boots if any man of that -household had been present at the ambush, and that night the fathers -suffered for the sins of their sons, and the sons paid the full price of -the gunmen’s crime. - -Like good soldiers, the gunmen carefully thought out their line of -retreat before the ambush took place. They found that a broad river ran -through the demesne parallel to and about 400 yards from the main road, -that the nearest bridges above and below were five miles away, and that -across the river ran a range of wild and desolate country. In a wood on -the bank of the river they found fishing-boats, used for netting salmon -during the summer-time, and before the ambush the leader sent two of his -men to collect all these boats at a certain part of the river, and to -remain there in readiness to take the remainder and their bicycles -across. As soon as the ambush was over they collected their bicycles, -crossed the river, and were soon riding through a little-known pass in -the mountains on their way to carry on their devil’s work in a part of -the country many miles removed from the scene of the Cloonalla ambush. - - - - - VIII. - MR BRIGGS’ ISLAND. - - -Several years before the late war there lived in the suburbs of London a -prosperous stockbroker, by name Benjamin Briggs, a lonely bachelor, an -ardent fisherman, and a man of simple and kindly nature. Every year Mr -Briggs spent his entire summer holidays fishing in Scotland or Wales, -and it was not until after hearing a friend at his club recounting the -wonderful fishing that he had had in Ireland that he turned his -attention to that country. - -One afternoon, when passing through Euston Station, a famous poster of -Connemara caught Mr Briggs’ eye, and the following summer he made a -complete tour of that delightful country of mountains, moors, and -rivers. So charmed was he with the scenery and the perfect manners of -the peasants that he determined to see more of the country, and on a -fine summer’s afternoon found himself in the little town of Ballybor, -reputed to be one of the best fishing centres in Ireland. - -During a walk through the town before dinner, he happened to see a large -notice in an auctioneer’s window, offering for sale, at what seemed to -Mr Briggs a very low figure, a fishing-lodge on an island in the middle -of a large lake, famous for its salmon, trout, and pike-fishing, and -distant about six miles from the town of Ballybor. The notice also -stated that the auctioneer would be glad to give full particulars, and -that the lucky buyer could obtain immediate possession. - -Now many of us have cherished a secret longing to possess an island, no -doubt an aftermath from reading ‘Robinson Crusoe’ when very young, -possibly in the sea if one has a weakness for that element, or, if not, -in the middle of some large lake full of salmon and trout. From -childhood Mr Briggs had had two great longings—first, to be a successful -fisherman, and secondly, to possess an island, to which he could -eventually retire and fish all day and every day. - -The following morning, after an interview with the auctioneer, he drove -out to the lake on an outside car, was duly met by the caretaker, Pat -Lyden, with a boat, fell in love at sight with a comfortable little -six-roomed lodge built on the shore of a small green island far out in -the lake and commanding glorious views of mountains and water, and on -his return to Ballybor he wasted no time in completing the purchase. The -following day he moved to the island, and spent a happy fortnight -fishing with Pat Lyden before returning to England. - -From the outbreak of war until 1920 Mr Briggs was unable to visit -Ireland, but during the summer of that year he decided to retire, and -after disposing of his business and suburban home, set out for Ballybor, -meaning to spend the rest of the year fishing on Lake Moyra. On a dull -morning he landed at Kingstown, as enthusiastic as a schoolboy on his -first sporting trip, and longing to see his beloved island once more. - -Mr Briggs only read one newspaper,—a paper once famous throughout the -world for its impartial and patriotic news and complete freedom from -party taint,—and he had not the remotest idea that the Ireland of 1914 -and the Ireland of 1920 were two very different countries. But so simple -was the little man’s nature that he did not realise the state of the -country until he reached a small junction about sixteen miles from -Ballybor, and where he had to change. - -Here he had some time to wait, and while walking up and down the -platform a long-haired wild-eyed stranger sidled up to him and asked if -he was Mr Briggs; and on learning that he was, the stranger advised him -to return to England at once, as the air on Lough Moyra was very -unhealthy at present. This greatly disturbed Mr Briggs, but he -determined to take no notice of the mysterious warning, and, taking his -seat in the train, began to read his papers again. - -Shortly before the train was due to start a small party of British -soldiers, under a N.C.O., marched on to the platform, and proceeded to -take their seats in a third-class carriage. At once the engine-driver, -fireman, and guard packed up their kits and prepared to leave the -station. The station-master did his best to induce them to take the -train on to Ballybor, but not one yard would they go as long as a -British soldier remained in the train; and in the end they marched out -of the station, amid the laughter of the soldiers, who continued to keep -their seats. The civilian passengers now left the train, and Mr Briggs -found himself dumped with all his kit on the platform. - -For some time he sat there, feeling sure that in the end the train would -start, but after two hours he gave it up, and wired to a garage in -Ballybor for a car to be sent to the junction. After a further wait of -three hours a car turned up, and late that evening Mr Briggs arrived at -the hotel at Ballybor, weary and quite bewildered. He seemed to have -wandered into a South American republic instead of into the old and -pleasant Ireland. - -After breakfast the next morning he determined to call on his old friend -the D.I. before leaving for the lake, but he hardly recognised the -police barracks, which had been transformed from a homely whitewashed -house into a sandbagged and steel-shuttered fort. Here he found that his -old friend had retired on pension, and in his stead reigned a young and -soldier-like D.I., with a row of orders and war ribbons on his breast. -Mr Briggs introduced himself, but found that neither the D.I. nor the -Head Constable had ever heard of either Mr Briggs or his island, but -they told him that only the previous day a police lorry had been -ambushed on the road to the lake, and advised him to return to England. - -However, having got so far, Mr Briggs determined to see his island, come -what might; and after a lot of difficulty, and at a very high price, a -driver was at last found with sufficient courage to drive him out to the -place where Lyden was to meet him. - -Lyden was a typical western peasant, and on former visits Mr Briggs had -asked no better amusement than to listen to his quaint remarks and -stories for hours on end whilst fishing; but, like the rest of the -people, he now seemed a different being. During the row out to the -island he did not utter a dozen words, and long before they landed on -the little stone quay Mr Briggs had ceased to ask the man any questions. -After his long absence the island appeared more enchanting than ever, -and from the kitchen chimney he could see the blue turf smoke rising in -the still summer’s air, reminding him of Mrs Lyden’s good cooking. - -On approaching the house he was startled to hear loud talking and -laughter in the dining-room, and on entering found the room full of -strangers, eating a hearty meal. At the head of the table sat a -soldierly-looking man, who wished Mr Briggs good-day, and asked who the -devil he might be. - -On first hearing the voices, Mr Briggs had jumped to the natural -conclusion that a fishing party had landed and asked Mrs Lyden to give -them something to eat, and he was prepared to welcome them as became a -host; but to be asked who the devil he might be, in his own house, was -the last straw of the nightmare, and transformed him from a mild English -gentleman into a foaming fury. However, the only effect on the strangers -of Mr Briggs’ rage was to move them to greater mirth, and as he rushed -out of the room he heard one man saying that they must have sent them a -lunatic this time. - -In the kitchen he found Mrs Lyden in tears, and explanations soon -followed. For some time past the island had been used as a Sinn Fein -internment camp, and his unbidden guests consisted of a British colonel, -two subalterns, a D.I., and a magistrate from a neighbouring county, who -had given trouble to the Volunteers by insisting on holding Petty -Sessions Courts in opposition to the newly-established Sinn Fein Courts. - -Realising that he was a prisoner in his own house, he returned to the -dining-room, explained this extraordinary situation to his -fellow-prisoners, and then joined them at their meal. When he had -finished he went for a stroll with the colonel, who explained matters -more fully to him. Most of the prisoners had been on the island for some -time, and so far had found no chance of attempting to escape. The -colonel himself had been captured whilst salmon-fishing on a river in -the south, and then brought blindfolded at night in a car to Lough -Moyra. - -On inspecting the boat-house, Mr Briggs found that all his boats had -gone, even the one Lyden had rowed him out in, which the colonel told -him had been brought over from another island, where their guards lived, -and that the guards must have returned in her; further, that they were -visited every second day by these guards, who brought them food, for -which they had to pay a stiff price. - -The colonel had unearthed two packs of patience cards, and the three -soldiers, with the D.I. for a fourth, played bridge from after breakfast -until they went to bed. In the sitting-room there was a small library of -Mr Briggs’ favourite books, and these kept the rest of the party from -drowning themselves in the lake. - -Two days after his arrival, and just as he was thinking about retiring -for the night, Lyden came in to say that an officer wished to speak to -Mr Briggs outside, and on following Lyden he found a man dressed in a -wonderful green uniform waiting at the front door. The officer informed -Mr Briggs that he had come to take him to a republican court, which was -to be held that night on the mainland, and where the case of the -Republic _v._ Briggs would be heard. Mr Briggs had never heard of such a -thing as a republican court, but could get no further information from -the gentleman in green, and shortly afterwards the party set out in a -boat for the mainland. - -By the time they landed it was quite dark, and after a walk of about -twenty minutes they arrived at a large building, which Mr Briggs -recognised as Cloonalla chapel, and here the officer handed him over to -a local publican, who told him to follow him into the chapel. Inside -there was a large crowd of country people, while at one end was a raised -table, at which were seated the three judges—two in civilian attire, and -the third in the clothes of a priest. - -After his eyes had got accustomed to the poor light of the few -oil-lamps, Mr Briggs recognised in the presiding judge the parish priest -of a neighbouring parish, and in the other two judges a butcher and a -good-for-nothing painter from Ballybor. At the time of his entry a river -fishing-rights case was before the court, with a Ballybor solicitor -acting for the defendant, while another well-known solicitor from the -same town acted as “Republican Prosecutor.” - -After a time the case of the Republic _v._ Briggs came on for hearing, -and Mr Briggs learnt, to his great astonishment, that they proposed to -take his island and fishing rights on Lough Moyra from him compulsorily -for the sum of £200, to be paid in Dail Eireann Bonds, whatever they -might be, and that he was to be deported to England as soon as -convenient. At the end of the case the presiding judge asked Mr Briggs -if he had any objection, but he wisely refused to say anything, and -shortly afterwards was handed over to the green officer, who took him -back to the island. - -A few days after, as Mr Briggs was sitting disconsolately on a rock at -the north end of the island, gazing across the lake and wondering if he -would ever fish there again, he heard the distant hum of a motor-engine, -and in a short time saw a ‘plane approaching the island from the -south-east. Wild with excitement, he dashed into the house, calling the -colonel to come out at once. The colonel got up from the card-table, and -on seeing the ‘plane quickly collected all the sheets and blankets he -could find, and hurriedly spread them out in the form of rough letters, -spelling the word “HELP” on the grass in front of the house, and then -ran down to the end of the quay, where he waved a sheet frantically over -his head. - -For what seemed an age to the prisoners, the ‘plane took no notice of -the colonel’s signals; then, to their great joy, the pilot cut off his -engine, dropped to about 800 feet, and flew low over the island, turned, -flew over the island again, and then made off at full speed in a -southerly direction. That night none of the prisoners slept a wink, -expecting every minute to hear the sounds of their deliverers’ approach. - -On the return of the ‘plane to the aerodrome a cipher message was at -once despatched to Blake, with instructions to investigate the trouble -on the island; but, as usual, the message was delayed in the post -office, and received too late to take any action that evening. On -inquiry, Blake found that, though formerly two police boats were kept on -the lake for the purpose of raiding poteen-makers on the islands, some -time ago these boats had been burnt, and there was no means of getting -out to the islands. - -Early the next morning the police borrowed a motor-launch lying in the -river at Ballybor, and with difficulty mounted it on a commandeered -lorry. Taking a strong police force with them, Blake and Jones then set -out for the lake, deciding to launch the boat at a bay close to -Cloonalla chapel. Here the road ran about fifty yards from the lake, but -by the aid of rollers they soon got the launch off the lorry and afloat. - -Leaving a guard over the cars and lorry, the police then set out for the -islands, and all went well until they reached the neck of the bay, which -was only about 200 yards wide. Here they came under heavy rifle-fire -from the north shore, the attackers being hidden amongst bushes and the -ruins of an old cottage. - -Unfortunately one of the first shots cut the magneto wire, and the -launch at once started to drift helplessly in the wind towards the -attackers. While Blake repaired the wire, Jones swept the attackers with -a Lewis gun, which quickly smothered their fire, and the wire being soon -repaired, the launch got under way again, and made for the open lake at -full speed. - -Blake had never been on Lough Moyra before, but had brought with him a -sergeant who had often taken part in poteen raids on the islands in -former days. On looking at an Ordnance map he found that there were two -large islands—one with only a fishing-lodge marked on it, and the other -with seven houses shown—and on the sergeant’s advice they made for the -latter, on the assumption that something must have gone wrong with their -boats, and that the people might be short of food. - -When within about 400 yards of the island they again came under -rifle-fire, and realising that they had called at the wrong house, and -that it would be impossible to effect a landing except at a heavy loss, -they changed their course and made for the second island; but before -they got half-way a boat put out from the first island, and made off in -the direction of the far shore. - -The launch was fairly fast, and in a very short time they were within -600 yards of the boat, when Blake fired a single shot as a signal to it -to stop. In reply the boat opened fire on the launch, but one short -burst of Lewis-gun fire quickly brought them to their senses, and the -occupants put up their hands. - -After disarming these men Blake took their boat in tow, and this time -succeeded in reaching Mr Briggs’ island safely, where he was astonished -to meet the prisoners on the quay, and more especially the D.I., who had -been missing for some time, and of whom all hope had been given up. The -whole party then set off for the mainland, found that the guard had -successfully beaten off an attack on the cars, and eventually all -returned safely to Ballybor with only two constables slightly wounded. - -Two days afterwards Mr Briggs embarked on the s.s. _Cockatoo_, bound for -England, where he will probably remain until the war in Ireland is over. - - - - - IX. - THE REWARD OF LOYALTY. - - -For some time after the death of Anthony Mayne, the murdered R.M., Petty -Sessions Courts ceased to be held in Ballybor, and the Sinn Fein Courts -reigned supreme. At length Mayne’s successor arrived, and endeavoured to -start the Courts in his district again, but found that not only were the -country people too terrorised to bring any cases before a British Court, -but that most of the magistrates had resigned, and none of the few -remaining ones would face the bench. - -However, Fitzmaurice, the new R.M., stuck to it, and in the end a -retired officer, living just outside Ballybor, became a magistrate for -the county; and suddenly, to the intense excitement of the whole town, -it was given out that some countryman had had the audacity to defy the -edict of Dail Eireann, and to summon a neighbour to appear before the -British magistrates. - -The court-house at Ballybor is a most curious-looking edifice of an -unknown style of architecture, shabby and dismal outside and like a -vault inside. On the day that the Court reopened the place was packed to -the doors, and when the clerk stood up to announce the Court open, and -ending with the words, “God save the King!” the silence could be felt. - -It was what is known in the west of Ireland as a “saft day”—a day of -heavy drizzling rain and a mild west wind off the Atlantic, and after a -time the crowded court-house of countrymen in soaked home-spuns and -women with reeking shawls over their heads literally began to steam, and -the strong acrid smell of turf smoke from the drying clothes became -overpowering. At first all eyes were fixed on the two magistrates -sitting on the raised dais at one end of the court-house, and many, -remembering poor Mayne’s end, wondered how long the two had to live. The -R.M., they knew, was well paid by the British Government, but the second -magistrate’s unpaid loyalty must surely be a form of madness, or most -likely he received secret pay from the Government. - -After the disposal of cases brought by the police for various offences, -the only civil case on the list—in reality the beginning of a trial of -strength between Sinn Fein and the British Government—came on for -hearing, and in due course the magistrates gave a decision in favour of -the complainant, a herd by name Mickey Coleman. - -Taking advantage of the suspension of the law, a neighbour, Ned Foley, -had thought to get free grazing, and day after day had deliberately -driven his cattle on to Coleman’s land. Coleman, having remonstrated -repeatedly with Foley in vain, consulted a Ballybor solicitor, who -advised him to bring Foley into a Sinn Fein Court, where, he assured -him, he would get full justice. This Coleman refused to do, and after -consulting a second solicitor, brought the case before the Ballybor -Petty Sessions Court. - -Coleman appears to have been a man of great determination and courage, -as he had been repeatedly warned by the Volunteers that if he persisted -in taking Foley into a British Court they would make his life a hell on -earth; and as he left the court after winning his case, a note was -slipped into his hand to the effect that the I.R.A. neither forgets nor -forgives. - -Coleman had started life as a farm labourer, eventually becoming herd to -a Loyalist called Vyvian Carew, whose ancestors came over to Ireland in -the time of Queen Elizabeth, and who lived alone in a large house about -eight miles from Ballybor, where he farmed his own demesne of four -hundred Irish acres. - -Carew belonged to a class of Irishman fast dying out in the west, and -considering that it has always been the policy of every Liberal -Government to throw them to the wolves, it is almost beyond belief that -any are left in the country. A type of man any country can ill afford to -lose, and all countries ought to be proud and glad to gain. After -serving throughout the late war in the British Army, Carew had returned -home, hoping to live in peace and quiet for the rest of his days, but -had soon been undeceived. Though working himself as hard as any small -farmer, and farming his land far better than any other man in the -district, it was decided by men who coveted his acres that he possessed -too many, and the usual steps in the west were taken to make him give up -three of his four hundred acres, and if possible force him to sell out -all. - -Coleman started with a heavy heart for his cottage in Rossbane, Carew’s -demesne, and from the moment he left the court-house until he lifted the -latch of his door found himself treated as a leper by townsfolk and -country people alike. Probably some of the people would have been -willing to speak to him, and most likely many admired his pluck, but a -man who comes under the curse of the I.R.A. is to be avoided at any -costs. No man can tell when that sinister curse, which is often a matter -of life and death to a peasant, may be extended to an unwary -sympathiser. - -In the evening, when going round the cattle, he met his master, who, on -being shown the threatening note, at once wanted Coleman to bring his -family up to the big house; but he refused, knowing that if he did his -cottage would probably be burnt and his own few cattle either stolen or -maimed. - -Soon after eleven that night there came a loud knock at the door, and -Coleman, who had been sitting by the fire expecting a visit, rose up to -meet his fate, but was caught by his terrified wife, who clung to him -with the strength of despair. At last Coleman succeeded in opening the -door, and to their utter astonishment in walked a British officer, -dressed in khaki topcoat, steel helmet, and with a belt and holster. The -officer explained that he came from Castleport, that he had a large -party of soldiers on the road outside, and that he was going to scour -the countryside for rebels that night. Lastly, he said that he had been -told Coleman was well disposed, and would he help him by giving -information? - -Coleman, who at the sight of a British officer in a steel helmet, when -he expected a Volunteer with a black mask, had been overcome with joy, -at the mention of that sinister word “information” regained his senses, -and answered that he had none to give; that he was only a poor herd -striving to do his work and keep a wife and a long weak family, and that -he had nothing to do with politics. - -The officer said nothing, but sat down by the fire on a stool and -started to play with the children; presently he returned to the charge -again, and asked the herd where the Foleys lived, and if they were -Volunteers. The mention of the name of Foley confirmed Coleman in his -growing suspicion, and he replied that he knew the Foleys for quiet -decent boys, and he believed that they had nothing at all to do with -politics. - -Shortly afterwards the officer wished them good-night, leaving Coleman -and his wife a prey to conflicting emotions. If he really was a British -officer, then at any rate they were safe for that night, but if not, -then probably some terrible outrage was brewing. Only a week before the -Volunteers had set fire, while the inmates were in bed, to the house of -a farmer, who had bought the farm a few days previously at a public -auction, contrary to the orders of the I.R.A.; and though the inmates -just managed to escape in their night attire, their two horses and a cow -were burnt to death, and their charred bodies could still be seen lying -amid the ruins from the main road—a warning to all who thought of -disobeying the I.R.A. - -After the time it would take to walk to the Foleys’ house and back there -came a second knock, and the officer entered again, pushing one of the -young Foleys in front of him with his hands up. “Here’s the young -blighter,” said the officer to Coleman, “and if you will give the -necessary information about him, I’ll have him shot by my men outside at -once.” - -But Coleman, whose suspicion by now was a certainty, refused to be -drawn, and replied that he knew nothing against the Foleys, and that -they were quiet respectable neighbours. - -For some time the officer tried his best to get Coleman to give evidence -against Foley, but at last, finding it was useless, left, taking his -prisoner with him. - -By now the Colemans were too unhappy to go to bed, and sat round the -fire in silence. After an hour there came a third knock, and again the -officer appeared; but this time Coleman could see quite a different -expression on his face, and in a brutal voice, not taking the trouble to -hide his brogue, he bade the unfortunate herd “get up out of that and -come outside.” - -Coleman followed his tormentor outside, and there found a mob of young -men and boys waiting for him, who proceeded to kick him along the road -for a mile, when he could go no farther, and fell on the road. They then -tied his hands and ankles, and left him in the middle of the road for a -police car to run over him. And here he lay all night in the rain. - -The next day was market-day in Ballybor, and many of the country people -started early in their carts for the town, and though none drove over -the herd, yet one and all passed by on the other side. - -Luckily, when the herd was nearly gone from cold and exposure, the good -Samaritan appeared in the shape of Carew driving to Ballybor, and in a -short time he had Coleman back at Rossbane in front of a big turf fire; -and after placing him in charge of the cook, brought the herd’s family -to a cottage in the yard, and then drove into Ballybor to see Blake. But -the D.I. had his hands too full to be able to give protection to -individuals. - -At this time, next to Sinn Fein, the Transport Union was the strongest -party in the west, and being composed of landless men, its main object -was to gain land for its members by all and every means in its power, -with the result that their attention was concentrated on outing all men -with four hundred acres or more in their possession, and next would come -the men with three hundred acres, and so on down the scale. - -The farmer with forty acres or thereabouts—the best class of small -farmer in the west, and if let alone the most law-abiding, as they are -numerous and possess something worth holding on to—soon realised where -this would lead to, and tried to apply the brakes. They would have -succeeded but for their younger sons, who, in the ordinary course of -events, would have found good employment in the States, but under -present circumstances have to remain at home helping to make small -fortunes for their parents. It is this class of young men who, with the -shop boys, form the rank and file of the I.R.A., and in the case of the -farmers’ sons it is the western peasants’ usual characteristic of “land -hunger” which forms the chief driving power. - -At one period it looked as though Sinn Fein and the Transport Union -would come to loggerheads; but Sinn Fein proved too strong, and the two -became partners to all intents and purposes. - -A few days after he had returned from his fruitless visit to Blake, -Carew received a letter from the secretary of the local branch of the -Transport Union calling upon him to dismiss Coleman, and that if he did -not comply at once the Union would call out all his men. Carew ignored -the letter and the threat. - -The Owenmore river runs through Rossbane, roughly dividing it into two -equal parts, and after a fortnight Carew received a letter from the -I.R.A. calling upon him to attend a Sinn Fein Court the following Sunday -night at Cloonalla Chapel, and saying that the part of his demesne -separated from the house by the river was to be taken from him, and if -he wished to claim “compensation” he must attend the “Court.” And again -Carew ignored the letter. - -A week afterwards all his farm hands and servants, with the exception of -the cook, Katey Brogan, simply vanished, and Carew found himself with -only Katey and Coleman to keep going a large house and a -four-hundred-acre farm. Nothing daunted, he took the Colemans into the -house, made Mrs Coleman cook and Katey housemaid, whilst Coleman and he -determined to carry on with the farming as best they could. - -A few days after a little girl brought a message that Katey’s father was -very ill, and that her mother wished her to go home at once; so Katey -left immediately, and the following day Carew rode over to see if he -could help the Brogans, knowing that they were miserably poor. - -The Brogans lived in a two-roomed hovel on the verge of a bog, and on -entering a terrible sight met Carew’s eyes. The old man lay dead in one -bed, Katey dead in the second bed with a large bullet-hole through her -forehead, and the old mother crooning over the fire ashes, stark mad. - -He then tried to find out what had happened from two neighbouring -cottages, but in each case the door was slammed in his face with a curse -of fear. After wandering about for over an hour he met a small boy, who -told him the details of the worst murder the country had yet seen. - -It appeared that Katey must have written to the police in Ballybor with -reference to the treatment of the Colemans, and that the letter had -fallen into the hands of Sinn Fein agents in the post office. - -Using old Brogan’s illness to decoy Katey home, the murderers waited -until midnight, when they knocked at the door. At the time Katey was -sitting by the fire making broth for her father, and at once opened the -door, to be confronted by eight armed men wearing white masks and black -hats, one of whom said, “Come with us.” Apparently Katey refused, -whereupon they seized her, bound her wrists, and dragged her screaming -and struggling to a field some hundred yards from her home. - -Here they tried her by court-martial, convicted her, and no time was -lost by the assassins in carrying out the death sentence. They then -flung her body outside the cottage, where it was found by her mother, -whose cries brought old Brogan out of his bed, and between them they -managed to carry their murdered daughter in. The shock was too much for -the old man, and he died shortly after he returned to bed, which finally -turned the old woman’s brain. - -Then followed weeks of misery. Every night Carew’s cattle were driven, -his gates taken off their hinges and flung into the river, trees were -cut down, fences smashed, and the showing of a light at any window was -the signal for a volley of shots. Life in the trenches on the Western -Front was often fearful enough, but to realise the life Carew and his -herd led at this time one must remember that they had to carry on week -in week out, with no rest billets ever to retire to, apart from the fact -that at any moment sudden death in some horrible mutilating form might -be their lot. - -The first fair at which Carew tried to sell cattle warned him of the -futility of attending any more. Sinn Fein “policemen,” with green, -white, and yellow brassards on their arms, took care that no buyers came -near him, while all the corner boys in Ballybor amused themselves by -driving his cattle backwards and forwards through the fair until they -could hardly move. Directly Carew would make for one set of tormentors, -a fresh lot would appear behind his back and take up the chase. - -After starting Coleman on his way home with the weary cattle, he went to -the grocer he had dealt with for years, meaning to lay in a good stock -of provisions. On entering the shop the owner took Carew into a private -room, and explained that if he sold one pennyworth of food to him his -shop would be burnt over his head that night, and that all the -shopkeepers had received the same orders from the I.R.A. Carew then went -straight to the police barracks, where the police soon bought all that -he required. - -It was nearly dark when Carew drew near to his entrance gate, and as his -horse started to walk four men darted out from the shadow of the demesne -wall, two seizing the horse, while the rest, covering him with -shot-guns, ordered him to get out. - -Carew had no alternative but to comply, whereupon his captors led him -down a lane towards the river, where they were joined by a crowd of men -and boys. On reaching the river a violent argument started, one section -being for drowning him out of face, while another wished to give him a -chance of his life if he would swear to give up his land. In the end -they compromised, and two tall men took Carew by the arms and waded out -into the river with him until they were over their waists. - -The leader then called out to Carew that if he would not agree to -surrender all his lands and promise to leave the country they would -drown him there and then. In order to gain time Carew pretended to be -greatly frightened, and started a whining altercation with the leader on -the bank. As he expected, his would-be executioners soon joined in -heatedly, so much so that shortly one let go of his arm, and throwing -the other off his balance with a quick wrench, Carew dived, and swimming -down and across the river under water was soon in safety on the far -bank. As soon as the crowd realised that their prisoner had escaped, -they opened fire on the river at once, hitting one of the men in the -water, whereupon the wounded man’s friends turned on another faction and -a free fight ensued. - -Once across the river, Carew ran as hard as he could for the house of a -friendly farmer living on the main road on the east side of the river, -borrowed a bicycle from the man, and set off for Ballybor. - -By great good luck, as Carew reached the barracks in Ballybor, he found -Blake on the point of setting out on a night expedition with a Crossley -load of police. On hearing his story Blake at once agreed to return with -him, in the hope that they might be in time to save Rossbane. - -In order to surprise the Volunteers, Blake went by the road on the east -side of the river, and on reaching Carew’s demesne hid the car inside in -the shadow of some trees. Carew then swam the river, brought back a -boat, and ferried the police across in three parties. - -The farm buildings and main yard of Rossbane lie between the house and -the river, and on entering the yard the police found Coleman lying -insensible and surrounded by his weeping wife and children. Learning -from the woman that the Volunteers were on the point of setting fire to -the house, the police, led by Blake and Carew, who was armed with rifle -and revolver, and by now in a white heat of fury, made for the house in -two parties, one under Carew for the front entrance, and the other under -Blake for the back. - -The last thing the Volunteers expected was a brutal assault by the -police, and after eating and drinking all they could find and looting -what happened to take their fancy, they had just sprayed petrol over the -hall and set it on fire when the police entered. - -It is not often that the R.I.C. have the pleasure of coming to grips -with the elusive I.R.A., but when they do they put paid in capital -letters to the accounts of their murdered comrades, men shot in cold -blood in their homes, or dragged unarmed out of trains and butchered -like cattle. - -The R.I.C. are probably one of the finest fighting forces to be found in -a continent where, at the present day, practically every man is trained -to arms, and most people have seen the fight cornered rats will put up. - -The main hall of Rossbane was in the centre of the house, and after -setting fire to it the Volunteers had started to leave, some by the -front door and others through the kitchen, with the result that they ran -into the arms of the police, who did not waste time with futile shouts -of “hands up,” but proceeded at once to business. - -At first they fought in darkness; but soon the flames gathered strength, -and their glow silhouetted the forms of the Volunteers, giving the -police as good targets as man could wish for. - -In a short time the Volunteers broke; some rushed upstairs never to be -seen alive again, while others fled into the drawing-room which opened -off the hall, only to find escape cut off by heavy barred shutters. By -now the centre of the house was burning fiercely, and all the police had -to do to complete the rout was to wait outside the two exits and let the -flames act the part of ferrets. Ten minutes more saw the end, and with -it the few Volunteers who escaped with their lives, handcuffed together -in a miserable group in the big yard, covered by two Black and Tans. And -when the captain of the Rossbane Company of the I.R.A. revised his -company roll, his pen must have been busy with “gone to America” after -many names. - -Dawn broke on a sight worthy of modern Russia, on the smouldering ruins -of the fine old house, on the wretched groups of singed and blackened -Volunteers, and on the group of still weeping Colemans huddled in a -corner of the yard as far from the fire of the Volunteers as they could -get. - -Carew, still undaunted, though wounded in a leg and shoulder and soaked -to the skin for hours, wished to stay on in the cottage in the yard; but -as soon as the fight was over, Blake had sent half his force back to -Ballybor in the Crossley to bring out more transport, and the argument -was settled by the arrival of two Crossleys and three Fords, in which -Blake returned to barracks, taking Carew and the Colemans with him as -well as the prisoners. It was impossible to leave any police at -Rossbane; the wounded had to be attended to, and Blake rightly guessed -that the Volunteers had had a dose that night which would keep them -quiet for some time to come. - -Carew’s wounds were only slight, and the following day he was determined -to return to Rossbane. Poor Coleman had no option but to go with his -master, having no money, a family to provide for, and knowing full well -that he might as well ask for the crown of England as seek employment -elsewhere in the west, while emigration to the States was out of the -question. - -Blake was now in an awkward dilemma. Unable to give Carew protection, he -feared that if he returned the chances were that both he and the herd -would be murdered. However, Carew was determined to go, so Blake gave -out on the quiet that if anything happened to either of them the -Auxiliaries would be called in, and let him go. - -For some time Carew lived in peace. The fight at the burning of Rossbane -had put the fear of God into the local Volunteers, and most of them -would as soon have faced a Lewis gun as face Carew in a fighting mad -temper, while the threat of the Auxiliaries stayed the hands of the -“shoot him from behind a wall brigade.” - -At length Carew went up to Dublin to find out about the payment of his -malicious injury claim for the burning of Rossbane, and on his return -was met at Ballybor Station by Blake with the news that some I.R.A. -flying column had beaten Coleman to death and burnt all the outbuildings -at Rossbane, not leaving a wall standing. - -Carew wished now to put up a wooden hut at Rossbane and endeavour to -carry on alone; but Blake refused to let him go, and in the end he was -persuaded, greatly against his will, to sell his lands by public -auction. - -The auction took place in Ballybor, the lands being divided into lots of -a suitable size to suit small farmers; but the auctioneers did not -receive a single bid—the I.R.A. saw to that. - -Carew now determined to leave his lands waste, his home in ruins, and as -soon as he received the money for his malicious injury claim, to go to -British East Africa, there to await the return of better days in -Ireland, when he intends to return and rebuild the home of his fathers. -Will they ever come? - - - - - X. - POTEEN. - - -There are very few industries in the west of Ireland, and of these by -far the most lucrative is the distillation of illicit whisky, or, as it -is generally called by the peasants, poteen. - -The average countryman would far rather make a fiver by sticking a -stranger with a horse than £100 by hard honest work. Add an element of -danger, and he is quite content. The making of poteen combines much -profit with little labour and a good element of danger, in that the -distiller may be caught by the police and heavily fined. - -The beginning of poteen is lost in the mist of past ages, and the end -will probably synchronise with the end of Ireland; the amount made -varies with the demand, and the demand fluctuates with the price and -supply of whisky. - -During 1919, when whisky became weak, dear, and scarce, and the police -for a time practically ceased to function, the call for poteen became so -great that the demand far exceeded the supply, and for many months the -whisky sold in the majority of publichouses throughout the west was made -up of a mixture of three-quarters poteen and a quarter whisky. - -At the beginning of the last century all poteen was made from malt in -the same way as whisky is made, until some thoughtful man argued that if -they could make beer from sugar in England, we could surely make poteen -from the same material in Ireland; and as any one buying malt or growing -barley was liable to attract the eye of the R.I.C., all poteen ceased to -be made from malt, and the far simpler method of distilling from -“treacle” continues to this day. Treacle is largely imported in barrels -to Ireland, ostensibly for the purpose of fattening cattle and pigs. - -In the early part of 1919 a young Welshman, David Evans, was demobilised -with a good gratuity, and being a keen fisherman, determined he would -have one good summer’s salmon-fishing in Scotland before settling down -to work. But Evans was not the only man looking out for salmon-fishing -in Scotland, and he soon realised that that country was out of the -question. - -During the war Evans had served at one time in the same division with -Blake, and thinking that the latter might know of some good -salmon-fishing at a moderate rent, he wrote to him. By return of post -came an answer from Blake, saying that, owing to the bad state of the -country, very few Englishmen had taken fishings in Ireland that season, -and that there was a very good stretch of the Owenmore river, about ten -miles above Ballybor, to let at a moderate rent. - -Evans at once wired asking Blake to take the fishing for him, and ten -days afterwards took up his quarters at Carra Lodge, a small fishing -lodge on the bank of the river. - -Ireland has probably benefited more than any other country in Europe by -the war, and not least by the submarine scourge, which not only raised -the prices of cattle and pigs beyond the dreams of avarice, but also -increased the number of salmon in Irish rivers to an extent unknown -within the memory of man. Before the war salmon and sea-trout in many -western rivers were rapidly becoming exterminated through the great -increase of drift-nets at sea; but directly the first German submarine -was reported to have been seen off the west coast not a fisherman would -leave land, with the result that the fish had free ingress to their -native rivers, and the numbers of spawning fish were greatly increased. - -Evans had great sport, thoroughly enjoyed himself, and found the -peasants quite the most charming and amusing people he had ever met. No -matter what sort of house he entered, he was received like a prince and -bid ten thousand welcomes; a carefully dusted chair would be placed by -the fireside for “his honour,” and a large jar of poteen produced from -under the bed. - -Towards the end of his time at Carra Lodge, Evans came to the conclusion -that, if he could only discover some way of making a decent income, he -would settle down in the west of Ireland; but the question of how to -make money puzzled him greatly. Farming did not appeal to him, and -beyond that there did not appear to be any other industry open to an -enterprising young man, and any profession was ruled out owing to the -long period of training required. - -Before the war Evans had worked for a short time in a distillery, and -had a good idea of how to make whisky and of malting; but to start a -distillery in the Ballybor district was out of the question, owing to -the smallness of his capital. But if he could not make whisky, he could -make poteen with a very small outlay. - -On making inquiries, he found that the possibilities of the idea were -enormous; the outlay was small, the returns great, but the risks were -also great. Yet if detection could be avoided, the returns would only be -limited by the amount of treacle and malt available. - -At this period the country people were full of money, and as whisky was -almost unattainable, they were prepared to pay a very high price for -poteen, and the distilleries were rapidly making fortunes. Still there -was considerable danger attached to the trade. The police, though hardly -ever seen outside their barracks except in large numbers, occasionally -carried out extensive poteen raids, and as it was nearly an -impossibility to find a house without poteen in it, they never returned -empty-handed. - -Having decided to go into the poteen trade, the next question was where -to make it. To start distilling in a small way in a small house merely -meant certain discovery after making small profits, and Evans knew that -once he was caught red-handed by the police the game would be up. - -During bad times in any country, when the honest but timid men go to the -wall, the unscrupulous but bold men come into their own, and often make -a fortune by means which in quieter times would be out of the question. -Evans belonged to the latter class. - -Towards the end of 1919 the peasants started to burn unoccupied -country-houses throughout the south and west. Doubtless they were often -burnt by wild young men without rhyme or reason, but also probably with -the idea of making it impossible for the owners to return to their -homes, and so force them to sell their demesne lands to the very people -who had burnt their houses. - -A few miles from Carra Lodge, at the foot of the mountains, stood one of -the largest houses in Connaught, Ardcumber House, the family seat of one -of the oldest Elizabethan families in Ireland, and probably the finest -sporting demesne in the west. The great house, full of Sheraton and -Chippendale furniture, commanded wonderful views of mountains and moors; -while in front runs the Owenmore river, famous for its salmon fishing, -through a valley which in winter time can show more snipe, duck, geese, -and wild game of all sorts than any other valley of its size in the -British Isles. - -One would have thought that the above sporting attractions would have -satisfied any man; but the owner was one of those queer Irishmen who -preferred any country to his own, and divided his time between London -and Continental watering-places, leaving the management of his estates -to an agent, who lived in Ballybor. - -When reading the ‘Field’ one evening, Evans came across an advertisement -of Ardcumber House to let to a careful tenant at a nominal rent. -Realising that the agent feared the house would be burnt if left empty, -he drove into Ballybor the following day, took Blake with him to -interview the agent, and drove home with a lease of Ardcumber House in -his pocket, at a rent which the sale of game and salmon would cover -twice over. - -The best of the fishing being now over, Evans crossed to England, -nominally to collect his kit, in reality to have a large still made, -which he had packed in large cases, labelled furniture, and brought over -by long sea to Ballybor. At the same time he arranged with a sugar agent -in England to ship treacle in paraffin barrels to Ballyrick and Ballybor -as he required it. - -When at home in Wales he induced a cousin, John Evans, to join him, and -the two set out for Ireland. In Dublin they purchased a Ford truck, -which they had fitted up as a shooting waggonette with a hood like a -boxcar, and in this, after obtaining the necessary police permit through -Blake, they drove straight down to the west, and took up their quarters -at Ardcumber. - -They found the house in charge of an old woman, who lived in one of the -gate lodges, and arranged with her to cook for them and look after the -few rooms they used, allowing her to go home every evening at six -o’clock. - -At the top of the house they found six large rooms shut off from the -rest of the house by a heavy door at the head of the stairs. Here they -erected the still, using a fireplace as a flue; in a second room they -erected wooden fomenting vessels, and in a third stored the treacle and -poteen. In order to obtain a supply of water they fitted a pipe to the -main water-supply tank, which was in the roof above the attics. - -They now settled down to a regular routine of shooting by day and -distilling for a greater part of the night, living entirely to -themselves. Once a week they drove into Ballybor in the Ford to obtain -provisions. - -Whenever they learnt that a consignment of treacle had reached Ballybor -or Ballyrick, they at once removed it in the Ford, stored it in the -stables, which they kept carefully locked, and carried the treacle in -large pails at night-time to the fermenting vessels in the attics. - -At this time, so occupied were the police with looking after themselves, -and the country people with keeping clear of the R.I.C. and the -Volunteers, that nobody gave a thought to the “two queer foreigners -above in the big house” who were mad on shooting. - -As soon as they had accumulated a good supply of poteen (the Irish -peasant has no fancy ideas about allowing poteen to mature, and will as -soon drink it hot from the still as not), they began to think of how to -dispose of it without calling unnecessary attention to themselves. In -the end they decided not to try distributing the poteen themselves, but -to find a reliable agent who had a good knowledge of the locality. - -Even when he was very poor indeed the western peasant always insisted on -having the best of tea, or perhaps it would be more correct to say that -he insisted on paying a high price. At one time, so great were the -profits on tea, that merchants used to send carts through the country -districts selling nothing but tea, called by the country people “tay -carts.” - -David Evans found out that the principal tea merchant for the Ballybor -district—in fact, for many miles round—was a grocer called Terence -O’Dowd, who kept a large shop in Ballybor, and had a branch in -Ballyrick. Hearing that O’Dowd was fond of coursing, Evans called at his -shop, and after buying a quantity of provisions, invited the man to -bring his hounds out to Ardcumber the following Sunday for some -coursing. - -After the coursing they took O’Dowd into their confidence, showed him -the distillery and arranged that he should act as their agent. This part -was simple, but the difficulty was how, when, and where to deliver the -goods to O’Dowd. If the “tay carts” came to Ardcumber, or the distillery -Ford went to O’Dowd’s continually, suspicion would be aroused. After a -long discussion they decided on a plan of action. - -Once a week, when Evans drove into Ballybor for provisions, he was to -fill up the Ford with poteen and leave the car in a shed in O’Dowd’s -yard, where the poteen could be transferred to O’Dowd’s cellars and the -car loaded up with empties. O’Dowd wanted to use earthenware jars, but -Evans decided on two-gallon petrol tins as being less likely to excite -suspicion. - -For a considerable time the plan worked well. Evans took a full load -weekly to O’Dowd’s, whose tea carts distributed the poteen far and wide -throughout the district. - -One morning Blake, who had spent a busy night raiding in the district -for arms and poteen stills, called in at Ardcumber on his way home and -had breakfast with the Evans. During the conversation he mentioned -casually that the country was flooded with poteen, and that they had -failed to find out where it was being made, but that they suspected it -was being delivered in tea carts from Ballybor. - -As soon as Blake had gone David drove off into Ballybor, settled up his -accounts with O’Dowd, who was only too thankful to be rid of the job in -time, and before he left for home had arranged with an egg merchant -called Michael Flanagan, who sent lorries out to all the villages for -miles around collecting eggs, to take over the agency, the petrol tins -to be hidden in the straw of the empty egg-crates. - -The police appear to have had no suspicion of Evans, and the -probabilities are that the Ardcumber distillery would have worked on -indefinitely but for interference from a quite unsuspected quarter. The -Sinn Fein leaders of the district began to grow uneasy at the effects of -the apparently unlimited supply of poteen on the discipline of the -Volunteers, and determined to put down the industry. - -Any men who were now found with stills in their possession by the Sinn -Fein police were paraded before the congregation outside the chapels -after Mass on Sunday morning, the stills broken up with hammers, the -owners heavily fined, and then let go with a warning of much severer -penalties if they were found guilty of the same offence again. - -Afterwards Evans and Flanagan received summonses to appear on a named -date before a Sinn Fein Court. Flanagan went and was heavily fined, but -Evans took no notice of the summons. - -Flanagan was now, of course, afraid to act as agent, and the question -again arose of how they were to get the poteen to the different buyers. -While matters were in this state Flanagan sent a warning to Evans that -the Volunteers would raid Ardcumber on a certain night, and that the -results would be very unpleasant for them. - -The situation was now serious. It was impossible for two men to defend -such a large house, and once inside, the Volunteers, apart from the fact -that they would probably shoot them, would certainly break up the -distillery, and the rapid increase of their bank balances would cease. - -That evening they received a letter stating that they had been banished -from Ireland by an order of the Sinn Fein Court, and giving them two -days in which to leave the country. The same night, after dark, a volley -of shots was fired through the window of every room showing a light, and -the following morning they had to cook their own breakfast, as the old -woman did not turn up. - -But David Evans was not beaten yet. After breakfast he motored into -Ballybor, where he waited until it was dark. He then went to the -barracks, and told Blake that the Volunteers had threatened to raid -Ardcumber the following night for arms, and suggested that the police -should ambush the Volunteers in the grounds. - -Blake, only too glad to help a friend, and eager to get the Volunteers -together in the open, consented, and before Evans left the two had -thought out a very pretty trap. - -It has been mentioned that Ardcumber stood at the foot of a range of -mountains, which isolated the Ballybor country on the east, and across -them for many miles there was only one track, which led down to the back -of the demesne, and which was never used except by country people -bringing turf in creels on donkeys from the mountain bogs during the -day-time. - -Blake proposed to start out the following afternoon with a good force, -cross the mountains by the main road, which ran through a pass due east -of Ballybor, and return by the mountain track, reaching Ardcumber -demesne soon after dark. Here David Evans was to meet them and guide -them to the scene of the ambush. The district between the demesne and -the mountains was thinly populated, and at that hour no one would be -abroad for fear of the Black and Tans. The attackers would be certain to -come from the opposite direction, and would not be likely to arrive -before the moon rose at 11 P.M. - -The police, with a party of Cadets and two Lewis guns, were in position -by 9 P.M. in a shrubbery on each side of the avenue, about a hundred -yards from the house. At 11.30 P.M. the Volunteers, sure of their prey, -marched up the avenue in column of route, singing the “Soldiers’ Song.” -When they were within forty yards Blake called on them to halt, lay down -their arms, and put up their hands. - -The column halted at once, and for a second appeared to waver, but an -officer gave the order to deploy. Before the column could break up both -Lewis guns opened fire. - -Unfortunately at this moment a dark cloud obscured the moon and heavy -rain began to fall, with the result that, after the first short burst of -fire, the Volunteers were invisible; and though the police started in -pursuit, they failed to overtake the flying rebels, and had to -concentrate on the house. - -After collecting and rendering first-aid to the wounded—there were none -killed—the police brought their cars up to the house, and shortly -afterwards returned to Ballybor. - -The Evanses were now fairly safe from the Volunteers, but again the -question of distributing the poteen arose, and this time it looked as -though they would have to do it themselves. They tried to induce -Flanagan to come on again; but the egg merchant was by now thoroughly -frightened, and thankful to get off with a heavy fine. O’Dowd, being a -police suspect, was out of the question, but there still remained His -Majesty’s mails. - -The story of how the Evanses had played the police off against the -Volunteers was soon the talk of the countryside for many a mile, and so -queer and uncertain is the Irish peasant’s mentality that, where one -would have expected them to be furious and determined to be avenged, on -the contrary their great sense of humour was immensely tickled at the -idea of the police defending the Ardcumber distillery, and the Evanses -became popular heroes. - -After the Volunteer attack, Blake, being afraid that they might make -another attempt to capture the arms in Ardcumber House, offered David a -party of Black and Tans for protection, but this offer was refused. - -For some time His Majesty’s mail cars carried the Ardcumber poteen -punctually and efficiently—in fact, far better than either O’Dowd or -Flanagan had done. Petrol tins were still used to put the poteen in, and -Evans would leave the full tins at a garage twice a week, where the mail -cars got their petrol from, and if a mail car carried a few extra tins -of petrol, who thought anything about it? - -Unfortunately the mail contract for that district ran out a few months -afterwards, and this time was given to a man from the north, an -Orangeman, and once again Evans had to find a fresh way of sending round -the country his now famous poteen. - -But so popular had the Evanses become that, instead of having to seek -agents, they received offers to deliver the poteen from the manager of a -creamery in the Cloonalla district, and also from the manager of a -Cooperative Society in a village distant about four miles from -Ardcumber. Evans closed with both offers, and the cousins redoubled -their efforts to turn out all the poteen they possibly could, knowing -that an end must come sooner or later. - -Two months afterwards the Auxiliaries discovered that the creamery was -being used as a Sinn Fein prison, and, as a result, raided the place one -night and burnt it to the ground. Incidentally, they found several full -petrol tins in the manager’s office, filled up their petrol tanks with -them, and could not make out why the cars would not start. - -It is both possible and probable that, except for some unforeseen -accident, the Evanses might have gone on making and selling poteen for -an indefinite time—in fact, as long as the country remained in the -present state of chaos. The distillation of poteen always has and always -will appeal to the western peasant, and the story of how the Evanses -called in the police to defend their still against the attack of the -Volunteers will be told over the firesides of many a cottage for -generations to come—long after Sinn Fein is dead and buried. - -But at last their good luck deserted them. One night while working at -the still, John carelessly knocked over an oil-lamp, and in a moment the -old dry woodwork of the attic was in flames. Before morning the grand -old house, with its great collection of priceless furniture, was a -smouldering ruin, nothing but the bare blackened walls standing, and so -it is likely to remain for all time. - -The Evanses, having made a considerable sum of money by now, said -good-bye to Blake, and returned to their native land. - - - - - XI. - THE MAYOR’S CONSCIENCE. - - -In the spring of 1920 Blake suddenly received orders to proceed to a -town in the south of Ireland on special duty, and on applying for leave -was granted a fortnight, which he determined to spend in Dublin. In due -course his relief arrived, and after handing over he found himself free -from all responsibility for the first time for many months. - -At this period the Government and the Irish railwaymen were enacting a -comic opera worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan at their best, the Government -paying the railway companies a huge subsidy, the greater part of which -found its way into the railwaymen’s pockets in the form of enormous -wages, while the men refused to carry any armed forces of the Crown; and -the public, who, of course, indirectly paid the subsidy, looked on -helplessly. - -In order to get a passenger train Blake had to motor thirty-two miles to -a station in the next county, where, as yet, no armed forces had tried -to travel. While waiting here a green country boy asked him some trivial -question, and with little difficulty Blake led him on to tell his whole -history. - -In spite of a Sinn Fein edict to the contrary, many young men, who could -find no work in Ireland, or who wished to avoid service in the I.R.A., -were at this time contriving to emigrate to the States by crossing to -England and sailing from Southampton. In order to defeat this, Sinn Fein -agents were in the habit of frequenting the termini in Dublin for the -purpose of getting in touch with these would-be emigrants and forcing -them to return home. - -This youth, who came from the Ballyrick district, and had never been in -a train in his life, told Blake that a brother in the States had sent -him his passage, and that he was due to sail from Southampton in a few -days’ time, but had to go to the American Consul in Dublin in order that -his passport might be viséd, and asked Blake where the consul’s office -was. - -Blake warned him not to tell any one he met on his journey that he was -going to America, or he would surely fall into the hands of the Sinn -Fein police, and thought no more about the matter. - -When the train reached a junction after about an hour and a half’s run, -there was considerable delay while a large party of Auxiliary Cadets -searched the train, and eventually arrested a police sergeant, whom they -removed after a desperate struggle to a waiting motor. Blake was reading -at the time, and did not think anything was wrong until he saw the -sergeant being dragged out of the station. It then occurred to him that, -though he thought he knew every Cadet in the west by sight, yet he -failed to recognise any of the search-party. However, it was useless to -interfere, as he was alone and unarmed. - -Blake stayed at a hotel near Stephen’s Green, and for the first part of -the night, so silent and empty were the streets, that Dublin might have -been a city of the dead. However, about 2 A.M., a miniature battle broke -out in some near quarter, and for hours rifle-fire and the explosions of -bombs continued, varied at times by bursts of machine-gun fire. - -The following morning after breakfast he set out to see a high official -in the Castle, a friend of his father’s, and also to report at the -R.I.C. Headquarters there. While walking along Grafton Street shots -suddenly rang out at each end, and at once the crowd tried to escape -down several by-streets, only to be held up by the Cadets at every -point; and it was not until two hours afterwards, when the Cadets had -satisfied themselves that the men they wanted were not there, that Blake -was free to proceed to the Castle. - -The streets appeared much the same as usual, but the Castle was greatly -changed from peace times. The entrance gates were heavily barred; barbed -wire, steel shutters, and sandbags in evidence everywhere. Outside, a -strong party of Dublin Metropolitan Police and Military Foot Police. -Inside, a strong guard of infantry in steel helmets, while a tank and -two armoured cars were standing by ready to go into action. - -As nobody was allowed to enter the Castle without a pass, Blake had to -get a friend from the headquarters of the R.I.C. to identify him before -he could gain admission, and he learnt from his friend that the party of -Auxiliaries he had seen the previous day arresting the police sergeant -at the junction were in reality a flying column of Volunteers, who had -managed to smuggle the Cadets’ uniforms into the country from England. - -Blake found that most of the officials in the Castle were virtually -prisoners there, and in order to keep their figures down had improvised -a gravel tennis-court and also a squash racket-court. - -When training at the depot in Dublin, Blake had made the acquaintance of -a Colonel Mahoney, who had retired and lived near Kingstown with his -only daughter, and his chief object in going to Dublin was to see Miss -Mahoney again. After leaving the Castle he met her by appointment, and -after they had lunched and been to a picture-house, they left by tram to -be back in time for tea with the Colonel. After the tram started Blake -found that he had an hour to spare, and got out at Ballsbridge to see a -friend, while Miss Mahoney went on alone. - -On reaching the Mahoneys’ house Blake learnt that, when Miss Mahoney got -out at Kingstown, she had been followed by four young men, who had -demanded the name of the man she had travelled in the tram with, and on -her refusing to disclose Blake’s name, they had knocked her down with -the butts of their revolvers, and left her there partially stunned. - -The following day, when on her way to meet Blake again in Dublin, her -tram was held up by Auxiliaries, and all the men on it carefully -searched for arms; but before the Cadets boarded the tram, Miss Mahoney -saw several young men pass their revolvers to girls sitting next to -them, with the result that the Auxiliaries found no arms. On leaving the -tram at the end of Kildare Street, the pockets of her coat feeling -unusually heavy, she put her hands into them and found a revolver in -each. At the same moment two men overtook her and demanded their arms. - -When he had been in Dublin four days Blake had to go to Broadstone -Station to inquire about a kit-bag which had been lost on the journey to -Dublin. He reached the station about a quarter of an hour before the -departure of the train for the west, and passing a group of young men on -the platform, recognised amongst them the youth who had asked him where -to find the American consul. - -There were no police within sight, and it was useless to interfere -single-handed, but without doubt the talkative youth had fallen into the -hands of the Sinn Fein Police, who were returning him to his home minus -his passage-money: the group consisted of four dejected-looking youths -and three rough-looking men, obviously in charge of the others. - -When his leave was up Blake left for the south by an express train, -changing at a junction after about two hours’ run. Here, just as the -train was on the point of starting, an armed party of the Royal -Fencibles under a subaltern marched on to the platform and took their -seats in several different third-class carriages, the officer getting -into Blake’s carriage. There was a considerable delay, and Blake -expected that, as usual, the guard and driver would refuse to carry -armed soldiers, but to his surprise the train started without any -incident. - -After an hour’s run, the train pulled up with a sudden jerk in a cutting -just outside a station, and as the subaltern put his head out of the -window to ascertain the cause, the train was raked from end to end by -heavy rifle-fire, and the young subaltern collapsed on top of Blake, his -head shattered by a dum-dum bullet. - -Blake threw himself flat on the floor of the carriage until the fire -from the top of the cutting slackened owing to a Lewis gun opening fire -from one of the carriages near the engine. Taking the dead boy’s -revolver, he then jumped on to the line, and made his way towards the -forward carriages, where the soldiers had opened fire with their rifles. - -Here he found a gallant Lewis gunner, badly wounded in an arm and leg, -firing his gun as fast as he could mount the magazines, and so -preventing the Volunteers from leaving their cover at the top of the -bank and attacking at close quarters. - -So hot was the Lewis gunner’s fire that after five minutes the -Volunteers broke off the action and simply vanished. Blake then turned -his attention to the wounded civilians, and though he had grown -indifferent to dreadful sights through years of war, the awful condition -of the dead and wounded in that train made him physically sick. - -The majority of the wounds were from flat-nosed bullets, with the most -terrible results. In one carriage lay a young woman in a pool of blood, -her chest literally blown away by one of these devilish bullets. In -another, a middle-aged man was screaming like a mad wild animal, his arm -and shoulder shattered, and at his feet lay an old countrywoman, the top -of her head blown off. - -Very few of the soldiers had been wounded, and under Blake’s command -they at once started off in pursuit, only to catch a glimpse of the -Volunteers disappearing down a road on bicycles. - -After a long delay the train went on, and in order to try and forget the -awful scenes he had just witnessed, Blake endeavoured to read two -English papers. The first paper, in a long leading article, called for a -policy of conciliation in Ireland, while the second (a threepenny -edition of the first) recounted at great length a speech made the -previous day by a famous legal politician calling loudly upon the -Government to withdraw all troops from Ireland, and demanding that the -R.I.C. and Auxiliary Cadets should be severely dealt with for their -brutal reprisals on innocent people, but never a word about the savage -attacks on these same R.I.C. and Cadets by these “innocent people,” or a -single thought for the widows and orphans of the murdered policemen. In -disgust he threw both papers out of the carriage windows, and consigned -all politicians to the bottomless pit. - -On arriving at Esker, Blake found that his chief duty was to act as -liaison officer between the military and police, and that he would be -attached to the staff of the G.O.C. of the district. - -He quickly realised that the bad reports of the state of the south had -not been exaggerated, and that it was in a far worse state than the -west. Ambushes of police and military, attacks on trains, shootings of -unarmed soldiers and police in the streets at all hours of the day and -night, the finding of dead men riddled with bullets in every kind of -place, from an open field to an empty house, and the robbery of mails -occurred daily with monotonous regularity; and so accustomed had people -of all classes become to this saturnalia of crime, that they thought no -more about the murder of a human being than the usual man thinks of -killing a rat. - -Blake’s principal work consisted of investigating these crimes in -company with police and soldiers, and afterwards in making out a report -for the General. In addition, he accompanied the General when making -tours through the district. - -One morning they received news of a terrible ambush of Cadets, and on -arriving at the scene of the ambush Blake found the dead bodies of the -Cadets still lying on the road. All their equipment and personal effects -had been stolen, and their faces smashed in with an axe. Probably in -several cases this barbarous mutilation had been committed before the -unfortunate Cadets were dead. - -Two days afterwards the bodies of the murdered Cadets passed through -Esker _en route_ for England. All shops were closed, and great crowds -collected in the streets. Blake was greatly struck by the different -attitudes of sections of the crowd, some taking their hats off with -every mark of reverence and sympathy when the coffins passed, while -others kept their hats on until ordered by the officers to uncover, and -many showed plainly by their faces that they were in full sympathy with -the murderers. - -Conditions in the south were now rapidly drifting into a war of -extermination, and every morning brought fresh reports of men shot the -previous night, either in bed before the eyes of their relations, or -else against a wall outside their homes. - -One evening word came to headquarters through the secret service that a -baker in an outlying village was to be shot that night. It appeared that -the baker, a moderate Sinn Feiner, had been chosen by the Inner Circle -to take part in one of their nightly “executions,” and had refused. So -the edict had gone forth that if the baker would not commit murder, he -should be murdered himself. - -The General at once sent Blake with a party of soldiers to try and save -the baker’s life, but, missing their way in the dark, they arrived a few -minutes too late. They found the unfortunate man lying on his bed shot -through the head, while the only occupant of the house, the murdered -man’s sister, sat white-faced by the bedside moaning and wringing her -hands. - -They could get nothing out of the sister, except that a party of armed -and masked men, in “trench coats” as ever, had suddenly burst into the -house and insisted that her brother should accompany them for some -unknown purpose, and that he had refused. For a time they argued with -him, until another man rushed into the house, calling out to them to be -quick as the soldiers were near. Whereupon they shot the baker as he lay -in bed, with the sister looking on, and then left the house hurriedly. - -There seemed nothing to be done, and Blake was on the point of leaving -when his eye caught a piece of white paper under the bed, which turned -out to be the baker’s death-warrant for treason, signed by the C.M.A. of -the I.R.A. - -On his return Blake handed the death-warrant to the Intelligence people, -who returned it shortly, saying that they could make nothing of it. -After showing it to the General, Blake put the warrant away, and thought -no more about it. - -Some weeks afterwards, owing to the shooting of soldiers and police in -the streets after dark, the curfew was advanced an hour. As a result, -the number of curfew prisoners greatly increased—so much so on the first -night that there was no room in the usual detention quarters, and the -officer of the guard was obliged to use an empty office for the -overflow. - -While the General was working in his office after dinner, the officer of -the guard brought a note from the Mayor of the town, who, he explained, -had been found on the streets after curfew hour by a patrol, and was now -a prisoner in the office below. The note requested a personal interview -with the G.O.C., and stated that the matter was of the highest -importance. The General passed the note to Blake, who was puzzled by the -familiarity of the writing, but unable to remember where he had seen it -before. - -After some hesitation the General decided to see the Mayor, who was -brought in by the officer of the guard, and left alone with the General -and Blake. After beating about the bush for some time, the Mayor asked -that he might be kept under arrest and, if possible, deported by sea to -England, as he was in great danger of assassination, but would give no -reason for the danger, only stating that he had received threatening -letters. - -The General explained that under no circumstances would he allow the -Mayor to be detained under arrest or deported, unless he could show -sufficient reasons. The Mayor replied that he considered the threatening -letters an ample justification for his request; he had not brought the -letters with him, but that if allowed to go home with a guard he would -fetch them. But the General, being determined to get all the information -he could out of the man, and knowing that once he had granted his -request it would be impossible to get anything out of him, refused. - -By now Blake had identified the Mayor’s handwriting with the writing on -the baker’s death-warrant, and getting out the latter, placed the two -papers in front of the General, who at once taxed the Mayor with being -the head of the Inner Circle in Esker. This he denied, but on being -confronted with the two papers, broke down and made a complete -confession. - -It appeared that for a long time past he had been the leader of Sinn -Fein in that district, and though himself a moderate man, he had been -unable to control the wild men, who had forced him, as head of the Inner -Circle, to sign the death-warrants of the men condemned to be -“executed,” or, in other words, the men they wished out of the way. -After a time, being a very religious man, his conscience had rebelled -against wholesale murder, and he had refused to sign any more -death-warrants. - -Whereupon the wild men, being afraid that the Mayor might give them -away, had signed his death-warrant themselves, and that very morning he -had received by post a warning to prepare for death. - -The General was now quite satisfied to order his arrest and deportation -forthwith; but the Mayor asked that he should be allowed to go home to -say good-bye to his family, and that he might be arrested in his own -house at some early hour in the morning. It was now nearly midnight, and -the General, after granting his request, arranged that a patrol should -arrest him at 4 A.M. - -At 4 A.M. to the minute Blake drove up to the Mayor’s house in a lorry -with an officer and fifteen men, but at once saw that something was -wrong. Instead of the house being in complete darkness, most of the -windows were lit up, and the loud wails of women could be heard in an -upstairs room. - -Leaving the officer to post sentries at the front and back of the house, -Blake knocked at the door, which was opened after some delay by a woman, -who, on seeing a police officer, tried to slam the door in his face. -Blake, however, managed to slip into the hall, and asked the woman what -was wrong, but she ran upstairs, calling out to some one above that the -police had returned. - -On the first landing the woman was joined by another woman and a man, -and after a lot of trouble Blake at last got out of them that an hour -previously a party of tall men in black mackintoshes, with soft hats -pulled over their eyes, had gained admittance to the house, and made -their way straight to the Mayor’s bedroom, where they found him kneeling -down by his bed praying. After pushing the Mayor’s wife out of the room -they shot him, threw his body on the bed, and rushed out of the house. - -Blake asked to be shown the Mayor’s body, and the man led him to a -bedroom at the back and opened the door. After making certain that the -dead man was the Mayor, Blake left and drove straight back to the -General. - -That day the town was seething with excitement, and it was openly stated -by many men that the Mayor had been murdered by the police. - -Shortly afterwards a public inquiry was held, and it was clearly proved -that every policeman in the town could be satisfactorily accounted for -during the night of the murder, and, moreover, that every round of rifle -and revolver ammunition could also be accounted for. However, this did -not suit the Sinn Feiners, and a verdict of “guilty” was brought in -against the authorities, though there can be no possible doubt in any -unbiassed mind that the Mayor of Esker was murdered either by, or by the -orders of, the Inner Circle. - -When he went home, after his interview with the G.O.C., the natural -assumption was that he had been giving information, and the Inner Circle -determined that he should give no more. Whether they knew that he was to -be arrested and deported at 4 A.M., and deliberately forestalled the -arrest, or whether they merely knew that he was at headquarters, and -were waiting to murder him on the first favourable opportunity, is not -clear, and does not affect the question of the guilt of the murder. - - - - - XII. - A BRUTAL MURDER. - - -The childlike trust which so many Englishmen have in their institutions -is a source of never-ending wonder to Irishmen, more especially the -Englishman’s blind faith in the integrity of the Post Office in both -countries. Long after Sinn Fein had made the Irish Post Office its chief -source of information, the Government and public continued happily and -blindly to confide their confidential correspondence to the tender -mercies of the King’s enemies, and at the same time expressed their -bewildered astonishment at the uncanny amount of information that the -Sinn Fein Secret Service was able to obtain. - -It is highly doubtful if Blake would ever have even thought of obtaining -information from the mail bags, if a young subaltern, who commanded a -platoon of the Blankshires temporarily stationed in the Ballybor Police -Barracks, had not made the suggestion one night at dinner, and had even -offered to carry out the operation himself if Blake had any official -qualms. At first Blake refused, knowing that the authorities did not -approve of tampering with the public’s private letters; but being -desperately hard up for certain information he gave in, and it was -arranged that Jones, the subaltern, should carry out the search. - -A cross-country letter in the west of Ireland will often take nowadays -any time from three to five days to arrive at a town only twenty miles -away, and of the chief reasons of this delay one is that the mails often -lie for twelve to twenty-four hours in a head post office before being -sent out to rural sub-offices for distribution, or in a railway van at -some junction awaiting a connection. This was well known to Blake, who -had often to complain of delay in delivery of official letters, and also -of letters from the “Castle” being frequently opened in the post. - -Examining the mails in the Ballybor Post Office was out of the question, -owing to the almost unbelievable fact that the staff, from the -postmaster to the charwoman who washed out the tiled floors of the post -office every morning, were Sinn Feiners, one and all, so that there only -remained to search the mails in the train. - -At this period the western railways were slowly dying from a creeping -paralysis caused by the engine-drivers and guards refusing to carry the -armed forces of the Crown, quite oblivious of the fact that it was only -possible to pay the railway men’s enormous wages through the Government -subsidy. For a time some lines shut down, but a goods train managed to -reach Ballybor six days a week with mails and the bare necessities of -life for the inhabitants—chiefly porter barrels. By good luck the guard -on this train chanced to be a Loyalist—probably the only one on the -line—and it was arranged with him that the mails should be searched by -Jones while the mail van waited in a siding for several hours at a -junction about sixteen miles from Ballybor. - -Disguised as harvestmen, Jones and his servant were dropped at night -from a Crossley close to the junction and admitted to the mail van by -the guard; they at once set to work with electric torches, the batman -opening the letters, whilst Jones read and made a note of any useful -information, and when they had finished returned in the car to Ballybor -Barracks. - -On returning to the barracks, Blake and Jones went carefully through the -information, and found that one letter addressed to a noted Sinn Feiner, -Mr Pat Hegarty, who lived near a village called Lissamore, about eight -miles away, gave sufficient evidence on which to hang Mr Hegarty. The -writer stated that on the 3rd inst. Hegarty was to expect the arrival of -an officer of the I.R.A. in uniform, who would come from the direction -of Castleport on a bicycle about 10 P.M. Hegarty was to keep this -officer in his house, place the new supply of American arms at his -disposal for ambushes, and the officer would not leave the district -until Blake had been either killed or kidnapped. - -Some months previous to this Blake had been in the south on special -duty, and during his absence, MacNot, the D.I. who relieved him -temporarily, had called a truce with the Volunteers as long as all -appeared well on paper, with the result that the Volunteers had been -able to make full preparations for a second effort to wipe out the -police in the district. Soon after his return to Ballybor Blake heard -strong rumours of a second landing of American arms during his -absence—this time, at night at Ballybor quay—and the letter confirmed -the rumours. - -On the night mentioned in the letter, Blake and Jones, accompanied by a -police sergeant and two constables, left Ballybor Barracks in a car -after dark in the opposite direction to that in which the village of -Lissamore lay, and after going about three miles turned off at a byroad -and proceeded by unfrequented roads, until they reached a small wood -about half a mile from Hegarty’s house on the Castleport road; here they -blocked the road with the car, and waited for their victim. - -There was bright starlight, and punctually at 9.45 they saw a cyclist -approaching from the direction of Castleport; but so dark was it in the -wood that the cyclist only avoided running into the car by throwing -himself off, to be quickly seized by two stalwart policemen before he -could let go of his handle-bars, gagged and well tied up. They then took -him into the wood, removed his uniform, dressed him in an old police -uniform, and finally deposited him at the bottom of the car. - -Jones then put on the Volunteer officer’s uniform, took his bicycle, and -rode on to Hegarty’s house, while the police backed the car up a -bohereen and waited there. Before starting out they had arranged that -Jones should camouflage his English voice by a Yankee twang, as a brogue -was quite beyond his powers. - -On arriving at Hegarty’s house, Jones leant his bicycle against the -wall, and gave three mysterious knocks at the door. For quite two -minutes there was no answer, and just as he was preparing to knock -again, the door opened about three inches, and a girl’s voice asked in a -whisper who was there, and what he wanted at that time of night. - -Now, unfortunately, the letter had not given the name of the I.R.A. -officer, so Jones, being afraid to give a name lest the Hegartys might -know the officer’s real name, muttered that he was a republican officer, -and had come to see Pat Hegarty. The door at once closed, and he could -hear the girl open and close a door at the back of the house, and for -fully ten minutes nothing further occurred. - -This was not part of the play which Jones and Blake had carefully -rehearsed in the barracks that afternoon, and Jones was quite nonplussed -what to do next. Being young and impetuous, he was just on the point of -ruining the whole show by breaking in the door, when it opened and the -girl’s voice told him to come in. - -The room was pitch dark, and for a second Jones hesitated; but the girl -laid her hand on his sleeve, and led him through to a lighted room at -the back, where he found Hegarty with his wife and son about to sit down -to supper. Hegarty bade him welcome, and the meal started. - -After they had eaten for some time in silence, Hegarty asked him several -questions about where he had been recently, and of prominent Volunteers -in other parts of the country. Jones made the best answers he could, not -forgetting to keep up his American accent, and mentioned casually that -he had only recently come over from the States, where his parents had -been living for some years. - -For a time there was silence again, but Jones could feel that the eyes -of Maria Hegarty were on him all the time; and presently she began to -ask most awkward questions about places and people in the States, and -Jones was hard put to it to avoid suspicion. Luckily Maria mentioned -that her friends lived in the Eastern States, so that it was easy for -Jones’s people to live far away in the west, and the situation was -saved. - -Supper over, the women cleared the table and retired, while Hegarty -produced a large jar of poteen and tumblers, and the three men settled -themselves round the fire to drink and talk. For the next two hours -Jones extracted all the information he could out of the Hegartys, who, -though shy at first, warmed up after several glasses of poteen, and -Jones learnt from young Hegarty that the arms were kept under the floors -of a disused Protestant school-house in the rectory grounds at -Cloonalla, the rector of which was a notorious Loyalist, and would have -died sooner than conceal arms knowingly for the rebels. - -At this point Jones, who had never tasted poteen before, suddenly -realised that he was nearly drunk, and that before he became quite drunk -it would be wiser to lie down on a bed. On inquiry, he found that he was -to sleep with young Hegarty, the idea of which so staggered him that he -felt soberer at once, and determined to try and hold out. - -Suddenly there came a violent knocking at the front door, followed by -what sounded like the bang of a rifle-butt on the back door. At once the -Hegartys put out the light, and started to hustle Jones up a ladder to a -loft above the kitchen. - -But by now the poteen had quite got to Jones’s head; and when the police -went into the kitchen, they found old Hegarty and his son still -struggling to get an I.R.A. officer up the ladder. The Hegartys now let -go of Jones, who promptly closed with Blake, and a tremendous struggle -started in the kitchen. - -In a few minutes Jones was overcome, and lay on the floor with a heavy -constable sitting on his chest. Blake then ordered the Hegartys to light -the lamp, and afterwards to stand against the wall with their hands over -their heads, and the constables to take Jones outside and shoot him. But -he had not reckoned on Maria, who burst into the kitchen and with -piercing screams endeavoured to throw her arms round Jones’s neck. Maria -was a strong girl and desperate, and it took Jones and the two -constables all they knew to shake her off and struggle out of the house. - -Luckily Maria did not attempt to leave the house, and ten seconds after -the back door had closed, six revolver shots rang out in quick -succession, followed by the sound of a heavy body falling on wet ground. -After telling Maria and her mother to go to their bedroom, Blake took -Hegarty and his son into the back-yard, and showed them the body of the -unfortunate Volunteer officer thrown by the police on the manure-heap. -During the next half-hour he had little difficulty in getting all the -information he required about local Volunteers (he made no mention of -the arms), and after warning them not to move the corpse, the police -left the house. - -Maria appears to have been greatly taken with Jones’s youthful beauty, -and nearly ruined the whole show again by insisting on her father and -brother going out to bring in the corpse and lay it out in the kitchen. -Luckily the Hegartys were too much afraid, and Jones told Blake -afterwards that the agony of lying with his face buried in liquid manure -was nothing to the agony he suffered listening to the Hegartys arguing -whether his corpse should be left lying on the manure-heap to be eaten -by dogs, or brought into the kitchen and laid out as a “dacent son of -ould Ireland” should be. - -While this argument was still raging a car stopped at the front door, -and again the police rushed into the house, out at the back door, -dragged the corpse off the manure-heap, through the house, and flung it -on top of the real Volunteer officer in the back of the car. After -telling the Hegartys that they would throw the body into the lake, the -police drove off at a furious rate in the direction of Ballybor. - -On returning to barracks, Jones at once rushed off to have a hot bath, -while Blake went to his office to find his two clerks snowed up with -paper, correspondence which had arrived by the goods mail while they had -been out. After they had some food, Jones was all for raiding the rector -of Cloonalla at once; but Blake made the fatal mistake of attending to -the correspondence then, and putting off the raid to the following -night. - -The next night they set out with a strong force of police for the -Cloonalla Rectory, but found, though there were evident signs that their -information had been correct, that the arms had been removed; the rector -was most indignant, and they returned defeated. - -A few nights afterwards, when at dinner, Blake showed Jones the -following paragraph in an Irish paper. - - “A BRUTAL MURDER. - - “On the night of the 3rd inst., about midnight, armed men in - uniform, some of them wearing trenchcoats, raided the house of Mr - Patrick Hegarty, a respectable farmer, who has never been known to - take any active part in politics. Inside these men found a young - man alleged to have been wearing the uniform of an officer in the - I.R.A. - - “This unfortunate young man, without trial of any kind, was at - once dragged outside the house, riddled with bullets, and his body - thrown on a manure-heap in a most callous and brutal manner. - - “After brutally ill-treating Mr Hegarty and his family, the - murderers left, to return again, saying that they would take the - body away and throw it into the lake. Though the lake has been - carefully dragged, no sign of this unhappy youth’s body has yet - been found.” - - - - - XIII. - SEAL ISLAND. - - -Sergeant O’Bryan was as fine a type of the R.I.C. as you would meet in -half a dozen baronies: of magnificent physique, great courage, full of -tact, and with the perfect manners of a true Irishman. - -At the end of 1918 O’Bryan found himself sergeant in charge of -Cloghleagh Barracks, a comfortable thatched house close to the shores of -Lough Moyra, and distant about four miles from Ballybor. - -While at Cloghleagh his principal work consisted of trying to put down -the making of poteen, which was carried on extensively by the -inhabitants of two small islands at the south end of the lake; otherwise -the sergeant was on the best of terms with all the people of the -district, who often appealed to him for advice and help. And as O’Bryan -was a keen fisherman, he often managed to combine business with sport -while out in the police boat. - -Soon after Blake became D.I. at Ballybor, orders were received from the -County Inspector to evacuate Cloghleagh Barracks, and for O’Bryan and -his men to proceed to Ballybor Barracks. As the country round Cloghleagh -had as yet shown no hostility towards the police, and as it was hard to -get a house in any town, O’Bryan asked and obtained leave for his young -wife and family to remain on at Cloghleagh Barracks; and here, not long -after the sergeant had gone, the youngest O’Bryan was born. - -Two days afterwards, on a wet winter’s evening, there came a knock at -the barracks door, and when Mrs O’Bryan asked who was there, a man’s -voice bade her open in the name of the I.R.A. Obeying, she found two -masked men, who covered her with revolvers, and told her they would give -her five minutes to clear out of the barracks before they set it on -fire. - -Mrs O’Bryan had seven children, the eldest about ten years and the -youngest two days old, most of whom were in bed by this time. As fast as -she could she roused and dressed the children; but the five minutes soon -passed, and the men entered and bundled the whole family, some of the -children only half clothed, out into the wet and cold of a winter’s -night. - -Outside Mrs O’Bryan found a large party of Ballybor shop-boys, some of -them wearing black masks, led by four strange gunmen. This party had -arrived in Cloghleagh about an hour before, and had at once proceeded to -picket all roads leading to and from the barracks, and every unfortunate -countryman or woman they met making their way along the roads was at -once seized by the pickets, taken to the barrack-yard, and there placed -face inwards against the wall with their hands on top of their heads. - -As soon as the O’Bryan family had been hustled into the road, the gunmen -threw paraffin and petrol on the thatch of the barracks, set it alight, -and in a very short time the building was a charred ruin. They then -mounted their bicycles and rode off into the night, leaving the -unfortunate O’Bryans to shift for themselves. - -Leaving her family huddled under a hedge, the mother tried to get into -two neighbouring houses; but the blighting curse of the I.R.A. was on -her and hers, and not a house would even open its door, let alone take -them in. In the end she saw that it was hopeless, and returning to her -children, did her best to keep them warm with her own body and the few -blankets she had managed to bring out of the barracks. And here they -spent the night like the beasts of the fields. - -Next morning some countryman, braver than the rest, brought word to the -Ballybor Barracks of the burning at Cloghleagh, and Sergeant O’Bryan -arrived on the scene to find his wife and family perished and starving. -Such is the mercy of the I.R.A. for the little children of the R.I.C. - -O’Bryan took his family back to Ballybor Barracks, where they were fed -and warmed; but in Ireland nowadays a police barracks is no place for -little children and women, and before night they must leave. In vain the -sergeant tried to find lodgings; he might as well have tried to swim the -Atlantic. Every door was slammed in his face directly he made his -appeal. But the good Samaritan is not yet extinct in Ireland, and at -last the sergeant found a refuge for his family in the empty gardener’s -lodge of Ballybor House. - -While being turned out of Cloghleagh Barracks, Mrs O’Bryan had -recognised two of the incendiaries, who had taken their masks off, as -two prominent Sinn Fein shop-boys of Ballybor, afterwards telling her -husband their names—Martin Walsh and Peter Lynch—and the sergeant never -forgot them. - -On a glorious June day Blake was leaning over the parapet of the lower -bridge crossing the Owenmore river in Ballybor, watching the fishermen -hauling in a net full of silvery grilse, and wishing that he could -accept an invitation to fish at Ardcumber. After a time his eye wandered -to a fleet of boats below the bridge, some anchored, while others were -attached to mooring buoys. From force of habit he started to count them, -and on finding that there were no less than thirty-seven, he began to -make out their total carrying capacity, which roughly came to the high -figure of three hundred. - -On the following Sunday he happened to be crossing the same bridge at -about ten in the morning, and stopped to look at three boats, packed -with young men, a few carrying fishing-rods, starting off down the -river. The fishing-rods were there right enough, but something seemed -wrong; the men looked too purposeful, and, moreover, eight or nine young -men in a boat with a couple of rods is an unusual sight. - -Blake watched the boats disappearing fast down the river, and wondered -what would be the right word to substitute for fishing. After a while he -realised that there was not a boat left on the river, and, further, that -if all the boats had carried as many passengers as the three he had just -seen start, over three hundred young men from Ballybor had gone -a-fishing that Sunday morning, the majority of whom, if not all of them, -were shop-boys, the most dangerous element in the town. - -The barracks commanded a good view of the reach of the river where the -boats were usually moored, and next Sunday at an early hour Blake told -off Sergeant O’Bryan with a pair of field-glasses to report how many -boats and how many men went out a-fishing. At eleven o’clock the -sergeant reported that, as usual, all the thirty-seven boats had -started, carrying two hundred and fifty young men, and that among them -he had recognised most of the prominent Sinn Fein shop-boys of the town. -But he did not add that he had seen Walsh and Lynch. - -Five miles below Ballybor the Owenmore river, from being roughly two -hundred yards wide, suddenly becomes an inland sea, with a width of over -three miles and a length of a mile. Between this inland water and the -open sea runs a long narrow range of sand-hills, commonly known as Seal -Island, nearly three miles long and with an average width of four -hundred yards. - -Blake came to the conclusion that the fishing expeditions every Sunday -must be connected with this lonely island; but except for drilling—and -sand-dunes did not seem a suitable place for a parade—he could think of -nothing to which this island would lend itself. Moreover, he knew that -if he tried to find out what was going on by observing from the -mainland, he would be spotted and the alarm given, and that if he tried -to approach the island in a boat from the seaside the fishermen from -Dooncarra would give him away. - -In the end it was settled to wait until the following Sunday, when -Sergeant O’Bryan made his way across country before daylight and hid -himself in the tower of an old abbey on the shore of the inland sea, -from which the greater part of Seal Island was visible. On the Sunday -night he returned to barracks, and reported that the “fishermen” had all -landed at the little pier on the south side of the island, left a small -guard over the boats, and made their way into the sand-hills, where they -were hidden from his view. Some time afterwards, muffled intermittent -rifle-fire started, and continued at intervals for several hours, after -which the “fishermen” returned to their boats, and rowed back leisurely -to Ballybor on the flood tide. - -But before Blake could tackle the mystery of Seal Island, he had to turn -his attention to a flying column of the I.R.A. which was reported to be -making its way towards Ballybor. On the Sunday evening when O’Bryan -returned from the old abbey, word was brought in by a Loyalist that the -flying column had been seen that day in the Ballyrick mountains, and had -taken up its quarters in the empty house of Mr Padraig O’Faherty, member -of Dail Eireann for the Ballybor country, who had been for some time -past an unwilling guest of the British Government somewhere in England. - -Padraig O’Faherty’s house was (advisably was) situated in the middle of -a desolate valley in the mountains twenty miles from Ballyrick and the -same distance from Ballybor, and could only be approached by a bog road, -which winds through mountains and moors without passing a single human -habitation for the last eight miles. Moreover, there was not a tree -within fifteen miles of the house, so that any attempt at surprise, or -even attack, during the day-time was out of the question. At the first -sight of a Crossley—and they had a three-mile view of the road both ways -from the house—the flying column would simply dissolve into the -mountains, probably to reappear the next day attacking a police barrack -fifty miles the other side of Ballybor. A good example of the kind of -problem the R.I.C. has to solve daily in the wild parts of the west. - -That night Blake left Ballybor with an advance-guard of police on -bicycles, and making a detour of the town, timed himself to arrive at -O’Faherty’s house just before daylight, having arranged that Jones -should follow in the Crossleys with his platoon of Blankshires and as -many police as could be spared. - -Arriving too soon, they hid their bicycles in some high heather near the -road, and as soon as it was light enough took up positions at different -points round the house, so that every avenue of escape would be swept by -their rifle-fire, and waited for the main body to arrive. - -As the sky became light, smoke could be seen rising from some of the -chimneys, a suspicious sign at that hour of the morning, and shortly -afterwards four young men appeared at the door, yawning and stretching -themselves. After examining the valley in every direction with -field-glasses, they proceeded to bring about forty bicycles out of a -stable and park them in military formation outside, after which they -re-entered the house. - -During the next hour nothing happened, and just as Blake had given up -all hope of the main body arriving and was thinking of trying to rush -the house with his small force, a large party of men started to leave -the house and make for the bicycles, and Blake was forced to give the -order to open fire. - -Several men were seen to drop at once, while the rest rushed back into -the house, carrying their wounded with them, and in a minute heavy fire -was opened from every window in the house on the police positions, the -firing of a single shot by a policeman being the signal for a hail of -bullets in that direction. - -Blake was now getting very anxious at the non-arrival of Jones’s party, -fearing that instead of capturing the flying column, the Volunteers -might capture the police; and in order to deceive them, ordered his men -to withhold their fire unless the Volunteers tried to rush them. At last -Jones turned up, having been delayed repeatedly by punctures, and -completed a strong cordon round the house. - -Blake now attempted to draw the cordon closer, but every time the police -and soldiers tried to advance by short rushes under heavy covering fire, -the Volunteers opened such accurate fire from every window, including -machine-gun fire from one of the upper rooms, that he had to desist. -Eventually the soldiers silenced the machine-gun with their Lewis guns. - -After getting to within three hundred yards of the house, Blake found -that, owing to the formation of the ground, it would be impossible to -advance any nearer without very heavy losses, and refused to allow Jones -to make an assault with his men until all other means of reducing the -place had failed. - -The day was now wearing on, and for several hours the situation had -remained a complete deadlock. The Volunteers were obviously marking time -until darkness set in, when they would stand a good chance of slipping -through the cordon; and Blake fully realised that if he did not win -during daylight, he would surely lose in the dark. - -Blake and Jones lay in the heather close together, arguing as to whether -they should try to assault the house or not. Jones was keen to try, -while Blake feared a failure with heavy losses. The day was by now -blazing hot, with a steady south wind, and Jones, after lighting a -cigarette, carelessly threw the match away alight, and in a second the -dry heather took fire, and was only extinguished with great difficulty. -But the fire had given Blake the idea he had been hunting for so long. - -Collecting all the matches that the men possessed, Jones made his way -round to the south side of the house, and distributed them amongst all -the men there, who, at a given signal, set fire to the heather in front -of them, and as soon as the house was enveloped in a cloud of smoke, the -whole force charged for the house. As soon as they got within range, the -police hurled Mills’ bombs through every window, and the soldiers then -dashed in with fixed bayonets, but the bombs had done the work. - -They found that the Volunteers had suffered heavily, hardly a man -escaping a bomb splinter or a Lewis-gun bullet, and the question was how -to remove so many wounded. In the house they found bed and bedding for -fully forty men, and a great supply of fresh and tinned food; also -rifles (chiefly Mauser), American shot-guns, automatics, revolvers, a -quantity of ammunition, and a good stock of home-made bombs in a kind of -cellar. - -Not having enough transport, Blake sent off a fast car to ask for help -from the County Inspector. Before leaving, Blake blew up Mr Padraig -O’Faherty’s house with the Volunteers’ bombs, and the party returned to -Ballybor before dark, victorious, but worn out. - -As soon as they had had some sleep, Blake and Jones started to work out -their plans for a surprise attack on Seal Island the following Sunday, -and found that they had a difficult task before them. - -Except at the east and west ends of the island, where the two channels -of the river cut through the ridge of sand-hills, all approaches were -visible for a long distance, and any idea of surprise out of the -question. On the other hand, if an attempt was made to cross the -channels, the Volunteers would have ample time to reach their boats at -the pier in the middle of the south shore and so escape, while at a low -tide it was possible to walk across at one point to the mainland. - -In the end they gave it up, and went to consult the C.I., who decided to -call in the assistance of the Navy. - -On Sunday morning Sergeant O’Bryan duly reported that the boats had gone -down the river, as usual with full crews. The previous night a destroyer -had crept into the bay with all lights covered, and after landing a -large party of bluejackets on Seal Island, had left again. - -After allowing sufficient time for the Volunteers to land and get to -work, Blake followed in a commandeered motor-launch, and at the same -time Jones left the barracks with his platoon in two Crossleys, each -with a Lewis gun, one party making for the western mouth of the river, -and the other for the eastern, where they proceeded to take up positions -covering all escape across the channels. - -About three hundred yards from the pier on Seal Island, Blake and his -men landed on a small round green island called Gannet Island, and took -up positions covering the boats lying alongside the pier. Directly they -landed, a small group of men were seen to leave the pier and disappear -into the sand-dunes. Meanwhile the launch, with a machine-gun mounted in -the bows, proceeded to patrol along the south shore of the island over -the shallow water. - -After a short time heavy firing broke out in the sand-hills and then -died down, to break out again as a large body of Volunteers streamed -towards the pier; but before they could reach their boats, Blake’s men -on Gannet Island opened fire on them, and the launch sprayed them well -with its machine-gun. The Volunteers seemed nonplussed and at a loss -what to do; but the bluejackets, advancing in open order with fixed -bayonets from the sand-hills, quickly decided them, and they made for -the east end of the island, disappearing into a hollow followed by the -bluejackets. - -Again heavy firing broke out from the direction of the hollow, and -continued at intervals for over an hour. Fearing that something was -wrong, Blake then embarked his men on the launch, and after landing at -the pier, proceeded in the direction of the firing, to find the -Volunteers holding a large house which so far the sailors had failed to -take. - -The house came as a surprise to the police, none of whom had ever set -foot on the island before, and there seemed every prospect of another -deadlock. The house was old, well built, and commanded a fine field of -fire in every direction. - -But sailors are handy men, and after a consultation with Blake, the -lieutenant in command decided to signal to his destroyer, which had -anchored in the bay again, to open fire with her guns on the house. -After trying in vain to get a direct view of the house, the destroyer -opened indirect fire, a sailor on a high sand-hill signalling the result -of each shot. Unfortunately the house was so sheltered by the sides of -the hollow that nothing short of a howitzer could have reached it. - -But the sailors were not beaten. After putting farther out to sea, the -destroyer tried again, and this time at the third shot got home with a -direct hit, and in a few minutes it was seen that the house was on fire. - -Sailors and police now held their fire, and waited for the exciting -moment when the Volunteers would be forced by the flames to bolt. A -quarter of an hour, half an hour passed, but not a Volunteer bolted from -the now fiercely burning house. At last the roof fell in with a crash -and shower of sparks, and every man gripped his rifle, thinking that at -last the rebels would be smoked out; but nothing happened. They had -either vanished into thin air or were roasted alive. Still the sailors -and police waited on, thinking that in the end somebody must come out. -Without any warning one gable-end of the house suddenly fell outwards, -and simultaneously firing broke out from the east channel of the river, -about five hundred yards away. - -The spell was now broken, and every man dashed in the direction of the -firing. When they reached high ground they could see many of the -Volunteers swimming across the channel, while those who could not swim -were running towards the north side of the island. - -The half-platoon of the Blankshires, with Sergeant O’Bryan as a guide, -had taken up their position in the sand-hills on the mainland commanding -the passage across the east channel, and had only been interested -spectators of parts of the battle up to the time the gable fell, when, -to their astonishment, they suddenly saw the Volunteers streaming out of -the sand-hills and dashing into the river in front of them. - -Foremost among the swimmers Sergeant O’Bryan saw, to his great joy, the -heads of Walsh and Lynch, their foot-long hair floating like manes -behind them, and knew that his enemies had been delivered into his -hands. By the time the swimmers reached the mainland, and found -themselves covered by the rifles and Lewis gun of the soldiers, they had -had enough, and put up their hands of their own accord. - -The sailors and police now beat the island towards the west end, and -after a hard scramble over the sand-hills captured the remaining -Volunteers. - -A careful search of the place where the Volunteers had suddenly appeared -out of the ground showed that there was an underground passage running -from the house to within a short distance of the shore, probably used in -former days for smuggling purposes. - -A further search explained the reason of the Volunteers’ Sunday visits -to the island. In a valley of the sand-hills they found an up-to-date -rifle-range, and afterwards learnt that it had been built during the -early part of the war, and frequently used for firing musketry courses -by units of the New Armies training in Ireland. - - - - - XIV. - A FAMILY AFFAIR. - - -The mac Nessa, Prince of Murrisk, claimed descent from one of the Nine -Hostages; and though proud of his lineage, he was still prouder of the -boast that, up to comparatively recent times, not one of his ancestors -had died in his bed. A violent death in some form or other, chiefly the -“middoge,” accounting for one and all. - -Murrisk Abbey is a modern house, as old places go in Ireland, but in the -grounds there are the ruins of a very old castle, built in the days when -the O’Fogartys ruled a countryside as far horse could gallop in any -direction during the hours of daylight. Here the mac Nessa had spent -most of his life, hunting, shooting, fishing, and farming, and -incidentally bringing up a family of two sons and four daughters. - -Both the sons, Cormac and Dominic, had served during the war in the -British Army. Dominic willingly and eagerly, and Cormac, the elder, only -because he feared his father, who was a staunch Loyalist. - -The spring of 1919 found the two brothers at home. Cormac for good and -all as he believed, and Dominic until he could decide how and where to -make a living. - -In England there is nowadays a large class whose one and only object in -life appears to be to take sides with any and every enemy of their -country, be he Boer, Boche, Bolshevik, or Sinn Feiner. This party never -ceases to aid and abet these enemies by every means in their power, -short of endangering their own skins, and at the same time never let an -opportunity pass of accusing our soldiers and police (in Ireland) of -every abominable crime which man has been known to commit. During the -war this class of Englishmen greatly puzzled and irritated the French, -as they have every nation that has ever admired the British as a race. A -French interpreter once said to a British officer, “Many of your race -are noble, the rest are swine.” - -In Ireland, by some lucky chance, we have escaped this detestable and -despicable breed of man, to whom a sincere rebel is infinitely -preferable, but at the same time we have a class of men and women who -are first cousins to them. In many good Irish families, noted for -generations past for their unswerving loyalty, there is often one member -who is an out-and-out rebel. Luckily he or she has generally less brains -than the rest of the family, and is looked upon as a harmless lunatic, -and one of the crosses which have to be borne in the world. - -A plausible reason often advanced for this sporadic appearance of a -rebel in a loyal family is the complete lack of conversation at the -dinner-table, once sport has been exhausted, when all members of a -family see eye to eye in politics; and as a “mutual admiration society” -quickly palls on many young men and women, one member expresses contrary -political opinions to the others out of pure cussedness, and the anger -and recriminations of the rest quickly turn the bored jibber into a -red-hot rebel. - -Not many weeks after the brothers had returned home from the war, -Cormac, who had spent many hours of his youth reading books and -pamphlets on the wrongs England had inflicted on Ireland instead of -hunting and shooting, and had even appeared at breakfast once in a weird -ginger-coloured kilt, raised the red flag of Sinn Fein one evening at -the dinner-table. Probably he did it from sheer boredom, hoping to draw -his father into a wordy argument and so pass the time. The result, -however, had a far-reaching effect on the lives of both Cormac and -Dominic. - -The mac Nessa was a big man and Cormac was not, and but for the -intervention of Dominic, the elder son would probably have had an -unpleasant and painful eviction from the dinner-table. However, the old -chieftain controlled himself with a great effort, but as soon as the -servants had withdrawn he ordered Cormac to leave the house the -following morning for good and all, and in a sullen rage Cormac stalked -out of the room. - -Leaving word with the butler to pack his kit, Cormac made his way to the -house of the parish priest, about two and a half miles from the abbey, -where, being a Roman Catholic, he hoped to receive sympathy. - -If there is one Church in the world which might be expected to range -itself wholeheartedly on the side of law and order it is the Church of -Rome, whose very existence depends on obedience, and it must have been a -source of wonder to many English people why, at the very beginning of -the Sinn Fein movement, this Church did not at once come into the open -and denounce Sinn Fein from the altar in plain and unmistakable terms. -Any thinking priest must know that under a semi-Bolshevik republic the -power of the Roman Catholic Church would be gone, and gone for ever. - -Cormac found the old priest kind and gentle as ever, but firm in his -refusal to listen to any Sinn Fein views, and in a fresh rage he left to -make his way to the curate’s lodging in a neighbouring farmhouse, and -here he was received with open arms. - -The curate quickly perceived what a valuable recruit Cormac might make, -and before he left to spend his last night at the abbey, took advantage -of the boy’s excited mood to make him swear to join the I.R.A. - -After a very early breakfast, Cormac left his home on the fifteen-mile -drive to Ballybor, where he caught the mail train for Dublin, his heart -full of hatred of his family, and his mind set on revenge. - -A week of dirty Dublin lodgings convinced Cormac that he had made a fool -of himself, and putting his pride in his pocket, he wrote to his father -asking to be allowed to return home. By return of post came a -typewritten post-card from the mac Nessa to the effect that while he -lived no rebel should ever darken his door. - -That evening two strangers called at his rooms, and after making certain -of his identity, explained that a message had been received at the Sinn -Fein headquarters in Dublin from Father Michael of Murrisk that Cormac -was prepared to join in the Sinn Fein movement, and offering him a -high-sounding position. Cormac’s vanity was flattered, and he accepted -at once. - -Knowing that Cormac’s name would carry great weight with many -half-hearted supporters and waverers, the Sinn Fein leaders employed him -solely on propaganda work, sending him to every part of the country, not -excepting the north, to speak at meetings, and always taking good care -that his name appeared in large letters on the posters, and kind friends -were not wanting to send the mac Nessa cuttings of his son’s speeches -from every Irish and English paper in which they appeared. - -During his travels Cormac at different times met in trains and hotels -many friends of his own class, who one and all, to their great credit, -refused to speak to him, and this treatment embittered him still more -against all Loyalists, more especially against his father and brother. - -After one trip to a town in the south, where he had tried to enter a -club, and had been ejected by the hall porter, he offered himself on his -return to Dublin for “active service,” and was at once sent to the -Ballybor district to organise outrages, the Sinn Fein leaders knowing -that the name of O’Fogarty was one to conjure with in that country even -in these days. - -In the meantime Dominic had been asked by the authorities to join the -newly-formed Auxiliary Division of the R.I.C., in order that his -knowledge of the Ballybor country might be utilised, and after a short -training in Dublin found himself quartered in Ballybor with a platoon of -Cadets. - -By a coincidence the two brothers arrived in Ballybor within a week of -each other, Cormac an avowed Sinn Feiner, and Dominic an officer in the -Auxiliaries, who were about to take on the rebels at their own breed of -warfare. - -Every kind of news travels fast in country districts in Ireland, and -within twelve hours of the brothers’ arrival it is doubtful if you could -have found, even in the mountains of Ballyrick, a child who did not know -of the O’Fogartys’ return. Moreover, there is nothing an Irishman loves -more than a fight, and one between two brothers of the best-known family -in three counties, with armed men at their back, was something worth -looking forward to, even in these days of murder and outrage. And at -local race-meetings in the west bets were freely taken on the issue of -the fight between Cormac and Dominic O’Fogarty. - -All thought of King or Republic was now completely forgotten in -Ballybor, and for many miles around the countryside was divided into two -camps. Most of the Volunteers, all nominally, were for Cormac, whilst -all Loyalists and a good many Volunteers secretly supported Dominic, -with the result that, so keen were both sides to outmanœuvre each other, -the police obtained far more information than they had for a long time -past. - -Dominic made up his mind to take the offensive straight away, and -learning from one of his Volunteer sympathisers that his brother, when -in Ballybor, always slept in the house of a man called Ryan, made -arrangements to raid the place, and at any rate to put Cormac out of -action for some time to come. - -However, Cormac learning of his brother’s kindly intention, thought that -it would be an excellent opportunity to raid Murrisk for arms on that -particular night, and incidentally to get some of his own back from his -father. Leaving Ballybor as soon as it was dark with a dozen men, they -bicycled to Murrisk, and after parking their machines in a wood near the -main road, proceeded to knock up the house. The butler opened the door, -but did not recognise Cormac in a mask, though his walk seemed vaguely -familiar to him. - -The mac Nessa was no coward, and on entering the inner hall, the raiders -found themselves covered by the old man with a double-barrelled -shot-gun. Cormac had expected that his father would show fight, and -knowing where the electric light switch was in the hall, had arranged -with his men that when he turned the light off they should throw -themselves flat on the floor. - -As the light went out the mac Nessa fired both barrels, which went -harmlessly over the raiders’ heads, and before he could reload they had -him down and tied up. Cormac then turned on the light, and by now, -half-mad with rage and excitement, would have gone for his father; but -his men kept him back, and when they had secured all the arms in the -house under Cormac’s directions, they hustled him away. - -In the meantime Dominic with a party of Cadets had raided Ryan’s house, -but, of course, drew blank. - -Early the next morning a mounted messenger brought word to the barracks -in Ballybor that Cormac and a party of armed and masked men had raided -Murrisk during the night and removed all arms and ammunition. That -afternoon Dominic put up large notices all over Ballybor to the effect -that if he caught Cormac in the town he would horsewhip him in the -market-place. - -Both the town and countryside were in a wild state of excitement after -the Murrisk raid, Cormac’s supporters acclaiming his victory, while -Dominic’s could only reply, “Wait and see.” And so keen were Dominic’s -party to help their man, that information of every possible kind and -description literally poured into the barracks by every post. - -Like children, as ever, the people quickly forgot that they were either -Loyalists or rebels, the blood-feud between the two brothers being far -more interesting and exciting; and it is probable that, if only -sufficient arms had been forthcoming on both sides, the brothers’ feud -would have developed into a pitched battle, and if the police had -interfered both parties would then have joined forces and turned on the -common enemy. - -After leaving Murrisk, Cormac, knowing that Ballybor would now be too -hot for him, made for some caves in the Slievenamoe Mountains to the -east of the town, and here he remained. Some time before these caves had -been fitted up like dug-outs in France, while the food supply gave no -difficulty, every house at the foot of the mountains having to supply -rations on requisition for any gunmen using these caves. Here Cormac had -plenty of time on his hands, and thought out a clever plan to put -Dominic out of action. - -Shortly before Cormac raided Murrisk, a new and simple manager had -arrived at one of the Ballybor banks. The arrival of a new bank manager -in an Irish provincial town is always the signal for all in financial -difficulties to get busy and try their luck with the fresh arrival, and -amongst the new manager’s first visitors came the Urban Council, who by -sheer bluff managed to get their already big overdraft increased by some -thousand pounds. A fresh election being within sight, they then -proceeded to borrow a derelict steam-roller from the County Council, who -had practically ceased to function, and to spend the money steam-rolling -the streets of Ballybor. In this way they hoped to catch the votes of -the labourers by the payment of high wages, and of the shopkeepers and -owners of cars by improved streets. - -Being in a great hurry to get on with the good work, they forgot that -the streets had never been steam-rolled before, and that the gas-and -water-pipes were very near the surface, with the result that for every -yard of street the roller passed over one or more gas- or water-pipes -burst, and the town soon smelt like the inside of a gas-works. - -The consequent proceedings give a very fair idea of the Celtic capacity -for public affairs, and of how the country would be run under “Home -Rule,” or any other kind of rule except the “Union.” - -Instead of stopping the steam-rolling until all mains and pipes had been -relaid at a sufficient depth to resist the rolling, they solemnly -proceeded to roll, burst, and mend from one end of the main street to -the other, to the huge delight of all the local plumbers, who also had -votes. - -Luckily the money was exhausted by the time the main street was -finished, and though the greater part of the surface was excellent, the -ridges made by digging up the pipes at intervals would break the axle of -an unsuspecting stranger’s car, to the great benefit of the local -garages. - -The police barracks at Ballybor are situated in a “cul-de-sac” off the -main street, at the corners of which stand the principal hotel and a -bank, and all cars going to or from the barracks must pass this corner. - -Word was brought to Cormac in his mountain dug-out that his brother left -Ballybor Barracks early every morning with a Crossley full of Cadets, -and that they spent the whole day and often most of the night searching -the surrounding country for him. Before leaving Ballybor he had -witnessed the steam-rolling comic opera, and bicycling by night to -Ballybor, he lay up during the day, got in touch with a plumber, -borrowed his tools and barrow, and late that afternoon (in the plumber’s -clothes, and slouch hat pulled well over his face) started to dig up the -road between the bank and the hotel. - -Human nature always seems to regard the digging up of a street in the -light of a huge joke, and during his work Cormac was not only chaffed by -the bank manager and the hotel loafers, but by the police themselves. -When it was dusk he was joined by a Volunteer with a charge of -gelignite, which had been raided from a Government ship off the -south-east coast and brought to the west by car, and the two proceeded -to lay a contact-mine in the centre of the road. They then filled in the -earth, returned the tools and barrow to the plumber, and bicycled back -to the mountains. - -While Cormac was busy laying his mine, Dominic and Blake were poring -over an Ordnance-map in the barracks not sixty yards away. Having come -to the conclusion that it was quite useless to search the countryside -piecemeal, and hearing a rumour of what was going on in the mountains -through one of the forced food contractors having made a bitter -complaint to a passing police patrol, they were now planning to surround -the southern half of the Slievenamoe Mountains, and organising a great -drive, and the next two days were spent working out the details. - -About 9 A.M. a mineral-water lorry, in order to turn, backed up the -cul-de-sac, and the mine being well and truly laid, disappeared in a -sheet of flame, wrecking the bank and hotel. Hardly had the sound of the -explosion died away, and before the police left the barracks to -investigate, every young man in Ballybor of the shopkeeper class had his -bicycle out and was off as hard as he could pedal. A Volunteer greatly -resembles a mountain hare: directly the hunt is up he makes at top speed -for high ground, and the harder you press both the faster they leg it up -the mountains. Blake and Dominic managed to control their men, and no -reprisals followed, the only arrest being the unfortunate plumber who -had lent his outfit to Cormac, and whose bicycle had been “borrowed” by -an agitated shop-boy. - -At the present time a big drive in the west presents great difficulties. -Very few, often none, of the R.I.C. or Auxiliaries know anything of the -many wild and mountainous parts in their districts, and the soldiers are -invariably complete strangers. - -To reconnoitre the ground beforehand is out of the question, and it is -difficult to induce reliable guides to act. - -The part of the mountains Blake and Dominic had selected to drive lay -about nine miles due east of Ballybor, divided by a deep pass from the -remainder of the range to the north, and ending in a wild rocky valley -intersected by the Owenmore river to the south, and the total area to be -covered was about eighteen square miles of mountains, glens, cliffs, and -bogs. It was not possible to start operations before 3 A.M. (the month -being August), and they would have to stop soon after 11 P.M. (summer -time), which gave them roughly twenty hours to beat the eighteen square -miles. - -Taking the total number of troops at their disposal, Blake divided them -into groups of six, giving them nearly a hundred groups. Then Dominic -picked out from a contoured Ordnance-map the same number of points -surrounding the mountains, from all of which there was a good view and -field of fire, and it was arranged that as many groups as possible -should have either a Vickers machine-gun or a Lewis gun. - -The actual drive was to be carried out by the police. The Cadets under -Dominic were to start from the north end in a crescent formation and -advance towards the highest point, which lay nearly in the centre of the -area, while the R.I.C. under Blake were to advance from the south. - -Dominic knew every yard of the mountains, having shot grouse there with -his brother since boyhood, but the difficulty was to procure a guide for -Blake’s party, none of whom had ever set foot on the mountains. With -much persuasion, however, Dominic at last induced a man, who had been -one of the mac Nessa’s game-watchers on the mountains for years, to act -as guide. This man had to be promised a large sum of money, and to save -him from the revenge of Sinn Fein, it was arranged that directly after -the drive he should be safely got away to enlist in the British Army -under an assumed name, and, if he wished, be sent straight off to India. - -All officers and N.C.O.’s were given maps showing the position of every -group marked, and it was arranged that the police should be in position -at 3 A.M. and the troops half an hour later. A few days before the date -fixed for the drive Dominic and his Auxiliaries disappeared from -Ballybor, and it was given out that they had gone to Co. Cork. - -Sharp at 3 A.M., on a perfect August day, the drive began. Dominic and -the Cadets had to start from the shores of a large lake lying in a cup -at the top of the pass, and climb a thousand feet before reaching the -first valley in the mountains. At the top they halted for a breather and -to admire the wonderful view. To the east the summer sun was fast -rising, all around them stretched miles of heather-clad hills, and away -to the north-west lay the sea, a pearly grey-blue in the fast growing -light. - -After a rest Dominic got his men into formation, spreading them out as -far as possible without losing touch, while he kept a small party in the -rear to go to any threatened point where the gunmen might try to break -through the cordon. The Cadets had brought their signallers with them, -equipped with a heliograph and flags, who remained with the reserve -party. - -On reaching higher ground Dominic could see with his glasses the small -groups of soldiers taking up their positions, while far away in the -plain to the eastward the Owenmore river wound like a blue thread -through the dark bogland. A Cadet on his left nearly walked on a pack of -grouse, which swung right-handed, passing within twenty yards of -Dominic, and reminding him vividly of other days. - -Very soon the Cadets began to feel the heat of the sun, and the hard -going began to tell on several of them. Sitting in a Crossley is bad -training for walking a grouse mountain. - -After going about a mile and a half a party of men were seen in front -making eastward at full speed down a valley, the end of which Dominic -knew was held by a group of soldiers with a machine-gun. Halting his -men, he then brought his right wing well round so as to cut off the -gunmen’s retreat to the west should they attempt to break back. - -The fleeing gunmen were soon lost sight of in dead ground, but presently -the sound of firing was heard from the far end of the valley, and after -a time the gunmen were seen retreating across the Cadets’ front, and -making as hard as they could for the west side of the mountains. - -At this point Blake’s men came in sight from the south, and quickly -getting in touch with the Cadets’ right wing, completed the cordon. The -gunmen, seeing that they were surrounded and all retreat cut off, split -up into two parties, took up positions on two kopjes, and waited for the -attack. - -As a frontal attack would have entailed heavy loss, and seeing that -there was another kopje on Blake’s side which would command and enfilade -the gunmen’s positions, Dominic ordered the Cadets to pin the gunmen -down by their fire, and at the same time sent a signaller to Blake -telling him to occupy the commanding kopje. This Blake did, and also -sent to the nearest group of soldiers for a machine-gun. - -The fight lasted for two hours, and though the gunmen were always -subject to a hot fire, and several times a man was seen to spring into -the air and collapse in the heather, yet they stuck it gamely until the -machine-gun was brought up and opened a heavy fire on both kopjes; the -remaining gunmen then stood up and put up their hands. - -On the two kopjes the police found twelve dead gunmen and twenty-eight -prisoners, eighteen of whom were wounded. And amongst the dead Dominic -found Cormac, shot through the heart. - -After arranging for the burial of the dead (with the exception of -Cormac, who was carried down the mountain-side on a stretcher) and the -removal of the prisoners, Dominic took a party of Cadets to search some -caves which he knew of about half a mile to the south-west. Here, as he -expected, he found that the gunmen had been living in comparative -comfort. One cave had been used as a living-room and contained chairs -and tables, while two smaller inner ones were fitted up with bunks in -tiers like a Boche dug-out, and had heather for bedding. - -Towards evening the worn-out Cadets got back to their Crossleys on the -pass road which ran along the north shore of the lake; and after leaving -a party with a searchlight mounted on a tender to stop any stray gunmen -escaping during the night on bicycles by the road to the east, Dominic -started for Murrisk in a Crossley with his brother’s body. - -Many an evening the two brothers had driven home together over the same -road after a happy day’s grouse-shooting, never dreaming that their last -journey together would be to bring Cormac’s body to the home of their -ancestors. - -The mac Nessa met the party in the great hall of Murrisk, and his -ancestors looking down from the walls must surely have thought that they -were back again in their own times of everlasting war and sudden death. - - - - - XV. - THE AMERICAN NURSE. - - -In the early ‘eighties there lived in the Cloonalla district a small -farmer named Peter Walsh, who was what is generally called in the west a -bad farmer, which is simply the Irish way of saying that he was lazy and -good-for-nothing, and for several years Walsh had been in the clutches -of the Cloonalla gombeen man, the local big shopkeeper. - -The ways of the gombeen man are quite simple and usually most -successful, the success largely depending on a run of bad potato crops, -as generally after two successive failures the majority of the farmers -in a poor mountainous district have no money at all. They are thus -forced to go to the gombeen wallah, who advances them so much money, -according to the size of their farm and their capacity for drink, as a -mortgage on the farm at a high rate of interest. But instead of paying -them money he gives credit for goods, and there is a verbal agreement -that he will not foreclose as long as the farmer deals solely with him -and makes no bones about the prices he is charged. Formerly this was the -terrible millstone which used to hang for life round the necks of many -western peasants. - -However, Walsh’s millstone troubled him not one bit, and he “staggered” -along for several years until there came a sequence of three bad and -indifferent crops, which finished him completely. Seeing that Walsh was -not going to make any effort, the gombeen man closed on the farm, and -Peter, the wife, and their one child, Bridget, aged three years, left -Ireland for America, illogically cursing the British Government for -their own sins and those of the gombeen devil. - -Now the gombeen man had no use for Peter’s farm himself, so he proceeded -to make Peter’s brother, Michael, drunk one Saturday night in his shop, -and made the farm over to him with the former conditions, not forgetting -to double the mortgage. - -In due course Michael died without kith or kin saving Bridget, now a -hospital nurse in New York, who one day received a letter from a -Ballybor solicitor informing her of her uncle’s death, and that she was -the sole heiress to his two farms in Cloonalla, and asking for -instructions. - -From her youth upwards Nurse Bridget had heard nothing but abuse of the -so-called English tyranny in Ireland—in fact, up to the time when she -went to be trained hospital nurse, her only knowledge of England and -Ireland was the thousand and one supposed wrongs which Ireland had -suffered at the hands of England since the days of Cromwell, and her one -ambition in life was to see the downfall of the British Empire, and with -that the freedom of her fatherland. In America, the Irish children find -plenty of mentors of hate of England, both among their own people and -the Germans. - -In time, when Bridget began to earn some money as a nurse, she joined -every Irish anti-British society, secret and otherwise, she could, and -at the time of her leaving the States to take over her uncle’s farms -possessed more wonderful and weird badges and medallions than she could -conveniently wear at once: incidentally the societies relieved her of -most of her earnings “to provide powder and shot for ould Ireland.” - -On the liner, Bridget met many of her race, mostly men and women who had -worked hard for some years in the States and saved enough money to -return to Ireland, where they hoped to buy a small farm or shop and -never to wander any more. One and all were longing to be in Ireland once -again, and not one ever mentioned a word of the “brutal English tyranny” -until Bridget started the subject. - -Bridget landed at Queenstown, made her way to Cork, and set out on the -long and tedious cross-country railway journey to the west. At the best -of times the journey is a slow one, but during 1920 it became much worse -owing to the great uncertainty of any train reaching its destination. -Trains were even known to stand in a station for days on end while the -driver, the stoker, the guard, and the station employees argued and -re-argued what they would do and what they would not do. - -Twice during the journey Bridget had glimpses of the brutal British -soldiery when two military parties wished to travel on the train, and -the driver and guard refused to start until the armed assassins of the -British Government left. At first Bridget was slightly confused; no -doubt the soldiers were terrible blackguards, but at the time they -seemed to be quiet and inoffensive, and she remembered frequently having -seen American soldiers in the trains in the States, and the drivers and -guards there made no objection. - -However, a fellow-passenger explained to her that the soldiers used the -Irish railways to go from one part of the country to another in order to -murder the unfortunate soldiers of the Republican Army, and that the -guard and driver, as became good citizens and soldiers of the Irish -Republic, were quite right to refuse to aid and abet the British by -carrying them on the train. - -At a junction some thirty miles from Ballybor she changed into a -composite train carrying passengers and goods, and soon after leaving -the junction the train pulled up suddenly in a cutting, and there was -loud shouting and firing. Bridget was greatly alarmed and excited, -thinking that she would now see the British troops commit some of the -terrible crimes she had heard so much about in the States—she had heard -nothing of the crimes of the I.R.A. - -It takes a long time in the west of Ireland to do anything, and it was -quite twenty minutes before Bridget realised that this was a hold-up by -the I.R.A., and that all the passengers were to get out and line up at -the top of the cutting. The confusion then became terrific, half the -passengers going up one side of the cutting, and the remainder up the -other. - -Wild-looking masked bandits then started shouting to the people to come -down and go to the other side, whereupon a general post ensued. - -Finally, the whole lot was collected together, searched, and at last -allowed to take their seats in the train again; but the performance was -not by any means over yet. Next, the waggons were all broken open, the -contents thrown on the line, and then returned except Belfast -merchandise, which was made into a heap—coffins, cases of jam and tea, -boxes of linen, &c.—sprinkled with petrol, and then set on fire. - -Bridget arrived at Ballybor on a summer’s evening, and at once set out -for Cloonalla. Ballybor appeared a mean and dirty little town to her -American eyes, and she hoped for better things at Cloonalla—a good hotel -and decent stores. After an hour and a half’s drive the carman pulled up -outside Cloonalla Chapel, and asked his fare where she wanted to go to. -Not realising where she was, Bridget replied, to Cloonalla, the best -hotel in Cloonalla, only to learn to her astonishment that the place -boasted only one shop and no hotel of any kind. And in the end she was -thankful to accept the hospitality of a farmer’s wife, and share a -stuffy bed with the woman’s daughter. - -Bridget received a shock when she saw her uncle’s house—she said that -they wouldn’t put a pig in it in America—and the idea she had had of -settling down there quickly vanished. However, she determined to stay on -awhile in Ireland, and help to the best of her ability the famous -soldiers of the I.R.A. (she had not realised yet that the bandits who -had held up the train were the famous soldiers) of whom she had heard so -much in America. - -On visiting the solicitor in Ballybor, she found that her uncle had left -her a few hundred pounds, and this she gave to the man Hanley, with whom -she lodged, to buy cattle with to stock her farm. - -As soon as Bridget had settled down she found ample scope for her -political ambitions both in Cloonalla and Ballybor, where most of the -young people of her own age found talking sedition far easier and more -amusing than hard work; and as everybody seemed to have money to burn, -she had a great time—political meetings, drilling, picnics, and dances. -And after joining the Cumann na Ban she volunteered for active service -with the local company of the I.R.A., little knowing what was before -her. - -At first the game was amusing enough, teaching the young men the -rudiments of first aid, and lecturing to the girls and youths of -Cloonalla in the school-house in the evening, followed by dancing until -the early hours of the morning; and probably Bridget would have gone no -further than this but for the unfortunate arrival of two professional -gunmen in Cloonalla, who had been sent from Dublin to carry out the -usual series of outrages and then to vanish before the storm burst. - -The gunmen came with a list of local undesirables (from the I.R.A. point -of view) to be removed—many of the names had probably been given out of -private spite through the means of anonymous letters, a very favourite -practice in Ireland—and at once proceeded to work, or rather to see that -the Cloonalla Volunteers did the dirty work. - -The following week seemed to Bridget like a horrible nightmare, starting -with the murder of ex-soldiers, who paid the full penalty of being so -stupid as to believe that the British Government would protect its -friends and supporters in Ireland, and culminating in the revolting -crime of the murder of a Protestant clergyman, who was seventy-nine -years of age. - -Early in the morning, before the household was up, the old man heard a -loud knocking at the hall door, and on coming downstairs found the usual -party of armed and masked men, who ordered him to follow them. He did -so, and had no sooner reached the road than they shot him dead,—to be -found by his old wife—the servants dared not leave the house—lying in -the middle of the road in a pool of blood. - -That night the gunmen vanished, and with them the orgy of crime ceased -for a time at any rate. There is no doubt that these revolting and -apparently purposeless murders are instigated by the I.R.A., but -nevertheless they are carried out by the peasants in most cases, and -they will have to bear the stigma now and always. Under a determined -leader they appear to take kindly to “political murder.” - -Bridget was physically and mentally sick with horror, and made up her -mind to return to the States as soon as she could dispose of her farms, -and to this end bicycled into Ballybor to arrange with an auctioneer to -sell the farms for her by public auction at the earliest possible date. -The following day the auctioneer inspected the farms, and declared that -she ought to get at least a thousand pounds for her interest in each -farm, and fixed a near date for the auction, though he was very doubtful -if the I.R.A. would permit it, and advised her to try and obtain their -consent. But the last thing in the world Bridget wanted was to have any -further dealings with the I.R.A., and the auctioneer left promising to -do his best. - -That night after the Hanleys and Bridget had gone to bed they received a -visit from the captain of the Cloonalla Volunteers, who wanted to know -if it was true that Bridget was going to try and sell her farms by -public auction. Bridget told him that it was quite true, and that she -was going to return to America. Whereupon he told her that the I.R.A. -would not allow this, and that if she wanted to dispose of her land a -Sinn Fein Court would value it, and the Republican Government would then -take it over and pay her in Dail Eireann Bonds (to be redeemed at their -face value when Ireland is free and the Republic established), and after -telling her to stop the auction he left. - -In a few days Bridget received an order to attend a Sinn Fein -Arbitration Court in Cloonalla Chapel at night, where the judges valued -her farms at one hundred pounds each (loud applause in Court by the men -who hoped to get the farms), and ordered her to hand over the land the -following day to the Cloonalla Volunteer captain, who had every -intention of keeping the farms himself. - -Bridget protested loudly that she was a citizen of the United States, -that the farms were hers, and that if this was a free country like -America she was entitled to get the full market value for them, which -she had been told was quite two thousand pounds; and lastly, that she -had proved herself a good patriot, and burst into tears. - -All of no avail—the judges gave her three days to get rid of her cattle -and hand over the land, at the end of which time if she had not complied -she was to be deported, and her farms and cattle confiscated. - -Bridget returned to the Hanleys’ house to find her boxes packed and -dumped in the road, together with her bicycle, and the door of the house -locked, and this in the middle of the night. After trying in vain to -gain admittance she sat down on one of her boxes and started to cry. - -Towards dawn she again made a piteous appeal to the Hanleys to be -allowed to stay in their house for the rest of the night, and that she -would leave the following day; and for answer Mrs Hanley cursed her, and -warned her that if she was not gone before daylight her hair would be -cut off, and “God only knew what else would happen to her.” In a blind -terror she mounted her bicycle and rode madly into Ballybor, where she -had to wait some hours in the streets before she could gain admittance -to a lodging-house. - -Bridget was made of the right stuff, and with the daylight and the -contact with friendly human beings her courage returned, and she went to -see the auctioneer once more, but received cold comfort. The man had -been warned not to hold the auction, but was willing to, provided he had -police protection (he saw his trade slipping away if he did not), and -suggested that she should go and see the D.I. - -Blake listened patiently to her tale of woe—he already knew the part she -had played with the Cloonalla Volunteers, but liked the girl’s looks and -her pluck, and at the end promised her protection for the auction, but -warned her that he could not protect her afterwards, and advised her to -get out of the country as soon as she could. - -Bridget then hired a car and drove out to Cloonalla to try and collect -her belongings. The boxes were still there by the roadside, but empty. -And on going on to her farms she found that the fences and gates were -smashed and her cattle gone. She tried in vain to get information of -them, but found that not a man, woman, or child would tell her anything. - -Returning to Ballybor, she again saw Blake, who promised to send out -police to try and find her cattle. The following day the police went out -to Cloonalla, rounded up the first score of men they met, made them -build up the fences, mend the gates, and lastly, gave them two hours to -return Bridget’s cattle. - -The I.R.A. now turned the full blast of that potent weapon, the boycott, -on to the unfortunate Bridget. Not a soul would or rather dare speak to -her—at any rate in public. Little children meeting her in the streets or -country roads ran away, fearing lest she might cast an evil eye on them. -Shopkeepers were forbidden to supply any goods to her, and the -lodging-house people would have put her out on the streets but for the -interference of the D.I. By this time Blake was determined to see her -through, and when the auctioneer attempted to rat, made him think better -of it and stick to his agreement with Bridget. - -The day of the auction arrived, and with it the biggest crowd Cloonalla -had ever seen. In fact, so dense was the throng that when Blake drew up -with the auctioneer and Bridget, he was afraid to let his men near the -crowd lest they might be rushed. Standing up in a Crossley, he ordered -the people through a megaphone to form three sides of a square facing -the road, and, as soon as they had complied with his order, he told the -auctioneer to get out and carry on with his work on the fourth side of -the square. This he did, and, after describing the value and virtues of -the farms in the usual flowery language of his kind, asked for a bid. - -There followed a deadly silence of fully two minutes. Again the -auctioneer called for a bid, and yet a third time—not a man in the huge -crowd dared open his mouth. Land-hunger is the predominant trait in a -western peasant’s character, and many men in that crowd would have -risked their souls for Bridget’s farms; but so great was the power, or -rather the fear of the I.R.A., that not a single man dared speak. - -Seeing that it was useless to go on with the farce, Blake ordered the -auctioneer to return to the car. At once the crowd broke with an angry -roar, and made an ugly rush towards the road, but a volley of blank in -the air quickly stopped them, and they turned to scatter in the opposite -direction, while the police party returned to Ballybor. - -That night, when she went to bed in the lodging-house, Bridget locked -her door and piled all the furniture she could against it. About 2 A.M. -some one knocked loudly at her door and bade her open, but she lay still -and gave no answer. She could then hear the raiders entering the other -rooms of the house, and the screams of inmates, followed by the curses -of the raiders. - -The girl lay shaking in bed, knowing that it was only a question of time -before they came again, and when they did it gave her almost a sense of -relief. This time they did not knock, and she could hear whispering, -followed by a man wearing rubber soles running down the passage, and -then a crash as he hurled himself against her door. - -The door was rotten and gave, but the furniture still held it up, and -the other men then put their shoulders against it, and finally it gave -way altogether, and the whole lot pitched into her room in a heap on the -floor. - -As Bridget screamed, the men flashed their electric torches on to her, -and by the light she could see that they all wore painted white masks, -which completely covered their faces except the eyes and mouth. One -great brute then seized her by the hair, and dragged her screaming down -the stairs and into the street, where the others held her while the big -man shaved her hair off with a razor. They then lashed her wrists and -ankles, gagged her, and flung her in her nightdress into a waiting Ford, -which disappeared into the night. - -A police patrol, guided by the screams, arrived on the scene just as the -Ford was disappearing in the direction of Castleport. Sending a -constable back to the barracks for a car and more men, the sergeant in -charge searched the lodging-house, only to raise a fresh alarm among the -terrified inmates, most of whom were under their beds. - -In a few minutes the car arrived, and the police raced off after the -Ford as fast as the Crossley would travel. - -For some time the police had had a strong suspicion that a creamery -about half-way between Ballybor and Castleport had been frequently used -by the I.R.A. as a detention prison, and as they drew near the place -they saw lights disappear from the windows. - -After surrounding the building, the sergeant knocked at the door and -received no answer. Being afraid to delay lest they might be attacked, -he told his men to take one of the two thick iron-bound planks carried -under the body of the Crossley, and used for crossing trenches on the -roads, and to use it as a battering-ram on the door. At the second blow -the door splintered, and a third made a hole large enough for the police -to pass in. - -The sergeant now advanced into the building, revolver in one hand and -torch in the other, and had nearly reached the back when shots and -shouts were heard, and at the same time he saw a man disappearing -through a door ahead of him and fired. - -On reaching the door he was met by his own men, who said that three men -had tried to escape that way, and that they had shot two, the third -escaping. - -They then searched the building, and found Bridget lying in a kind of -coal-cellar, half-dead from fright and exposure, and, wrapping her in a -policeman’s greatcoat, took her back to the lodging-house, leaving a -guard there for the rest of the night. - -The next day Bridget fled to England, to return to America from -Southampton. Nothing in this world would have induced her to spend -another night in Ireland. - -She left the sale of her farms in the hands of the auctioneer, who, to -his great surprise, some time afterwards found a buyer at a low figure -in a man who came from the north. - -The police saw the northerner into his new home, and left him there. The -following morning the man staggered into the Ballybor Barracks, and when -he had sufficiently recovered, he told Blake that soon after he had gone -to sleep he was awakened by volumes of smoke, and on getting out of bed -found that the house was on fire. Seizing his clothes, he just managed -to get out before the blazing roof fell in. - -Outside he was met by a roaring crowd, who beat him nearly to death with -sticks, and while he lay on the ground he could hear the screams of his -horses and cattle being burnt to death in the blazing outbuildings. The -crowd then left him for dead, well pleased with their night’s work. -After some hours he recovered and managed to crawl into Ballybor. - - - - - XVI. - FATHER JOHN. - - -The tiny village of Annagh lies on the eastern slope of the Slievenamoe -Mountains, about fifteen miles due east of Ballybor, and consists of one -dirty street with, roughly, forty-nine miserable tumble-down hovels and -one grand slated two-storied house, as usual the shop and abode of the -village gombeen man, who also kept the Post Office—not because he was -the most honest man in the village, but because there was nobody else -able to do so. - -A good many years ago, on a bitter winter’s night, a tinker, answering -to the name of Bernie M’Andrew, drove his ass-cart into the village of -Annagh, and called at the only shop to know if there were any kettles or -cans to be mended. The night was so cold and wet that the old -shopkeeper, in the kindness of his heart, bade the shivering tinker put -up his ass and spend the night. The tinker stayed and never left. - -M’Andrew’s stock-in-trade, when he arrived at Annagh on that winter’s -night, consisted of half a barrel of salt herrings, a kettle, the usual -tinker’s soldering outfit, a policeman’s discarded tunic, and the rags -he stood up in. Within a year M’Andrew had buried the old shopkeeper, -who had lived alone for years and was beloved by all, and reigned in his -place. - -Being an ambitious tinker, M’Andrew started a gombeen business with the -old man’s savings, which he found by chance in the secret drawer of an -old desk, and in a very short time became the best hated and most feared -man in the district. - -At first M’Andrew supported Sinn Fein enthusiastically, but when he saw -law and order beginning to disappear, being now a man of property, he -became alarmed, and tried to run with the hare and the hounds. - -M’Andrew’s great opponent was the young parish priest, Father John, who, -after serving as a chaplain with the British Army in France with great -distinction—he had been decorated for bravery in the field by both the -British and the French—returned to Ireland, having seen enough bloodshed -for his lifetime. - -Father John was a grand man both physically and morally and in the right -sense of the words, and if only the majority of young Irish priests were -up to the standard of Father John there would be little trouble in -Ireland to-day. - -When he became the parish priest of Annagh, Father John saw at once that -M’Andrew was fast reducing the great majority of his parishioners, who -were poor men with poorer mountain land, to a state of slavery, and -realised that it only wanted two bad years in succession to put the -whole parish under the gombeen man’s thumb. - -At first he tried to keep the farmers away from M’Andrew’s shop; but -this they resented, as it entailed a journey of many miles to the -nearest town, and then they had to pay nearly as much as to M’Andrew. -Next he denounced M’Andrew and his evil practices from the altar, -warning the people of the consequences; but in spite of all the priest -could do or say the gombeen man flourished. - -From the very first Father John opposed the Sinn Fein movement both by -word and deed, and when the first Sinn Fein organisers appeared in his -parish he quickly hunted them away; but before he knew what was -happening practically every young man in the parish had been enrolled, -whether he liked it or not, as a soldier in the I.R.A. M’Andrew was -quick to seize his chance of revenge, telling the people that the priest -was a secret agent of the British Government—hadn’t he served in the -British Army and taken the pay of the British Government, an enemy of -the people?—and that he was doing his best to stand between them and -liberty. In a week Father John was practically an outlaw in his own -parish, and M’Andrew became the popular hero. - -Though he still officiated in the chapel, Sinn Fein saw to it that he -was paid no dues. For nearly two years this state of affairs continued, -and it would have been impossible for the priest to live if the older -and more sober members of his flock had not come to his house secretly -in the dead of night and paid him their dues. - -One day, when feeling ran very high, Father John opened his daily paper -to see his own death reported, and a long obituary notice, probably the -handiwork of M’Andrew. - -It was a situation common in Ireland—the peasants blind to the virtues -of their truest friend, and making a popular idol of their worst enemy: -it is a sad thing that many Irishmen will always insist in believing -what they wish to believe. - -Father John was by nature a kindly and genial man, a lover of sport, of -a good horse, and of the society of men, and those two years must have -been a perfect hell on earth for him. Not that any one was ever openly -rude to him; they just sent him to Coventry and kept him there, hoping -to break his heart, and that by refusing to pay him any dues they would -gradually freeze him out, and in his place would come one of those -fire-eating young priests who would lead them to victory and freedom. - -The summer of 1920 was wet and cold, with frosty nights during every -month except July. Now, if your potatoes grow in boggy land, and there -comes heavy rain followed by a night’s frost, not once but several -times, you will have no potatoes, and probably very little crop of any -kind. And if your living depends on the potato crop, you stand a good -chance of starving, unless the gombeen man will come to your assistance. - -By November the whole parish of Annagh practically belonged to M’Andrew, -who held a mortgage on nearly every acre of tenanted land, and proceeded -to bully the people to his heart’s content. - -On a Sunday morning in December, at about 10 o’clock, the hour when the -village usually began to come to life, the inhabitants were startled by -the screams of a woman, and when they rushed to their doors saw -M’Andrew’s servant running out of the village towards Father John’s -house. M’Andrew had been murdered during the night without a sound, and -the servant had no idea of what had happened until she went to his room -to see why he had not got up. All M’Andrew’s books had been burnt, and -afterwards the murderers must have cursed the day they did not set a -light to the house as well. - -On the next day the village woke up to find a company of Auxiliaries -billeted in M’Andrew’s house and the yard full of their cars—a case of -out of the frying-pan into the fire. - -For some time past the police had known that men on the run were hiding -in the mountains near Annagh; but though the area came within Blake’s -district, it was impossible to keep any control over it, owing to the -fact that the Owenmore river and the Slievenamoe Mountains lay between -it and Ballybor. - -The Auxiliaries spent the day fortifying M’Andrew’s house, and that -night started operations, and the inhabitants soon realised that the -British Empire was not yet an “also ran.” - -Just as it was getting dark the Auxiliaries in Crossleys would suddenly -burst out of M’Andrew’s yard, travel perhaps five or ten miles at racing -speed, and then surround and round up a village or district, so that the -numerous gunmen who had come from the south for a rest cure found it -impossible to get any sleep at all. - -The local Volunteers at once sent an S.O.S. to Dublin, and received the -comforting answer that a flying column would arrive shortly in the -district and deal effectively with the Auxiliaries. In the meanwhile -they were to harass the enemy by every means in their power and carry on -a warfare of attrition—in other words, if they found one or two Cadets -alone—if unarmed so much the better—they were to murder them. - -At first the local Volunteers were very much afraid of the Auxiliaries, -Sinn Fein propaganda having taught them to expect nothing but murder, -rape, and looting from the “scum of English prisons and asylums”; but -after a few days had passed and nothing dreadful happened to man or -woman, they took heart once more and started their usual warfare. - -The Auxiliaries were commanded by a Major Jones, and on the Sunday -following their arrival in Annagh Jones left alone in a Ford at an early -hour to see Blake in Ballybor. The road crosses the mountains through a -narrow pass, and near the top of the pass there is a small chapel, a -school, a pub, and a few scattered cottages. - -On his return Jones passed this chapel as the people were coming out -from Mass, blew his horn, and slowed up. After passing through the crowd -he noticed a group of youths standing on the right side of the road, and -opened his throttle wide, thereby probably saving his life. - -When the car was within ten yards of the group every man drew a pistol, -and it seemed to Jones as though he was flying through a shower of -bullets. However, though the car was riddled, and had any one been -sitting in the other three seats they would all have been killed, Jones -found himself uninjured, and the old “tin Lizzie,” responding well to -the throttle, flew down the hill at twice the pace Henry Ford ever meant -her to travel at. - -That evening Father John called on Jones and apologised for the outrage, -and Jones at once fell under the charm of the priest. Probably his -astonishment at Father John’s visit had something to do with it, but in -the days to come, when Father John supported his words by deeds, Jones -learnt that his first impression had been a correct one. - -Returning in the early hours of the morning from a raiding expedition to -the south of Annagh, the Auxiliaries were surprised to see a tall priest -standing in the middle of the road and holding up his hand. Fearing a -trap—there was a blind corner just behind where the priest was -standing—they stopped about two hundred yards off and beckoned to the -priest to advance. - -They were still more surprised to find that the tall priest was Father -John, who, having received information after they had started that the -Volunteers were going to lay trees across the road at this corner in the -hope of smashing up the Auxiliary cars, had spent the whole night -walking up and down the road in order that he might warn them of their -danger. - -Father John drove back to Annagh with the Cadets, and by the time they -reached the village every Cadet swore that the priest was the finest man -they had yet met in Ireland, and they didn’t believe there was a finer -one. - -From that on Father John accompanied the Auxiliaries on many a stunt, -and there is no doubt that he gave them every help in his power and all -information which reached him; but though he would travel anywhere with -them, he would never accept hospitality from them, nor would he enter -M’Andrew’s house. - -About six miles from Annagh, in a hollow of the mountains, is the tiny -village of Glenmuck, completely isolated from the rest of the world, and -so situated that its presence was quite hidden until you literally -walked on top of it. None of the inhabitants, who lived chiefly by -making poteen in the winter time and going to England as harvesters in -the summer, possessed a cart, for the very good reason that the nearest -so-called third-class road was five miles away, and only a goat track -passed within a mile of the place. - -Here in due course arrived the flying column of the I.R.A., seventy -strong, every man mounted on a bicycle and armed with a British service -rifle and as many pistols as he could find room for. They were also the -proud possessors of a Lewis gun. - -As usual, the gunmen were billeted so many in each farm, and after being -badly harassed for some time in the south, Glenmuck seemed like Paradise -to them. The nights were spent in dancing, card-playing, and drinking -poteen. Somewhere about noon the gunmen got up, and after breakfast -visited each other in their different billets after the fashion of our -troops in France, walking about openly with their rifles slung over -their shoulders. The Lewis gun team passed their days teaching the boys -and girls of the village the mechanism of the Lewis gun. - -The leader’s idea was to give his men much-needed rest and amusement for -a few days, and then to try and ambush the Auxiliaries; and probably -they could have spent quite a long time resting here without the -Auxiliaries having the slightest suspicion of their near presence. But -war seems to be made up so largely of “ifs,” and the “if” in this case -proved to be Father John. - -When out riding on his rounds one morning, the priest noticed that most -of the young people of his parish appeared to be gravitating in their -best clothes towards Glenmuck, and suspecting a poteen orgy, he sternly -commanded a young damsel to tell him why she was going to Glenmuck, and -the girl told him. Father John rode straight back to Annagh, to be just -in time to stop Jones from starting off on a raid in the opposite -direction. - -Jones first sent off a Cadet on a motor bicycle to Blake at Ballybor, -sending him a verbal outline of his plan of attack on Glenmuck, and -asking him to co-operate with the Auxiliaries from the other side of the -mountains. He then turned out every Cadet in the place, left M’Andrew’s -house empty to take care of itself, and made off at full speed in the -direction of Glenmuck with the priest acting as guide. - -They reached the nearest point to Glenmuck on the road at noon, and -after leaving a small guard over the Crossleys, the rest of the company -set out in open order across the mountain for the flying column’s lair. - -The gunmen had had great luck in the south for a long time, and their -luck still held. A youth, making his way across country to get a sight -of the wonderful gunmen, happened to look behind him when on top of a -rise, and saw about a mile away the oncoming Auxiliaries. Being a sharp -youth he realised who they were, and ran for the village as fast as his -young legs would carry him, and by chance ran straight into the leader -when he entered the outskirts of the place. - -Reaching the hill above the village the Auxiliaries made a last -desperate rush down the slope, in the hope of catching the gunmen -scattered in the different cottages, and so mopping them up before they -could get together; but by this time the flying column had taken up -positions on the top of the far slope above the village, and as the -Cadets reached the cottages they came under heavy machine-gun fire. - -Quickly realising what had happened, Jones ordered one platoon to make a -frontal attack on the gunmen’s position, while he sent a second and -third platoon to try to work round their flanks; the fourth platoon he -kept with him under cover in the village. - -Then followed a very pretty fight for an hour, by which time the gunmen, -like the Boers of old, thought it was time to move on and take up a -position on the next ridge. - -Jones knew that if he could only keep in close touch with the flying -column it was only a question of time before Blake, who would be guided -by the heavy firing, would attack them in the rear, and that they would -then stand a good chance of bagging the whole lot. The fight gradually -worked across the mountains, the gunmen retreating from ridge to ridge, -while the Cadets stuck to them like grim death, always striving to pin -them down, and when they retreated to drive them in the direction from -which Blake ought to appear. - -Late in the afternoon heavy shooting suddenly broke out behind the -gunmen, and the Cadets redoubled their efforts to close with them. - -By this time the opposing forces had worked their way down the western -slopes of the mountains almost as far as the high upland bogs, and -directly the gunmen realised that they were likely to be surrounded, -they broke and fled down a valley, closely pursued by police and Cadets. -Unfortunately the light was getting bad, and the gunmen’s luck still -held good. When they had gone about a mile, they came across a big party -of country people with whom they mixed, and when the police came up with -them it was impossible to tell gunmen from peasants—probably the former -were busily engaged cutting turf while the latter looked on. Their arms -were passed to the women, who hid the rifles in the heather and secreted -the pistols and ammunition on their persons. - -During the whole long fight Father John attended to wounded Cadet and -gunman alike, always to be seen where the fight was hottest; and though -his calling was conspicuous from his clothes and white collar, yet on -several occasions the gunmen deliberately fired on him when attending to -a wounded Cadet. - -After the battle of Glenmuck the flying column was seen no more in that -district, and for weeks the local Volunteers gave Jones no trouble. - -Time after time Jones had received information that certain young men in -and about Annagh carried arms, but whenever they were surprised in a -shop or pub no arms could be found on them, and it was noticed that they -always moved about in the company of certain girls. - -Soon after the battle of Glenmuck the belles of the district received -the shock of their lives when shopping in a town some miles away with -these young men. About noon four Crossley loads of Cadets suddenly -dashed into the town with two women searchers dressed in dark-blue -uniforms, and that day the first real haul of revolvers and automatics -was made. As usual, the men passed their arms to the girls directly they -saw the Auxiliaries arrive, but this time no notice was taken of the -men, while the girls, who on former occasions had stood looking on and -jeering at the Cadets, found themselves quickly rounded up, and the -women searchers soon did the rest. - -After this the moral effect of the women searchers was so great that not -a girl in the district dare carry arms or even despatches. The girls -were not sure whether the searchers were women or young Cadets dressed -up as women, and this uncertainty greatly increased their alarm. - -About six weeks later Jones found out that a much-wanted Dublin gunman, -called Foy, who had murdered at least two British officers in cold -blood, was hidden in the district, and was being fed by his mother and -sister, who lived about two miles from Annagh. Time after time the -Cadets tried to surprise Mrs Foy or her daughter carrying food to Foy’s -hiding-place, but always in vain. - -Foy’s presence soon began to be felt in the district. Two Cadets, -returning off leave in mufti and unarmed, were taken out of the train -and murdered just outside the station, their bodies being left there for -all who passed to see, and no man dared to touch the bodies until the -police arrived. Next the Cadets were ambushed twice in one week, both -times unsuccessfully. - -Father John, who had hoped that at last his parish had returned to the -paths of peace, was furious, and denounced from the altar all men and -women who shielded murderers. Finally, after the murder of the two -Cadets, he refused Holy Communion to Mrs Foy and her daughter, which is -a very serious step for a priest to take. - -And when remonstrated with, he replied that, sooner than not denounce -and punish murderers and those who aided and abetted them, he would -throw off his coat and become an Auxiliary. More power to you, Father -John! - - - - - XVII. - THE BOG CEMETERY. - - -After many months of the Sinn Fein Terror, the town of Ballybor became a -place of shadows and whispers. At night-time men saw shadows, real and -unreal, moving and stationary, at every corner of the streets and in -every lane; and during the day-time, when men met in the streets, they -would only speak in low whispers to each other, and always keeping one -eye over their shoulder. - -Public opinion withered and died. Sinn Fein had no use for it—men became -completely detached, mere spectators of the unchecked and uncondemned -orgy of crime; like the younger generation in England, who waste a large -part of their lives in picture-houses, gazing at films of vice and -crime. And if a man had been murdered in the main street at Ballybor in -the middle of the day, not a hand would have been raised to save the -victim—the inhabitants would simply have regarded the incident in the -light of a film, and then gone home to their dinners. - -The oft-heard remark when a policeman has been murdered, “that it served -him right for joining the R.I.C.,” epitomises the attitude of the -majority of the Irish public towards so-called “political murder.” As a -rule, an Irishman, on being asked if there was any news in the paper, -would reply, “No, only the usual columns of murders and outrages.” - -Walter Drake, as his name implies, was descended from an Elizabethan -soldier who had settled in the west of Ireland and built a large house -about two miles from Ballybor, and here for many generations the Drakes -had lived, hunted, and farmed. - -Walter Drake had at an early age entered the army through Sandhurst, but -retired after six years’ service on the death of his father, and since -then had lived at the Manor, spending a large part of his time helping -his poorer neighbours in every way in his power: a quiet man of a -retiring nature, a popular magistrate, and a good neighbour, but a -determined Loyalist. Called up again in August 1914, he had served -throughout the war with distinction in his old regiment, to return once -more to his home. - -Had Drake lived in any civilised country in the world, he would most -assuredly have died in his bed when his time came, esteemed by all as a -just, kindly, and honourable man; but, as in war, the best seem to be -always taken, so it has been in Ireland. His only crimes appear to have -been that he continued to act as a magistrate after receiving an order -from the I.R.A. to resign his commission of the peace, and devoting -himself to helping ex-soldiers in the town to get their pensions and -trying to get grants of land for such as were worthy. The granting of -land to ex-soldiers was bitterly opposed by the Transport Union, who -wanted every acre for their own landless members. And probably being a -personal friend of Blake’s and beloved by the police force, would -constitute another crime in the eyes of the I.R.A. - -On a certain Monday night the constable on duty at Ballybor Barracks -reported that a great light could be seen in the sky, and thought there -must be a big fire not far from the town. Going to the top of the -barracks, Blake at once saw that a large house must be on fire, and -judging from the direction the chances were that it was the Manor. -Taking a dozen men in a Crossley, he at once went off there, to find the -grand old house burning fiercely, and by the light of the fire he could -make out a pathetic group of figures on the tennis-ground in front of -the house. - -The first person whom Blake met was the old butler, who told a tale now -familiar in many parts of Ireland to-day. The household had retired at -their usual hour of eleven, after which the butler had carefully closed -up the house and gone to the servants’ hall to smoke a pipe before -turning in. Soon afterwards he heard a loud knocking at the front door, -followed by a volley of shots, some of which must have been fired -through the windows, as he could hear the sound of falling glass. - -The old man went and opened the front door, to be met by a ring of -rifles, shot-guns, pistols, and electric torches, behind which he could -make out the usual mob of masked ruffians. A strange voice then demanded -Major Drake; and when the butler told them that the Major had gone to -Dublin by the mail that day, a man handed him a letter telling him that -in ten minutes’ time they were going to burn the house to the ground, -and that he had better warn the inmates if he didn’t want them roasted -alive. - -The butler at once took the letter to Miss Drake, who read the following -pleasant communication addressed to her brother:— - - “Major Drake,—Owing to your aggressively anti-Irish attitude, we - have received orders to burn your house to the ground. You will be - given ten minutes to collect your clothes. By order.—I.R.A.” - -The girl hurriedly slipped on a dressing-gown, and went down to the hall -to find it full of the brutes sprawling in chairs and smoking. The -leader came forward to speak to her, and she begged him to have mercy on -her mother, who was old and in feeble health, and who would surely be -killed by the shock of having her house burnt and being turned out into -the night; and implored the man to take anything he wanted, offering him -all the money she had and her mother’s jewellery. For answer the man -pulled out his watch, and said that she had exactly ten minutes to get -her old English mother out of the house, no more and no less. - -Seeing that it was useless to argue with the brute, Miss Drake called -the butler and her mother’s maid, woke up the old lady, dressed her the -best way they could, and as the household passed out through the central -hall, they saw men sprinkling the furniture and carpets with petrol. -Hardly had they reached the lawn when the men rushed out past them. -There was a violent explosion (petrol-tins bursting), and the house -seemed to burst into flames in an instant. And here they remained on the -tennis-ground, helpless and hopeless, their only crime Loyalty, until -Blake found them there, silently crying. - -Seeing that the house was gone, that, in fact, it was impossible to save -anything, Blake put the Drakes into the Crossley, with the old butler -and the servants, and drove them to a hotel in the town. - -Drake had been seen motoring through Ballybor to the station on the -Monday, and by that evening there was a whisper in the town that -something had happened to him, but what the something was the whisper -did not mention. During Tuesday rumour lay dormant. On Wednesday, -however, rumour awoke and rapidly made up for lost time, and by that -evening it was freely whispered throughout the town that Drake had -joined the I.R.A.; that he had bolted to Canada to escape from the -I.R.A., only to be taken out of the train on his way to Dublin by a -flying column of gunmen, tried by a court-martial, condemned, and -executed; that he had gone to Dublin to join the Auxiliaries; and -lastly, that he had gone to London to get married. - -On Wednesday morning Miss Drake, whose poor old mother lay in a state of -collapse at the hotel, came to Blake in great distress, and implored him -to find her brother. She was sure something must have happened to him, -as she had wired twice, and then, getting no reply, had wired to the -secretary of his club, where he had intended staying, and from whom an -answer had just come to say Major Drake had not arrived. - -Blake promised to do all he could, and started off at once to the -station to make inquiries. Having found out that Drake actually did -leave Ballybor by the mail train on Monday, he next sent an urgent -cipher message to the authorities in Dublin, hoping they would be able -to trace him there. Blake then set out for Knockshinnagh, the next -station on the line to Dublin, about a mile from the small town of the -same name, and situated in the midst of a vast bog, which stretches -towards the foot of the mountains to the east and west, and runs nearly -as far as Ballybor. Here, acting on the assumption that the rumour of -Drake having left the mail train at this station was correct, Blake -carefully interrogated the station-master and the three porters. One and -all denied having seen Drake on the day in question—one porter, who had -been there years, adding inconsequently that he did not even know him by -sight, and thereby making Blake sure that he was on the right track at -last. - -That night Blake again visited the station-master at his house in the -station after midnight; and pretending that he knew for certain that -Drake had left the train at Knockshinnagh, warned the man of the serious -consequences of refusing to give information. 1 A.M. is an unpleasant -hour to interview armed men, and thinking that the police were -uncomfortably near and the I.R.A. in the dim distance, the -station-master made a full confession. - -A few minutes before the limited mail arrived at Knockshinnagh on -Monday, three armed and masked men had driven up in a Ford car, and -directly the train pulled up had made straight for the carriage in which -Drake was travelling. At once they seized him, and dragged him, -struggling, out of the carriage to the car, and then drove off rapidly -in the direction of Ballybor. Before the train pulled out, a stranger in -a third-class carriage warned the station-master, in the name of the -I.R.A., to give no information to any one. As no further information -could be got from the station-master, Blake returned to the barracks, -and set out again for Knockshinnagh after breakfast, to endeavour to -trace the Ford from there. - -The road from Knockshinnagh to Ballybor runs practically the whole way -through a vast bog, which is drained by the Owenmore river, with a deep -fringe of water-meadows on each bank. At intervals side roads connect up -the villages on the higher ground near the mountains with the main road. - -The police had covered nearly three miles of the road without getting -any news of Drake or the Ford, when a sharp-eyed sergeant noticed the -narrow tracks of a Ford turning up one of these side roads to the east. -The car had turned the corner sharply, leaving a deep track of two -wheels in the soft ground on the edge of the road. - -Turning down this side road, they proceeded slowly without seeing any -further car-tracks until they came to a long low cottage, standing back -about fifteen yards from the road. Here they found tracks which showed -that the car had pulled up at the door of the cottage, turned, and -returned towards the main road. - -Leaving his men outside, Blake entered with a sergeant, in time to see -the owner bolting out of the back door, only to be caught by the -sergeant and brought back. The man said his name was Moran, and -protested his loyalty loudly before Blake could ask him a question. - -In Ireland if you want information badly, often the best way to obtain -it is to bluff your opponent into believing that you already know part -of it, leaving him to guess as to how much you know. Blake took this -line of attack with Moran, and asked him the names of the four men who -had called at his cottage on the previous Monday in a car. But Moran -knew the game as well as Blake, and denied that any car had been to his -house lately, or indeed at any time, whereby Blake knew that the man -lied, and had something to conceal. - -He then threatened Moran that if he did not tell all he knew he would -arrest him and keep him until he did, and at the same time took him -outside and pointed out the old tracks of a car in front of the cottage. -This had the desired effect, and at long last Blake thought their search -was at an end. - -Moran, it appeared, was the caretaker of an I.R.A. cemetery, or rather -an old disused cemetery, where formerly unbaptised children were buried, -and which now was used to bury Volunteers who had “gone to America.” On -the Monday in question three armed and masked men had driven up to his -house with a prisoner, and after trying him by “court-martial” in the -cottage, had taken him to the cemetery, and made Moran help them to dig -a grave, while the unfortunate prisoner looked on. They blindfolded and -shot him, and finally forced Moran to put the body in the grave and fill -it in. They then left. - -Though hard pressed, Moran denied any knowledge of the identity of the -masked men or their victim; and when told to describe the murdered man, -gave a description which might have applied to hundreds of men. - -Blake then ordered Moran to show him the cemetery, but when thus driven -into a corner he took on the courage of a cornered rat, and though they -tried for an hour not one inch would he go. Seeing that the man was -desperate and would have died sooner than show them the cemetery, Blake -returned to the barracks. - -That night, as soon as it was dark, a strong police force rounded up the -six leading Volunteers in Ballybor, and took them out to Moran’s house -in two Crossleys, arriving as the full moon was showing over the top of -the mountains. - -At the first knock on the door Moran came out, his face contracted with -fear, which turned to relief on seeing the uniforms of the police; but -when he saw the six Volunteers he nearly collapsed. Blake now ordered -Moran to lead them to the cemetery, and so great was the man’s terror -that he started off across the bog without a word. - -After walking over a mile in the moonlight, they came to a low ridge of -limestone mounds running through the bog and parallel to the mountains. -Here in a hollow was the old graveyard, which looked like a disused -sheep-pen, such as the country people use for the rounding-up of -mountain sheep when the different owners pick out their own sheep and -lambs to brand them. The cemetery was surrounded by a stone wall, broken -down in many places, and inside was a tangled mass of elder and thorn -bushes. - -After posting sentries round the graveyard, Blake made Moran point out -the latest grave, and after the trembling man had shown them a mound -between two bushes, he ordered two of the Volunteers to start opening -the grave with spades brought by the police. Presently one of the spades -met something in a sack, and on opening the sack they found the body of -a short dark man—obviously a peasant—whereas Drake had been a tall fair -man. On examination they found wounds in the body and left leg. - -For a moment Blake was quite nonplussed—he had been so sure that the -body would be Drake’s. He was certain that the station-master had spoken -the truth, and there seemed no reason to doubt Moran’s evidence, though -why he should be in such a state of terror was not plain. Further, it -was now five days since Drake was supposed to have been murdered, and -the body they had just dug up had obviously been in the ground two days -at the most, probably only one. - -A careful examination of the cemetery showed that there was no other -recent grave. - -Blake’s thoughts were interrupted by one of the Volunteers, a man called -Brogan, asking with his tongue in his cheek and an impudent sneer: “Is -yer honour satisfied now, and will we be after burying this poor fellow -decently agin?” - -Taking no notice of Brogan’s question, Blake told a sergeant to make the -Volunteers carry the dead man to the Crossleys, and to wait for him -there. After they had gone he made Moran go down on his knees and swear -on his oath that the body they had dug up was the man who had been -executed on the previous Monday; but Moran could only swear that he had -been so frightened at the time that he had not taken any notice of the -prisoner, but that to the best of his belief the body was the one he had -buried. Moran then broke down, and had to be half-carried, half-led to -his cottage, where they left him, and returned to Ballybor with the -Volunteers and the corpse for a military investigation. - -The failure to find Drake’s body in the bog cemetery forced Blake to -follow up the other rumours regarding his sudden disappearance, but -every rumour and clue failed them, and it looked as though Drake’s fate -was to be added to the long list of unsolved Irish crimes. - -Two days after the police had visited the cemetery, Blake received -information that arms for a police ambush had been brought into Murrisk -townland, and also that poteen was being freely made and drunk there. - -Having arranged with a company of Auxiliaries stationed in Annagh to -co-operate with him, Blake left the barracks with two Crossley loads of -police and a Ford an hour before dawn one morning, and as the day broke -the Auxiliaries and police started to close in a cordon on the village -and outlying farms where they suspected the arms were hidden. - -The first signs of life were two women running across a bog, and when -followed one of them was seen by Blake with his glasses to throw a still -into a bog-hole, while the other one took two large jars from under her -shawl and smashed them together into pieces. The women were quickly -rounded up, and on being taken to the nearest house, the police found -six fully-dressed men well tucked up in two beds, and the remains of a -huge fire in the kitchen, while the whole house reeked of poteen—good -circumstantial evidence that the party of eight had spent the night -running a still. - -After a long and fruitless search for arms, Blake found himself close to -Murrisk Abbey; so, after sending the Auxiliaries back to Annagh, he went -to pay the mac Nessa a visit. - -The old man was delighted to see him, and insisted that he should stay -to dinner, and the police should have drink and food. - -Blake and the mac Nessa dined alone, and over the port the old man -started to tell Blake tales of his youth. After his second glass and the -long day in the cold, Blake began to feel drowsy, and his thoughts -wandered to Drake and the grave in the bog cemetery, only to wake up -with a start, hearing the old man say something about a grave, followed -by, “Is yer honour satisfied now?” - -Apologising for his deafness, he asked the mac Nessa to begin again, and -the old man told a rambling story of a butler of his young days called -Faherty, whose chief recreation was shooting rabbits in the park during -the summer evenings. Close to the park lived a pompous retired -shopkeeper called Malone, who had a very fine red setter, which was -always wandering in the park, like Faherty, after rabbits. - -On several occasions Faherty and Malone had had words over the setter, -and the climax was reached when Malone arrived at the Abbey one evening, -purple with rage, and insisting on seeing the mac Nessa, burst into his -study, accused Faherty of having shot his setter, and added that he knew -that the dog was buried in a shrubbery at the back of the house. The mac -Nessa at once called for Faherty; the three proceeded straight to the -shrubbery with a spade, and Faherty was made to open the grave which -they found there. After digging down a short way he came on the body of -a cur dog, to Malone’s great astonishment and disappointment, and -Faherty asked in a voice of triumph, “Is yer honour satisfied now?” - -After Malone had gone home, the mac Nessa asked Faherty for an -explanation, and the butler told his master how he had shot Malone’s -setter by mistake in the dusk, and then buried him in the shrubbery. The -following day he heard that Malone suspected him, and had heard of the -funeral in the shrubbery, so the next night he shot a cur dog, and -buried him on top of the setter. - -On the way back to the barracks Blake could not help thinking of the -similarity of the remarks of Faherty and Brogan when the bodies of the -cur dog and the dark peasant were dug up, and that night he dreamt that -he was opening an endless row of graves, and never knew whether he would -dig up a cur dog or a dark peasant, and all the time he was hoping to -find Drake’s body. At last he came to a grave where he was positive he -would find Drake, and started to dig like mad, only to wake up and find -his own red setter on his bed. - -Blake now determined to renew his efforts to find Drake. He ordered the -Head Constable to round up the same six Volunteers, and as soon as this -was done set off once more for the bog cemetery. Making their way to -Moran’s house, they learnt from his wife that the previous evening her -husband had been removed by masked men with shovel hats and wearing -black mackintoshes. The wife, noticing the black mackintoshes, accused -the police. - -Borrowing a couple of spades, the police then went to the graveyard, and -as soon as the dark man’s grave could be found, Blake ordered the -Volunteers to open it again, and at the same time watched Brogan’s face -carefully. On the way out to the cemetery, Brogan had been laughing and -sneering as on the former occasion, but directly he heard Blake’s order -he went as white as a sheet, and began to tremble, and a look of terror -leapt into his eyes. - -Blake knew that at last he was on the right track. - -None of the Volunteers moved, waiting for Brogan to give a lead, and -Blake had to repeat his order, calling on Brogan by name to start -digging. Pulling himself together with a great effort, the Volunteer -commenced slowly to throw the earth out of the grave, the sweat, though -it was a cold day, pouring down his face. - -The lower Brogan dug the slower he dug, until at last, when he had -excavated about two feet of soil, he suddenly fainted and collapsed into -the shallow grave. - -The police were by now strung up to the highest pitch of excitement, and -a huge sergeant, who had been a great favourite with Drake, suddenly -gave a hoarse shout, and, jumping into the grave threw Brogan out, and -started digging like a madman, while the rest began to fidget with the -triggers of their rifles and look ominously at the uneasy Volunteers. - -Suddenly the sergeant’s spade met a soft resistance, and in a few -seconds he had uncovered and opened a sack, to find, as Blake expected, -the body of poor Drake with a huge expanding bullet hole through his -forehead. - -The next five minutes will always be to Blake a nightmare: the police -went stark mad,—when highly-disciplined troops break they are far worse -to handle than any undisciplined crowd,—and with a howl of rage made for -the cowering Volunteers, ignoring Blake’s shouts; and to this day Blake -has no idea of how he kept his men from taking revenge on the -Volunteers. - -Probably he would have failed but for the lucky chance of noticing that -Brogan, who had come to, was trying to escape. The diversion of chasing -Brogan brought the police back to their senses, and by the time he had -been captured and brought back, discipline was completely restored. - -Before they left the cemetery, Brogan made a complete confession of all -he knew about the tragedy. He told Blake that information had been given -to the G.H.Q. of the I.R.A. in Dublin that Drake was on the point of -taking command of a company of Auxiliaries who were to be stationed in -his own house, the idea being to use Drake’s local knowledge, which -Blake knew to be quite untrue. On the Sunday two gunmen arrived from -Dublin with orders to shoot Drake and burn his house. Finding out that -Drake intended to go to Dublin the following day by the mail train, they -commandeered a Ford in Ballybor, taking Brogan with them as a guide, and -took him out of the train at Knockshinnagh; and after the murder they -returned to Ballybor, superintended the burning of Drake’s house, and -then disappeared into the night on stolen bicycles. - -Shortly afterwards Brogan heard a rumour that Drake had been murdered -and buried in the bog cemetery, and he became very uneasy. That night he -and three of the Volunteers received orders to take part in a police -ambush on the far side of the Slievenamoe Mountains, which order they -obeyed, going in a Ford. - -In the ambush a strange gunman—none of the local Volunteers knew who he -was or where he came from—was killed, and when some argument arose as to -how to dispose of his body, Brogan at once volunteered to take the body -back with him and bury it in the bog cemetery, his intention being to -bury the gunman on top of Drake, so that if by chance the police opened -the grave they would find the body of the gunman and be put off the -scent. After the first visit of the police the Volunteers had removed -Moran to a Sinn Fein detention prison, fearing that he might break down -and give information. - - - - - XVIII. - A JEW IN GAELIC CLOTHING. - - -“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but -inwardly they are ravening wolves.”—St. Matt. vii. 15. - -Probably very few people in England have the remotest idea to what -extent anarchy was rife throughout the south and west of Ireland, even -in parts of loyal Ulster, during the year 1920. - -Most of the Irish members of Parliament, seventy-three to be exact, -swore allegiance to Dail Eireann. Of these, seven lived abroad, and the -remainder spent most of their time in prison. - -At the beginning of the year Sinn Fein captured practically every County -Council, Rural Council, and Poor Law Guardian’s Board in twenty-seven -counties; nearly all these Boards defied the Local Government Board, and -took their orders from Dail Eireann direct. - -Next came the burning of County and Civil Courts, police barracks and -Petty Sessions Courts, followed by murderous attacks on police and -Loyalists throughout the south and west, though chiefly in the south at -first. - -In many parts Loyalists were forced under the jurisdiction of Sinn Fein -Land, Arbitration, and Civil Courts. Solicitors had their choice of -practising in these Courts or not practising at all, and a solicitor -must live as well as another man. - -The police had no power outside their barracks, and in many districts a -policeman was never seen for weeks on end, whole districts being policed -by civilian Volunteers. - -A large national loan was raised openly in defiance of the British -Government, its avowed purpose being to carry on war against England and -to break up the British Army. Sinn Fein banks and insurance societies -were floated, the money obtained being used for the same purposes. Sinn -Fein laws were passed and enforced, and a large army organised and built -up, drilled and armed. - -At this time the British Prime Minister repeatedly assured the country -that there never could and never would be an Irish Republic; while Lloyd -George talked De Valera acted, and the Republic came into being while -Lloyd George was still talking. - -During the summer of 1919 a very ordinary and at first uninteresting -strike of shop assistants took place in Ballybor for higher wages and -shorter hours, and the shopkeepers managed to carry on with the aid of -their families, and few of the public suffered any inconvenience from -the strike. - -Good relations still existed between master and employee in nearly every -shop in the town, and the shopkeepers were just on the point of an -amicable settlement with their assistants when a Transport Union -agitator, or, as he called himself, a Gaelic organiser, appeared on the -scene, and in a few hours the whole situation was changed. The local -secretary of the Transport Union, to which the shop assistants belonged, -at once broke off all negotiations with the shopkeepers, and before -night several acts of sabotage had been committed in the town. - -The next morning saw the strike begin afresh in deadly earnest. Every -street was picketed by strikers, who refused to allow any one, -townspeople or country people, to purchase any foodstuffs until the -shopkeepers had given in to their impossible demands. Doubtless the idea -was that the starving people would bring such pressure to bear on the -shopkeepers that they would be forced to give in and grant practically -any terms to the shop assistants. In a word, the old game of blackmail. - -Several unfortunate old country-women, who had managed to evade the -pickets and to purchase provisions, were caught on their way home by the -strikers and their purchases trodden into the mud of the streets. One -old clergyman, who lived several miles from Ballybor in an isolated -district, managed not only to dodge the pickets and buy much-needed -food, but to get two miles on his way home. However, a picket of -shop-boys, mounted on bicycles, overtook him, threw all his provisions -into a bog-hole, beat him severely, turned his pony loose in the bog, -and left him by the roadside. - -At first the shopkeepers were bewildered and at a complete loss to -understand the sudden change in the attitude of their assistants, but on -hearing Paidraig O’Kelly, the so-called Gaelic organiser, make his first -public speech, they knew at once what they were up against. - -In 1914, before the war broke out, all thinking Irishmen knew that the -coming and growing danger in Ireland was the Transport Union, formed -originally for the perfectly legitimate object of raising the status and -wages of the working classes (quite apart from the small farmer class) -by combined action. But in a very short time this Union became the -instrument of Bolshevism in Ireland under the able command of James -Connelly, a disciple of Lenin’s long before the latter had risen to -power. - -And so thoroughly and well had Connelly made out his plans for the -future that in every town and village the complete machinery of Soviet -Government had been prepared, ready to start working the instant the -revolution should break out. Men had been appointed to every public -office, and the houses of the well-to-do allotted to the different -Commissioners and officers of each local Soviet. - -Luckily for Ireland, the rebellion of 1916 saw the end of James -Connelly, probably the most dangerous and one of the cleverest men of -modern times in Ireland. - -With the death of Connelly and the disappearance of Larkin to America, -the Transport Union fell into the hands of less able men, but still -carried on successfully with agrarian agitation, though marking time as -regards revolution. - -After the war the Union found itself up against Sinn Fein, and for a -time it looked as though the two parties would come to blows and so -nullify each other’s efforts. Unfortunately both parties saw that their -only chance of success was to co-operate; doubtless the Transport Union -thought that if the rebellion was successful their chance would come in -the general confusion, and that they would be able to get their Soviet -Government working before the Sinn Feiners could get going. - -During 1919 and 1920 Sinn Fein and the Transport Union nearly came to -blows on several occasions in the west over agrarian trouble. The -Transport Union wanted to take advantage of the absence of law and order -to hunt every landlord and big farmer out of the country and divide -their lands amongst the landless members of the Union, while Sinn Fein -policy was to wait until the Republic had been set up, when, so they -declared, there would be an equitable division made. - -The Ballybor strike collapsed as suddenly as it had started with the -disappearance of Paidraig O’Kelly. The previous day a public meeting on -the town fair green had been held by the Transport Union, and all the -young men and girls of the town and countryside had attended. At first -the local firebrands addressed the meeting with their usual grievance, -and then O’Kelly spoke for a full hour. At first he confined himself to -the strike, and carried his audience with him when he painted a vivid -picture of the different lives led by the shopkeepers and their -“slaves,” how the former and their families lived on the fat of the -land, the latter in the gutter. - -The crowd had now had all they wanted and were prepared to go home to -tea, but O’Kelly had a good deal more to tell them. Suddenly and without -any warning he began to unfold the doctrine of Lenin, to show them how -the world and all the good things in it ought really to belong to them, -and that these good things would never be theirs until the ruling -classes were forced to disgorge them, and that the only way to make the -swine disgorge was to kill them one and all—gentry, business men, and -shopkeepers. - -The man could really speak, and held his audience spellbound while he -unfolded the Irish Eldorado of the future; but through all his speech -ran the one idea to kill, always to kill those in a higher station of -life than his listeners. To finish with he called upon them to start -with the police, to shoot them like the dogs they were, and when they -were gone the rest would be easy. - -Sergeant M’Grath had been detailed to attend the meeting to take down in -shorthand any speeches which might require explaining afterwards, but -until O’Kelly started to preach the doctrine of Lenin he had not opened -his notebook. - -The sergeant had served in most parts of Ireland, but O’Kelly’s speech -and brogue puzzled him: the man spoke like an Englishman trying to -imitate the Irish brogue, but with a thickness of speech which the -sergeant could not place. Nor could he place the shape of O’Kelly’s -head, a round bullet-shaped one with a high narrow forehead and coarse -black hair. - -He duly reported O’Kelly’s speech to the D.I., who endeavoured to find -out where the man came from, but failed to get any definite information. -One rumour said that O’Kelly came from Cork, another from America, and -yet a third that he was a native of Castleport. So the only thing to do -was to arrest the man and then try to identify him; but O’Kelly had -completely disappeared. - -Nothing further appears to have been heard of O’Kelly in Ireland during -1919, but the following year an itinerant lecturer on beekeeping turned -up in Co. Donegal, who bore a strong resemblance to Lenin’s disciple. -This man’s practice was to give a short lecture on bees in -school-houses, and then to launch forth into pure Bolshevism—a complete -waste of time on the average Donegal peasant. Next he was heard of in -Belfast, where he was lucky to escape a violent death at the hands of -some infuriated shipyard workers. - -In May 1920 the Transport Union in Ballybor began suddenly to give Blake -a lot of trouble—cases of men being dragged out of their beds at night -and forced with a loaded gun at their heads to join the Union steadily -increased. - -Several landlords who employed a good many men were threatened that, if -they did not pay a higher wage than the maximum laid down by law, all -their men would be called out and that they would in addition be -boycotted. And any who refused at once had their hayricks burnt and -their cattle injured. - -Rumours came to Blake’s ears of a man making extraordinary speeches at -night in the different country school-houses throughout the district to -audiences of young men and girls, speeches which apparently combined -Sinn Fein aims with red revolution. - -During 1920 Sergeant M’Grath had been sent to Grouse Lodge as -sergeant-in-charge, and thinking that he recognised O’Kelly in the -revolutionary lecturer who was touring the district, he kept a careful -watch on the Cloonalla school-house, and within a week had surprised and -captured the man, who turned out to be O’Kelly. - -O’Kelly was brought up before the R.M. in Ballybor Barracks, charged -with inciting the people to murder the police during the strike of 1919, -and pleaded not guilty. - -The R.M., who looked upon the man as a harmless lunatic (he had not -heard him haranguing a crowd), offered to let him go provided he entered -into a recognisance to be of good behaviour and could find two sureties -in fairly substantial sums. O’Kelly replied that he dared not enter into -a recognisance to be of good behaviour, and further, that if he was -released he would continue to preach revolution. Whereupon the R.M. gave -him three months and left the barracks. - -Blake then saw O’Kelly alone, and endeavoured to find out who and what -he was. It was obvious that the man was not an Irishman, nor did he -appear to be English. O’Kelly refused to give him any information -regarding himself. - -While this interview was going on an Auxiliary, whose home was in -Scotland, and who commanded a section of Cadets on temporary duty in -Ballybor, looked in to see Blake and found him with O’Kelly. - -After O’Kelly had left the room the Auxiliary told Blake that he knew -the man well, and had often seen him in Glasgow, where, previous to -1919, the man had lived for two years working as a Jewish Bolshevik -agent, and that he had suddenly disappeared from Glasgow when the police -began to get unpleasantly attentive. - - - - - XIX. - MOUNTAIN WARFARE. - - -The movements of the flying columns of the I.R.A.—gangs of armed -ruffians, usually numbering about forty, but sometimes more, sometimes -less, and led by men with military experience (ex-soldiers and even -ex-officers, to their everlasting shame)—have always corresponded -accurately to the amount of police and military pressure brought to bear -on them, which pressure has continually fluctuated in agreement to the -whims and brain-waves of the politicians in power. - -Figuratively speaking, these same politicians have kept the police and -military with one hand tied behind their back, and sometimes when the -screams of the mob politicians in the House have been loudest, have very -nearly tied up both their hands. If a chart had been kept during the -Irish war showing the relative intensity of the politicians’ screams and -the activities of the I.R.A., the reading of it would be highly -interesting and instructive. - -Extra pressure, more rigid enforcement of existing restrictions on -movement, and increased military activity have always resulted in a -general stampede of flying columns to the mountains of the west, where -the gunmen could rest in comparative safety, and swagger about among the -simple and ignorant mountain-folk to their hearts’ content. - -Here they would stay until the politicians, frightened by inspired -questions in the House, would practically confine the military and -police to barracks. The gunmen would then, with great reluctance, leave -the safety of the mountains, and return to the southern front, to carry -on once more the good work of political murder. - -And so the game of seesaw went on. Every time that the Crown forces saw -victory in sight the politicians would drag them back again to start all -afresh. The wonder is that the Crown forces stuck it so long with every -hand against them, and their worst abuse coming from a cowardly section -of their own countrymen in England. - -Early in 1921 the Crown forces in the south of Ireland suddenly gave -forth signs that a determined effort was to be made to deal effectively, -once and for all, with the gangs of armed murderers and robbers roaming -the country, masquerading as soldiers of the Irish Republic; and again -the flying columns fled in haste to their mountain retreats in the west, -a part of the country where the majority of the inhabitants have always -done their best to keep out of the trouble, with a few isolated -exceptions. - -This time they stayed longer; in fact, each time it became harder to -induce the gunmen to forsake the peace of the mountains for the war in -the south. After a time they started to vary the monotony by carrying -out punitive expeditions against the police and the unfortunate -Loyalists in the surrounding lowlands, but always to fly back to the -mountains at the first sight of a force of police or soldiers. - -Ex-soldiers were the chief game at this period. A district would be -chosen where there were no troops and few police. A list of all -ex-soldiers living in this district would be made out, and guides -provided by the local I.R.A. commandant. Each ex-soldier would be -visited in turn during a night, given his choice of active service with -the I.R.A. or a sudden death. Those who remained loyal to the King would -be led out and butchered like sheep, though possibly the murderers would -not take the trouble to remove their victims, but would fire a volley -into them as they lay in bed, and leave them there. Truly a brave army! - -Transport presented no difficulty to the gunmen. The British Government -took practically no steps to control the movements of motors, motor -bicycles, or push-bicycles, except the motor-permit farce, which greatly -inconvenienced Loyalists only. All they had to do was to commandeer as -many cars or bicycles as they wanted, where, when, and how they liked. - -However, this was not all the work which the Sinn Fein leaders intended -their flying columns to carry out, and in order to induce the gunmen to -return to duty the usual noisy peace squeal was started in England, so -that conditions might be made pleasanter for the gunmen in the south. -The murdering of ex-soldiers and helpless Loyalists could be easily -carried out by local Volunteers under a well-seasoned murderer—an -excellent method of initiating raw recruits into the methods of the Sinn -Fein idea of warfare. The British Government, always great judges of -Irish character, thought that the Sinn Fein leaders were coming to their -senses at last, took off the pressure, and the gunmen duly returned to -duty. - - * * * * * - -At length there came a time when these columns really got the wind up, -stampeded to the western mountains, and this time refused point-blank to -return to duty. - -In the late spring of 1921 Blake was suddenly called over to England on -private business in London, and afterwards went down to the country to -spend a few days with the parents of a man with whom he had served in -France. - -The day after his arrival Blake’s host told him that a Black and Tan, a -native of the place, had been murdered in Ireland a few days previously, -and was to be buried that day in the parish graveyard, and asked Blake -if he would accompany him to the funeral. - -When passing through Dublin on his way to England, Blake had seen in the -Castle the account of how this unfortunate Black and Tan had met his -death—shot in the back when walking in the streets of a small western -town with a girl; and not content with that, the murderers had fired a -volley at him as he lay wounded on the ground, and even fired several -shots after the girl as she fled shrieking up the street. So terrified -were the townspeople that, though there were many in the streets at the -time, not one dared to even approach the dying constable, and it was not -until a full hour afterwards that a passing police patrol found him -lying dead in a great pool of blood. Incidentally, the murderers had by -then put sixteen miles behind them by means of stolen bicycles. - -Blake accepted, expecting to see a large funeral to do honour to the -murdered policeman, but to his great surprise and indignation found that -only the near relations of the murdered man were present. - -Returning from the funeral, Blake happened to see the local police -inspector in the main street of the little town, and at once tackled him -about the funeral, wanting to know why the local police had not been -present as a last mark of respect to a man who had died for his country. - -The inspector seemed greatly surprised and rather taken aback, and -replied that he could hardly be expected to turn his men out to attend -the funeral of a murderer. - -For a moment Blake saw red, and but for a natural horror of making a -scene in a public place, would probably have knocked the inspector down. -Then, thinking that there must be a bad blunder somewhere, he asked whom -the Black and Tan had murdered, and how he had met his death. The -inspector admitted that the Black and Tan had been murdered, he -believed, and then opened out on the crimes and atrocities which the -Black and Tans had committed in Ireland—murder, rape, and highway -robbery,—in fact, the usual list of atrocities which is generally to be -read in the Sinn Fein propaganda pamphlets. - -Blake waited patiently until the inspector had given him a harrowing -picture of the condition of the south and west of Ireland: heartrending -accounts of homeless and starving women and children, old and young men -and boys hunted like wild beasts in the mountains and living on berries -and roots; shops burnt to the ground and looted by Black and Tans in -mufti; and of men and boys shot by Auxiliaries in the dead of night -before the eyes of their relations. - -He then asked the inspector who had given him this information, adding -that he would like to see the proof of it, and at the same time telling -him that he was a D.I. in the R.I.C. - -The inspector invited Blake to go to the police station with him, and -here, as Blake had expected, he was shown the usual lying propaganda and -pamphlets of Sinn Fein, which have been distributed by the million -throughout England, Scotland, Wales, and the U.S.A. An extract from one -pamphlet is worth repeating:— - -“Famine is about to add thousands of innocent victims to the hundreds of -thousands already in need of the bare necessities that keep body and -soul together. In every Irish village and town sickness, pestilence, and -death invade the humble homes, striking swiftly and surely the mothers -and children incapable of resistance through months of struggle against -cold and hunger.... Children of tender years, ragged and wretched, -trudge daily through the cold to a school now used for a relief station -to obtain the one meal a day on which they live—a piece of bread and a -warm drink.” - -Seeing from his ribbons that the man had served in the war, Blake asked -him if he would take the word of a brother officer against that of a -Sinn Fein rebel. The inspector seemed to think this a good joke, and -replied: “A brother officer every time.” “Well, then,” said Blake, “as -an ex-British officer, I give you my word of honour that all those -pamphlets you have just shown me are a pack of lies circulated by Irish -rebels to ruin your country.” - -Still the inspector was only half convinced, and in spite of all Blake -could say he saw when he at last left that the man’s belief in the -printed pamphlets of Sinn Fein was still unshaken. Such is the -tremendous effect of print, whether newspapers or pamphlets, on the -modern mind, and the firm belief in the old saying that there can be no -smoke without a fire. - -That afternoon Blake was carried off by his hostess to a drawing-room -lecture at a big country-house. His hostess was not quite sure what the -lecture was about, but believed it had something to do with Russia. -After tea the lecturer arose, and before he uttered a word, Blake had a -premonition of what was coming. A tall thin man, with pronounced Celtic -peculiarities and a mane of long, lank, black hair, Blake had seen his -prototype thousands of times in the west of Ireland. - -Throwing back his great mane with a jerk of his head, the lecturer -started on an impassioned recital of the atrocities committed in Ireland -by the British Army of Occupation, practically the same collection of -lies and wicked quarter truths which Blake had heard from the police -inspector that morning. - -Blake watched the faces of the audience closely, mostly women of the -upper and middle classes, and could see that the lecturer’s ready tongue -was making a deep impression on them. There was no yawning or fidgeting, -and the audience, many of them with the parted lips of rapt attention, -kept their eyes riveted on the quite interesting face of the wild man of -the west, camouflaged by a London tailor to harmonise with an English -drawing-room. - -Blake let the man have a fair innings, and then while he was drinking a -glass of water (Blake felt like asking him if he would not prefer -poteen) stood up and said quietly, “Ladies and gentlemen, so far this -lecture has been nothing but a pack of lies from beginning to end. The -lecturer is a Sinn Fein rebel camouflaged as an Irish gentleman, and I -am a D.I. of the Royal Irish Constabulary. During the war I fought for -your country, and the lecturer probably assisted the Boches in every -underhand and mean way he could. You can judge for yourselves which of -us is most probably telling the truth, and nothing but the truth.” - -The wild man turned with a wicked snarl, all signs of the veneer gone, -and his face reminded Blake of a cornered gunman he had had to deal with -once during a raid on a Dublin lodging-house; and there would probably -have been an ugly and unseemly scene, but the owner of the house -intervened, and gently but firmly led the wild man out of the room, -while Blake and his friends left the house at once. - -On his return Blake found a cipher wire from his County Inspector -recalling him at once, and going by car to London managed to catch the -Irish mail from Euston. All the sleepers were engaged, but by good luck -he found himself in possession of a first-class compartment. - -While idly smoking a cigarette and meditating on the extraordinary -amount of Sinn Fein propaganda he had met with in the course of one -short day in England, he noticed a well-dressed slight girl pass and -repass the glass door of his compartment several times. As the mail -pulled out of the station this girl pulled open the sliding-door from -the corridor and sat down opposite Blake, remarking that it was a grand -evening, and thereby unconsciously informing him that she was Irish. - -Suddenly realising that he was smoking, he asked the girl, who he could -see was unusually pretty and quite young, if she had any objection, and, -as he had expected, she readily entered into conversation. - -After a time she remarked, with a pretty engaging smile, that she saw he -had nothing to read, and getting down her suit-case, handed Blake a -handful of the identical pamphlets he had already seen that morning in -the English country police station. In addition, there was one fresh one -on “The Irish Issue,” by William J. M. A. Maloney, M.D., captain in the -British Army, August 1914-August 1916. - -Blake then saw that his original suspicion was correct, and that he had -to deal with that most dangerous of all spies, Sinn Fein or any other -breed—a pretty girl. - -By the time Rugby was passed he had heard the simple life-history in a -rural part of England of the girl, ending with the information that she -was going to Dublin for three months, and that she was very much in -dread after all the dreadful happenings there she had read of in the -papers, and she had never been in Ireland before (all this in a very -fine rich Dublin brogue). And Blake began to think that he must really -possess that most priceless of assets, to look a much bigger fool than -you are. - -After the stop at Crewe the girl again attacked him about Dublin, asking -if he lived in lodgings there, and, if so, was there a room to let in -the same house. A few days previously Michael Collins’s flat in a -certain Dublin street had been raided with satisfactory results to the -raiders, and Blake gave her this address, assuring her that she would -here find quarters entirely suitable to her requirements. The girl took -the hint, and the rest of the journey to Holyhead was spent in silence. - -On the mail-boat Blake saw the girl once more, sitting with a youthful -officer of the Dublin garrison, and carrying on an animated conversation -with their heads touching. - -On arriving at Ballybor Barracks Blake found further orders awaiting him -from the County Inspector to proceed at once to Castleport with all the -men and cars he could spare. - -The wildest rumours were afloat amongst his men: that the I.R.A. were -going to take the field openly (this notable achievement was reserved -for the Truce); that a large force of Americans had landed from a yacht -at Errinane with stacks of arms, and that they were raising and arming -the mountain men of that district greatly against their wish and -inclination, and that De Valera had been landed on the west coast from a -submarine, was hiding in the mountains of Ballyrick, and was at long -last going to take the field himself. - -Collecting every man he could spare and taking all the transport except -one Crossley, Blake set off with a strong convoy of police for -Castleport. The men were in great heart, and eagerly looking forward to -a good square fight in the open with the hitherto elusive soldiers of -the I.R.A. - -At Castleport they found the barracks packed with police, drawn in from -all the outlying districts; even two large houses adjacent to the -barracks had had to be commandeered to hold all the men. - -The County Inspector explained the situation, which was quite simple. A -large force of I.R.A. flying columns, estimated at over a thousand -strong, were reported to have refused to return to the south, and had -taken up permanent quarters in the Maryburgh Peninsula, north-west of -Errinane, and were playing old puck generally throughout that part of -the west. At first these flying columns had been distributed all through -the mountains, some in the Ballyrick country, more in the Slievenamoe -Mountains, and a large party to the south of Castleport; but owing to -the unpleasant attentions of Auxiliary flying columns they had gradually -retired towards the Maryburgh Peninsula, where so far they had been left -unmolested. - -The gunmen on the Slievenamoe Mountains had had a bad fright from the -very efficient company of Auxiliaries quartered at Annagh. Father John -had done all in his power to get rid of these unwelcome guests in his -parish, but showing a fine turn of speed they just managed to escape, -actually dashing through Ballybor in the middle of the night in a convoy -of commandeered Fords a few days before Blake’s return. - -For some time the gunmen had been in the habit of commandeering their -rations at night from Castleport, and during these nights the town would -be completely isolated. The first intimation of anything being wrong -which the townspeople had was the return one night of several -white-faced crying girls, who told their parents that they had just by -chance met Pat So-and-So, and that he had asked them to go for a stroll, -and hardly had they got outside the town when armed men had seized poor -Pateen and ordered the girls to go home at once. Incidentally the poor -Pateens were kept as a labour platoon by the gunmen, and made to do all -the dirty work of digging trenches, breaking down bridges, &c., which -occurred during the operations to follow. A different butcher, baker, -and grocer would be visited each time, just to show that there was no -question of favouritism with the I.R.A. - -While this requisitioning was proceeding every road leading into -Castleport was held by strong pickets of gunmen, who, as soon as the -ration party returned, would make for the Maryburgh Mountains on -bicycles, the ration party travelling on a commandeered lorry. - -Directly the County Inspector got wind of this proceeding, he made an -attempt to surprise the gunmen one night, but their local information -was too good, and he failed. Then, hearing that this big muster of -gunmen was hiding in the Maryburgh Peninsula, he collected all the -forces he could, and prepared to kill, capture, or drive them into the -Atlantic. - -Soon after Blake’s arrival at Castleport, apparently reliable -information came in that a landing of arms had been carried out early -that morning at Errinane, and that these arms were to be taken as soon -as it was dark to the Maryburgh Peninsula. The County Inspector at once -detailed Blake and Black, the Castleport D.I., to take a large force of -police and attempt to seize the arms before they could be taken out of -Errinane. - -Errinane lies about twenty-one miles to the south of Castleport, on a -narrow inland bay. The road runs the whole way through wild mountainous -country, though at no point does the road run very close to the -mountains. - -On the way out Blake carefully looked out for any points where an ambush -might be carried out, and noticed that there were two bad spots: one -where the road skirted the edge of a wood with a rocky hill close on the -other side; the second, about eight miles from Castleport, where the -road twisted through a ravine with steep rocky sides dotted with bushes, -and at one place crossed a narrow high bridge—an ideal place for an -ambush. Blake was so much impressed with this place that he stopped the -cars and made his men search carefully the sides of the ravine, but not -a sign of any preparations for an ambush could they find. Nor were there -any trenches on the road. - -After picketing Errinane, Blake searched every house, shop, store, and -barn in the village, but not a sign of arms could be found, nor was any -yacht to be seen in the harbour. - -It was late when they started back for Castleport, and Blake, who was -suspicious of an ambush at the bridge in the ravine, which was the -nearest point on the road to the Maryburgh country, ordered Black to go -ahead with two Crossleys, and to search the ravine thoroughly, and then -to wait until the rest of the force caught him up. - -Blake’s party was delayed by two punctures, and when they got near to -the ravine heavy firing suddenly broke out ahead of them. When within -half a mile of the bridge, they saw a party of men running away from a -culvert in a dip of the road ahead of them. - -Luckily, Blake was in the leading car, and ordered the driver to pull up -about a hundred yards short of the culvert, which, sure enough, went up -before they had been waiting two minutes. - -The firing ahead had now grown heavier, and every now and then the dull -thud of a bursting Mills bomb could be heard above the racket of -musketry. Realising that Black must be hard pressed, Blake divided his -force into two, ordered each party to deploy on one side of the road and -attempt to outflank the ravines. - -When within three hundred yards of the bridge both parties came under -heavy enfilade machine-gun fire—machine-guns which made a noise none had -ever heard before, and were probably American Thompson guns,—and they -were forced to take the best cover they could find in the open bog. - -The machine-gun fire at once died down, only to break out again every -time the police attempted to advance by short rushes. By painful degrees -they managed to get within eighty yards of the bridge, where the -formation of the ground protected them from that horrible enfilade hail -of bullets, and gathering themselves together they charged at the -reverse slope of the ravine. - -At once the firing ceased, and when at last they had torn their way -through briars and gorse to reach the top, all that they found was small -piles of empty cartridges and two ordinary tweed caps—not a sign of a -gunman whichever way they looked. - -They then turned their attention to their comrades on the road, and here -a heartrending sight met their eyes. At first it appeared as though all -the occupants of the two cars were either dead or wounded, but as they -descended towards the bridge a small party of police crawled from -underneath it, soaked to the skin. They found Black lying against the -front wheel of the leading car with four bullet wounds in his body and -his head smashed in by a dum-dum bullet—stone-dead. - -Blake found out from the survivors that Black had disregarded his -orders, and had not pulled up until the cars had passed the bridge, when -a hail of bullets swept the cars from the top of both banks of the -ravine. Black was wounded by the first volley, was hit twice while -getting out of the car to lead his men to the attack, and in the head as -his foot touched the ground. - -The sun had by now gone down, and collecting all his wounded and dead, -Blake pushed off for Castleport as fast as he could. - -Beyond a blown-up culvert half a mile from the ravine, which the cars -crossed without difficulty on their own planks, they met with no further -trouble. - -Then followed three feverish days of planning and preparing for the -great drive, which it was hoped would put a thousand gunmen out of -action for good and all; unless indeed a new Chief Secretary should come -to Ireland, perhaps this time from Australia or possibly from India, or -even a Jew, who would celebrate his arrival in this unfortunate country -by opening wide the gates of the internment camps. - -The area to be driven was roughly three hundred and sixty square miles, -which will give some idea of the magnitude of the task which a handful -of police had to tackle with the aid of a battalion of infantry and a -company of Auxiliaries. And when it is added that the entire peninsula -consisted of mountains (five of them well over two thousand feet, and -unclimbable in many places), bogs, lakes, and rivers, with only one -decent road which ran _round the coast and at the base_, it will be -granted that the task was nearly an impossible one. - -Also the few scattered inhabitants would be certain to be found to act -as unwilling scouts for the gunmen. Moreover, once the weather turned -wet, which may happen in the course of a few hours on the west coast, a -thick mist would cover the mountains, and all the gunmen had to do then -was to walk out of the trap and make their way inland. - -The plan of attack was as follows. The Castleport-Errinane road crossed -the twenty-mile neck of the peninsula, and before dawn one day ten -columns, each of eighty men, formed up a mile apart. - -As soon as it was light enough to see, these columns started, marching -in columns of route for the first two miles; they then deployed into -open order, got in touch with each other, and then started to drive the -country out of face for the remaining eighteen miles. Frequently the -line had to halt while a column would hunt a mountain in its line of -advance, or a detour round a lake had to be made. - -For the first four miles there was no sign of the gunmen—the column only -met flocks of mountain sheep, and no sign of a human being; but, when -ten miles from the west end of the peninsula, the troops on both flanks -came under fire—evidently an attempt to stop them working round behind -the gunmen. - -The troops in the centre now tried to advance, but were also held up by -heavy fire before they had gone half a mile; but at their third attempt -the flanks met with no opposition, and the whole line was able to -continue the advance. From now on the gunmen offered a determined -resistance at every ridge, but always retired before their positions -could be turned. - -At last, close on nightfall, the Crown forces came to the strongest -position of all—a long ridge in the centre with small hills at each end, -extending to the north and south coasts of the peninsula. - -As there was no time left for a turning movement, a direct assault was -tried, only to fail twice. It was then decided to wait until the full -moon had risen, when it would be possible to make a turning movement -along the coast. - -Unfortunately the sky became cloudy, and during the whole night the -Crown forces were unable to move; but as soon as the daylight came -another assault met with no opposition. - -Once on top of the ridge they could see the remainder of the peninsula -to the west coast, and not a sign of a gunman anywhere; nor when they -searched every valley and even some sand-hills on the coast could they -find so much as a single gunman. - -The following day word was brought into the barracks at Castleport that -a column of gunmen, thousands strong, had been seen marching in column -of route into the Ballyrick Mountains from the coast; but how they could -have got there from the Maryburgh Peninsula did not transpire for some -time. - -Later it was learnt that when the Crown forces gave up the attack on the -final ridge to wait for the moon, the gunmen waited until it was dark, -when they made their way to the coast. Here they had collected every -fishing-boat to be found. The sea being calm, the whole force managed -during the night to cross the bay to the north, a distance of fifteen -miles, landed on the Ballyrick coast soon after dawn, and at once set -off for the Ballyrick Mountains. - - - - - XX. - THE GREAT ROUND UP. - - -At the beginning of the Irish war, when the I.R.A., to use its own -words, “took the field against the British Army,” its activities were -purely local and sporadic. Some unfortunate police patrols of half a -dozen men, often less, walking along the King’s highway, interfering -with none except evil-doers, would be suddenly fired at with shot-guns, -sometimes loaded with jagged slugs and pieces of metal, from a safe -cover behind a stone wall with carefully-prepared loopholes. - -These police patrols never had a dog’s chance, and should have been -discontinued long before they actually were. - -At first the murderers did not trouble to make sure that they had a -perfectly safe line of retreat behind them when the location of these -cowardly ambushes was chosen, but after a few failures they made no -mistake in future, the line of retreat, either through a thick wood or -down the reverse slope of a hill, being always the first consideration. - -Married police living in houses or rooms in the town of their station -afforded an easy and safe target for the venom of these hooligan -shop-boys and farmers’ sons. At first the police used to go home -unarmed, and used to be shot down in the back while passing along an -ill-lighted street or lane, or the assassins would knock at the door of -the policeman’s home, and if he came to the door would fire at him and -then run away. - -Occasionally, in districts where the standard of bravery was very high, -all the Volunteers would collect in a small town after dark—always after -dark—and carry out an attack on the local police barracks. They knew -perfectly well that it was impossible for the police to leave their -barracks owing to the smallness of their numbers, and that as long as -they kept well under cover (which they did) they were just as safe as -they would be in their own beds at home. - -These so-called attacks on police barracks simply consisted in gangs of -hooligans first taking careful cover in houses adjacent to the barracks, -and then firing off as many rounds as they possessed. They always ceased -fire long before daybreak, in order that they might be home in good time -before it was possible for the police to leave barracks or a relief -party to arrive on the scene. - -At this period of the war, raiding the houses of the Loyalists for arms, -and incidentally for money and valuables, not forgetting drink, was a -much safer and more remunerative night’s amusement than shooting -policemen or attacking barracks, though the price then was £60 for every -policeman murdered. - -A party of twenty to thirty Volunteers, usually boys from fifteen to -twenty years of age, would meet at a fixed rendezvous some time after -dark with all the arms they could raise. They would then don black cloth -masks, turn up their coat collars, pull their hats down, and sally forth -to spend the night robbing, murdering, and terrorising the unfortunate -Loyalists of the district. - -Imagine the feelings of a respectable old man living in a lonely house, -who had probably never harmed any one during his lifetime, and whose -only crime consisted in being loyal or refusing to subscribe to the -funds of the I.R.A., in many cases a form of common robbery. - -Night after night he lies in bed expecting to hear a loud knock at the -door, and at last it comes. He opens the door to find a dozen shot-guns, -old rifles, and pistols pointed at him. Some brute then demands his -arms; the old man says he has none. They push him aside and force their -way in. The old man is made to sit down while two young hounds keep -prodding him in the back of the neck with the muzzles of their pistols, -to remind him what they could do if they liked. The remainder ransack -the house from top to bottom, take away any money or valuables they can -find, and consume any drink there may be. If they cannot find any money -or valuables, they threaten him with death until he disgorges. And -lonely women suffered in like fashion. - -The demand for arms used to be merely a blind for committing robbery. -The location of every firearm in a district was well known from the -beginning of the war. - -If the reader happens to be an English country gentleman, let him think -what it would be like never to know the night or hour when he would be -raided by a gang of farm labourers or village loafers, armed and masked, -from the nearest village. He might retire to bed to be waked up by loud -knocking on his front door. If he did not open quickly a rifle shot -would be fired through the lock, and if the door did not open then, it -quickly would to the blows of hatchets which would follow. A wild gang -of drunken brutes would burst into his nice house, smash desks, -sideboards, and cupboards, searching for loot. Lucky man if he escaped -with the loss of arms, money, and valuables, and not of home and life as -well. - -If the reader is an ex-soldier, let him imagine what his feelings would -be like if in the middle of the night he was pulled out of his bed by -these same ruffians, and given his choice between joining Trotsky’s Own -Light Infantry, or whatever the local Red force may call itself, or -being shot out of face. Being true to his country, he refuses to have -anything to do with Bolshevism, and is shot before the eyes of his -agonised wife. - -Remember that the loyal country gentlemen and ex-soldiers of Ireland -have sacrificed their blood and treasure on the altar of Empire as well -as their English cousins, and hence are entitled to as much protection. - -But no, when it comes to a matter of politics and votes they are thrown -to the wolves, to the eternal shame of England. The sacrifice of the -southern Loyalists will form one of the most disgraceful chapters in the -history of England. - -Robberies on a more extensive scale followed: bank managers taking large -sums of money to out-of-the-way villages on the occasion of a fair, in -order to facilitate payments by buyers to farmers, were held up and -robbed. Mail-cars carrying pension money for the old and poor were held -up and robbed; likewise post offices, banks, railway stations, and large -shops—and most of this money used to forward the cause of armed -rebellion. In fact, the Government were largely being fought with their -own money, or, rather, that of the helpless British taxpayer. - -But this form of warfare, though most unpleasant for the unfortunate -Irish Loyalist, and probably disturbing to the few people in England who -knew anything about what was happening in Ireland, would never have led -to anything provided the British Government had taken the necessary -steps quickly to preserve law and order and punish evil-doers. But no, -as ever in Ireland, they would do nothing, except procrastinate, until -it was too late. - -Instead of strengthening the R.I.C. and sending more troops into the -country, they merely evacuated outlying police barracks, which were -promptly burnt amidst scenes of triumph by the local Volunteers, and -hailed by all rebels as the first outward sign of the retreat of the -English from Ireland. - -If the police released by the evacuation of these barracks had been used -to form flying columns to quiet the worst districts, there might have -been some sense in this manœuvre; unfortunately, the men were all wanted -to make up the wastage in the occupied barracks caused by the large -number of resignations of young constables in the R.I.C. at this time. - -Looking back, these constables who resigned appear to have been mean -deserters of their comrades, but after-events have to a certain degree -justified their action. They were certain that, no matter how often the -British Government swore to see its loyal servants through, in the end -it would let them down, and the pity is that they were right. True, -there was a day when an Englishman’s word was as good as his bond, but -that day appears to be quite out of date. Or perhaps it does not apply -to politicians! - -Doubtless greatly surprised at their initial success, the chiefs of the -I.R.A. now determined on a much more ambitious form of warfare—namely, -the formation of flying columns to harry and murder the Crown forces -throughout Ireland, not excepting Ulster; at the same time they started -a tremendous campaign of propaganda in England and the States. - -The idea of breaking up the British Empire by means of a number of small -flying columns of corner-boys in Ireland, and green pamphlets at John -Bull’s breakfast-table, appears laughable; but Sinn Fein has shown -itself a wonderfully astute judge of the mentality of the present-day -politician in England. - -The summer of 1920 saw the greater part of the south and west in the -hands of the Republic, who not only boasted an army in the field, but -ran their own police, law-courts, and Local Government Board. It was not -an uncommon occurrence for a man to be first arrested by the R.I.C. for -some offence, and then by the I.R.A.; sometimes there used to be quite -an exciting race between these two forces to see who could catch the -culprit first. - -The first flying columns were made up of determined and hard-up -corner-boys collected from every district in the south and west, and -were sent out under specially qualified leaders to murder as many police -and soldiers as they could, no matter whether they were armed or -unarmed, asleep or awake. The price for the murder of a policeman rose -gradually to £60, and eventually to £100. - -With a terrorised population and a Government which refused to function, -these columns had everything in their favour, and carried on their -campaign of murder and assassination practically unhindered at first. - -Their chief channels of information were the post-office and young -girls. The larger proportion of post-office officials were openly -disloyal, postmasters even being caught red-handed decoding important -police and military wires for the information of the I.R.A. And young -girls not only obtained information by walking out with policemen and -soldiers, but also carried the gunmen’s arms to and from a murder or -ambush. - -It used to be no uncommon sight in Dublin to see a tram-car held up by -Auxiliaries and searched with no result. Before the Auxiliaries had -boarded the tram, the gunmen would openly pass their pistols to girls -sitting beside them. Any one giving information would never have left -that tram alive, nor would it have done any good, as the Auxiliaries -were powerless (until near the end of the war) to search women. - -As regards transport, they had only to take it where, when, and how they -liked—motors, motor bicycles, lorries, and push-bicycles by the thousand -in every part of the country. Think how different the result might have -been if the Government had taken up all this transport and reduced the -I.R.A. to their flat feet. And, of course, they used the trains freely, -and without payment, both to carry arms and men. - -Young girls, especially if pretty, make far the most dangerous spies in -the world; and though they have always been used during a war on a small -scale by every country, yet this is probably the first occasion on which -a nation has conscripted girls of from twelve to twenty-five years -wholesale for this vicious and contaminating work. - -Even little children were taught the art of eavesdropping, and, of -course, if they did not hear every word, readily filled in the blanks -from their imagination. Many a man in Ireland during the last two years -has lost his life through the medium of a little child. The Markievicz -woman ought to appear on the Day of Judgment with the record millstone -round her neck. - -Despatches were carried in dozens of ways—boys on bicycles, men on motor -bicycles, who also acted as scouts for ambushes, in the sample cases of -bagmen (a common method also at one time of sending arms and ammunition -about the country), by the post, and by railway guards—in fact, by every -method which came to hand. - -The I.R.A. obtained much valuable information through opening letters in -the post, but their really important and often vital information came to -them through a bad leakage in the Castle. - -Any shortage of recruits was quickly made good by a drastic form of the -old pressgang. An unwilling recruit would be dragged out of bed in the -middle of the night, placed against a wall, and given a minute to decide -for King George or the Irish Republic. King George meant a bullet in the -brain, probably a dum-dum of the worst description; the Irish Republic -meant active service with a flying column at some near future date. - -Money was obtained in just as simple a way. A levy of, say, a pound a -cow or a pound a beast would be laid on a district. A farmer had six -cows or one horse, two asses, and three head of cattle. In either case -he would pay £6 to the funds of the I.R.A. Any arguing there was would -be solely on the side of the collector, who would have the butt-end of a -large pistol protruding from his pocket. Such a simple and effective -method of collecting a tax! No troublesome forms of beastly red tape, -and no large staff of fat and lazy clerks to pay! Just a -truculent-looking blackguard with a very large pistol, not necessarily -loaded, and the money pours in. Cases of non-payment of this form of -taxation have never been heard of, nor is there any means of dodging it. -Cattle are not easy to hide. - -Rations were obtained by the simple process of requisition. In some -cases they used to go through the farce of giving a receipt for the -stolen goods in the name of the I.R.A.! - -With the police unable to function, banks and post-offices offered an -easy prey to these ruffians. The meanest form of robbery was the taking -of money to pay old-age pensions from mail-cars on their way to outlying -districts. - -A special murder gang was formed, which went about the country to murder -any man—policeman, R.M., or civilian—who was particularly active in -trying or helping to restore law and order in the country—that is, any -man who was too tough a nut for the locals to crack. And, of course, in -many cases private feuds and spites came under this heading. As has been -mentioned, the price for a policeman was £100. People would be heard -discussing this openly, and wondering if the price would go up or down, -in the same way as they might discuss Dunlop’s or Guinness’s shares. - -But the most effective weapon of Sinn Fein has been their propaganda -campaign in America and England, coupled with the treasonable and -treacherous aid from certain politicians and the effective silence of -the daily press, with one great and notable exception. - -The following letter, which fell into the hands of the Crown forces in -Ireland, speaks for itself:— - - Dail Eireann (Department of Finance), - Mansion House, Dublin, 21st March 1921. - - _To Director of Propaganda._ - - A CHARA,—The enclosed copy of notes from Ireland will probably be - of some interest to you. I have previously sent some copies of - these and other things from the Unionist Alliance people. - - Many figures have been given in the papers recently with regard to - R.I.C. resignations, dismissals, recruitment. All these - _questions_ have been asked on instructions from me, and I think - you might be able to make very good use of some of them. For - instance, in the 10th March ‘Hansard’ (pages 688 and 689) are - given the figures which appeared in the ‘Independent’ some days - ago. In a few days’ time we shall get total strength and total - numbers recruited over certain periods. - - I have got an arrangement made in London whereby the ‘Independent’ - correspondents will always quote the figures pretty fully for our - benefit. - - Do Chara, - - MICHAEL COLLINS. - -Sinn Fein first learnt the art of propaganda from those pastmasters the -Boches; but if ever the latter think of trying their luck with another -“Der Tag,” they will find that Sinn Fein can teach them now more than -ever they taught Sinn Fein. The Celtic mind seems to be peculiarly -adapted and susceptible to propaganda consisting largely of half and -three-quarter lies. - -But nothing surprised and dismayed Irish Loyalists more than the -suppression of reports of murders and outrages in Ireland in the great -majority of English papers, though later on these same papers filled -columns with any murder or atrocity alleged to have been committed by -police or Auxiliaries. Moreover, from their tone, it soon became obvious -that some papers were strongly pro-Sinn Fein. - -To an Irishman the English Radical has always been one of the greatest -wonders and mysteries of this world; and often he cannot help asking why -God has sent him into this world. Of course, there is no doubt that all -are here for some purpose, good or bad, but of what use is the Radical -to England? - -Is he the wee drop of poison in the whole which is to bring about the -downfall of the Empire as a punishment for the sins of its leaders? At -any rate, he has always been a puzzle and enigma to Irish and French -alike, and they have no use for a man whose chief idea of patriotism -appears to be to take any and every side against his own country. - -There is no possible doubt that the Government were forced or -frightened, by the howls of the Radicals, incited by Sinn Fein -propaganda, to order that reprisals by the Crown forces in Ireland -should cease, whereby the Crown forces’ most effective weapon was taken -from them, though it was still left in the hands of the murder gang. - -Fierce were the denouncements by the Radicals in the House of the -unfortunate Irish police; but one waited in vain for a like denouncement -of the murder gang (men who have committed as bad atrocities as the -world has seen) by these same unctuous gentlemen. Ye hypocrites! - -Much has been said and written (chiefly propaganda) about the wickedness -of reprisals, but it is better first to examine the situation before -condemning them. - -It must be clearly understood that the whole power of the murder gang -lay in reprisals: they took reprisals against every one who was against -them by murder, arson, and intimidation. The Crown forces had only the -law, which was paralysed. No one dared give evidence; it was death to do -so. - -Under these circumstances the Crown forces, principally the R.I.C., took -counter-reprisals; this was the only possible method by which they could -save their own lives and the lives and property of the Loyalists, who -looked to them for protection. - -For many weary months unhappy Ireland was rent and torn by this form of -warfare, and it became obvious to most that if one side did not win -pretty soon the country would be ruined. Twice the Crown forces wriggled -their hands free, and on both occasions had the I.R.A. on the verge of -collapse: one stout blow would have finished the show. And each time the -I.R.A. were saved by the screams of their English allies. Each time the -Government quickly took fright, quickly tied the Crown forces’ right -hands, and even threatened to tie up their legs if they set the English -Radicals on the howl again. And once more the I.R.A. plucked up courage, -and the old weary game of ambush and murder started afresh. - -At long last the Government took a sudden notion to make a desperate -effort to finish off the gunmen before the gunmen finished them. - -After the failure to round up the big force of gunmen in the Maryburgh -Peninsula, Blake returned at once to Ballybor with all his men, arriving -to find a cipher wire from the County Inspector to tell him that the -gunmen had turned up in the Ballyrick Mountains, and that as soon as the -Crown forces could be regrouped another effort would be made to come to -grips with these slippery customers. - -No sooner had Blake started to deal with a fearful accumulation of -official correspondence than the head constable told him that Constable -John M’Hugh, who came from the east centre of Ireland and had not been -long in the force, wished to see him—adding that M’Hugh’s father had -been murdered, and that the constable was most anxious to go home, but -that the police at his home had wired that it was not safe for the man -to go. - -Blake saw M’Hugh at once, and found him in a pitiable state of grief, -the first great sorrow of his young life—but had to refuse his request, -though the boy pleaded hard, with the tears running down his cheeks. -M’Hugh’s case is a good example of the murder gang’s reprisals on those -who will not fall in with their views. - -Old M’Hugh was a widower living with his two sons near a large town on -the east coast. Unfortunately John was an unwilling witness of the first -murders of British officers in Ireland during the present rebellion, and -in order to save the lives of his sons old M’Hugh got them into the -R.I.C. as soon as he could. - -On several occasions old M’Hugh was threatened by the I.R.A. that if he -did not make his sons resign they would do for him: every time he -refused, and told his sons nothing about being threatened. Finally, the -usual pack of masked fiends went to the old man’s cottage in the dead of -night, and murdered him by the refined process of dragging him out of -bed and kicking him on the head until they smashed his skull in—a deed -hard to beat for pure brutal savagery. - -The following day Blake received a long visit from the County Inspector, -who gave him the outline of the new plan of campaign, and instructions -for the part Blake and his men were to take. - -The country of the Ballyrick Mountains is a square-shaped peninsula of, -roughly, fourteen hundred square miles, consisting of vast flats of bogs -on the north, west, and east, intercepted by hills, while the south part -consists of nothing but mountains. One main road runs through the -centre, east and west, and another skirts the coast for three-quarters -of the north coast, then turns inland, crosses the other road at about -the centre of the peninsula at the village of Ballyscadden, then -continues due south until it reaches the coast. In the whole peninsula -there are only half a dozen small villages, all not less than sixteen -miles apart. - -To drive this huge country would require at least twenty times as many -troops as were available, and A.S.C. train to keep them supplied with -rations; there remained the possibility of starving the gunmen into -surrender. - -All the villages were to be occupied by military, and every road -picketed and blocked with barbed wire; at the same time the military -were to endeavour to form a cordon across the neck of the peninsula, a -distance of thirty-five miles. - -The police, who were to do the actual hunting, were divided into flying -columns, with all available transport. The Navy was to be responsible -for the numerous islands on the west and south coasts, and were to open -fire on any parties of gunmen who came within the range of their vision -and guns. - -Aeroplanes were to work continuously over the country during daylight, -and on locating the enemy, were to drop their messages at the police -headquarters at Ballyscadden. - -It was expected that at the first sign of danger the gunmen would make -for the mountains in the south, when the area of operations would be -greatly restricted. - -When all preparations were completed a start was to be made as soon as -there seemed a reasonable prospect of fine weather. Finally, at Blake’s -suggestion, they tried to collect every flock of mountain sheep and -confine them to the flat country to the north, but after the first day -many of the sheep returned to their own mountains in spite of the -efforts of the shepherds. - -Blake’s part was to keep all his available men at headquarters, ready to -dash off at a moment’s notice on receipt of information of the location -of any party of gunmen. - -Owing to a bad westerly storm operations had to be postponed for a few -days, during which time the gunmen were left undisturbed. - -As had been expected, they drew a blank in the flat country, though it -was reported by the first ‘plane up that a large party of cyclists had -been spotted making their way south from Ballyscadden some time before -the police occupied that village. - -The weather then turned very fine, and as there was a full moon, it was -decided to sit tight for a few days in order to see whether starvation -would force the gunmen to attempt a break through. - -For two days the aeroplanes had nothing to report except the movements -of small parties of not more than six men, and always in the mountains -to the south. On the third a ‘plane dropped the exciting news that a big -column, estimated at several hundred men, was marching south-west with -an advance of scouts to a depth of two miles. - -Blake at once turned out his men, and made off south at full speed. At -the same time a column left Castleport to make its way up the coast road -and intercept the gunmen before they could debouch from the -mountains—their orders being to advance up a valley from the coast to a -shooting-lodge, which was situated at the junction of three valleys, two -of which lead north-east and south-west round the foot of Falcon -Mountain. Here they were to wait while Blake endeavoured to drive the -gunmen down the north-east valley towards them. - -For twenty-four hours Blake kept up a running fight with the gunmen in -the mountains, always trying to head them towards the valley which leads -to the foot of Falcon Mountain, and at last, when his men could hardly -move, had the satisfaction of seeing the gunmen making for the valley. - -The police followed slowly and painfully, to find not a sign of a human -being at the shooting-lodge. The men flung themselves down in the -heather, beat to the world, and some of them even burst into tears of -rage. - -The explanation came afterwards. The Castleport party received orders to -proceed up the valley from the sea, and intercept the gunmen at a -shooting-lodge. Unfortunately there were two lodges—one on the shore of -a lake about half-way up the valley from the sea, and the second and -right one at the junction of the three valleys. Naturally the Castleport -party, none of whom had been in these mountains before, stopped at the -first lodge they came to on the shore of the lake. - -A thick mist came up off the sea that night, and the gunmen, who had -taken refuge on the upper rocky slopes of Falcon Mountain, slipped -through the cordon in the mist in twos and threes, commandeered -bicycles, and so made good their escape. - -Some time afterwards, being again very hard pressed, large parties of -gunmen took up their quarters in the Ballyrick Mountains, and lay low. -Gradually their numbers increased, until it was reported that the -mountains carried as many gunmen as sheep. - -At this time the Government appeared to have at last realised that the -only way to restore order in Ireland was to oppose force by superior -force. Many people could have given them this information months -previously. - -A report went through Ireland that the Government was massing artillery -at Holyhead to mow down the I.R.A. with their brutal high explosives and -shrapnel. In reality what happened was that all batteries in England -were turned into mounted infantry, only about twenty-five men being left -with a battery, and concentrated at Holyhead, preparatory to crossing to -Ireland. - -To Blake’s joy, the Ballyrick country was chosen as the first scene of -what was fondly supposed would be the end of the rebellion. - -Quickly 20,000 troops were massed across the neck of the Ballyrick -Peninsula with every available Auxiliary and a large force of R.I.C., -while a naval force was standing by off the coast ready to land sailors -and marines. All that was wanted was a good weather forecast to start -in, and put an end to this great mob of gunmen—the curse of modern -Ireland. - -The good weather forecast came along all right, and on the morrow they -were to get a move on and put an end to this miserable breed of cowardly -warfare. - -But on the morrow, instead of the Advance, they heard the Stand Fast -sounded, and to their dismay learnt that a truce had been proclaimed—a -truce with murderers, forsooth! - - - - - XXI. - THE TRUCE. - - -Blake had been educated at a big English public school, where he had -learnt that the keynote to an Englishman’s life is straightness. -Further, in the British Army he had found that all good Britishers try -their level best to run straight. - -Early in 1921 there had been a strong rumour in the R.I.C. that the -British Government had come to secret terms with Sinn Fein, and that -after a period of window-dressing a truce would be declared; then would -follow a lot of talk, and the terms of settlement would emerge. It was -even reported that a conference had been held in Norway of -representatives of the British Government and Sinn Fein, and also a -representative from each of the Dominions, and a settlement arrived at. - -At the time the Prime Minister fired off one of his loudest and most -daring defiances at Sinn Fein: that he would never give in nor would he -ever treat with the murder gang in Ireland, that the Crown forces in -that country would be supported by all the resources of the Empire, and -so on _ad nauseam_. And this, as Blake heard a cynic remark, was a sign -that the sinister rumour was most likely true. - -Blake had dismissed the idea with a laugh, but when the truce bomb burst -his mind at once flew back to the secret settlement rumour, now months -old, and he began to suspect with a horrible fear that they had been -sold, and badly sold. - -Naturally the first effects on the police were bad. The older men who -had been let down before laughed and cried to each other, “Sold again!” -but the younger ones, who had yet to learn the ways of politicians, took -the matter to heart, and started to brood over it. - -There were several questions to which they badly wanted an answer; the -chief being, if there was to be this complete surrender, why had it not -been made long ago, when the lives of many of their relations and pals -in the Army and R.I.C. might have been saved, not to mention the lives -of many Loyalists? These valuable lives had been freely given in order -that Ireland should be freed from the murderous plague of gunmen, in the -same way as during the late war the lives of the Empire’s best were -sacrificed in order that we should be freed from the murderous plague of -the Boches. - -Further, they wanted to know what terms had been made with regard to -their comrades who had fallen into the hands of the I.R.A. - -The Loyalists were staggered, knowing that their worst fears would now -be realised; to be handed over to the murder gang, which was the reward -the cynics in the Dublin clubs had always prophesied, would be England’s -return for the efforts of the Loyalists during the war. However, they -could say nothing and do nothing, but simply make the best of their -fate. - -The neutrals, most of whom had changed their flag as often as the -British Government had changed its mind, now, of course, openly threw in -their lot with Sinn Fein. - -The townspeople and farmers openly rejoiced at the prospect of even a -temporary peace, though in their hearts many of them knew that there -could be no real peace in Ireland until the gunmen had been wiped out or -reduced to a state of impotence by disarming them. However, the future -could take care of itself as far as they were concerned. - -For the first few days of the Truce the Sinn Feiners appeared to be -doubtful whether their wonderful good luck could be really true, and -consequently lay low. Then men and boys who had been on the run for many -moons returned to Ballybor, and gave an exhibition of “See the -Conquering Hero Comes” in the streets daily; among them men wanted badly -for atrocious murders, who now snapped their fingers openly in the faces -of the police. A policeman could not walk the streets of Ballybor -without meeting these swaggering fellows, who openly laughed and jeered -at them when they passed. - -However, a considerable number did not return, and on their relations -inquiring about their whereabouts from the I.R.A. liaison officer, they -were told they never would come back. - -Gradually, being sure they were indeed safe, and that in truth they had -the British Government on the run instead of being on the run -themselves, they grew bolder and more insolent. - -One brute went up to the sentry outside the police barracks and -deliberately spat on him, hoping no doubt that the constable would lose -his temper and break the truce. The constable stepped into the barracks -and returned at once with the Sinn Fein flag, with which he carefully -wiped the offending stains off his face and tunic under the nose of the -astonished gunman. He then proceeded to stand on the flag in the mud, -and asked the gunman, “What about it?” For some seconds the gunman stood -irresolute, then turned and walked off, looking a complete ass, followed -by the loud laughter of the police. - -From now the Republicans proceeded to take over the government of the -district, the police standing by helpless, bound hand and foot by the -strict order that on no account were they to disturb the peace -atmosphere. How the Boches must be laughing at us! - -In every parish Republican Courts were advertised to be held in the -local papers, and were held without let or hindrance, the advertisements -stating that “Summons, &c., can be had on application to ——, Clerk of -the Court.” And why not? Had not the I.R.A. beaten Lloyd George to his -knees, and was not the British Government on the run? - -To give the comical touch necessary in Ireland, the R.M. continued to -receive instructions from the Castle to attend the various Petty -Sessions Courts in every district and deal out the British version of -the law. Probably the first time (and please God the last) that any part -of Great Britain and Ireland has been governed by two sets of laws at -the same time. - -With regard to this disgraceful state of affairs one particular case -will give a good illustration of how low British law has fallen in the -west of Ireland. - -A very decent man called O’Brien, who had been a herd to the Congested -Districts Board, bought a farm from the Board with three other men, the -farm being divided into four. - -This did not suit the landless members of the Transport Union in the -district, whose idea was that they should have the land without paying -for it. They told O’Brien to get out, but he refused; they then -proceeded to smash the fences and drive and injure his cattle. O’Brien -built up the fences and put his cattle back. - -They next proceeded to beat O’Brien, who afterwards went into Ballybor -but returned without taking any action, as they told him there that -there was now no law in the country. That night they beat him again; the -process consisted of first holding him while a powerful man closed his -eyes with repeated blows of his fists, and then they hammered him to -their heart’s content and left him in the road for dead. - -Hours afterwards O’Brien crawled home on his hands and knees—he was -practically blinded, and appears to have found his way home by -instinct,—and some days afterwards, when he had recovered a little, he -went to the police in Ballybor. - -A magistrate happened to be at the barracks at the time, and insisted -that steps should be taken to protect O’Brien and punish the savages who -had beaten him, though the police told him that they were afraid that it -was quite useless to try. - -However, the magistrate took O’Brien’s information, the case came on -week after week at the Ballybor Petty Sessions, always to be adjourned -at the request of the police, waiting instruction from the Castle. At -last O’Brien, in despair, took his case to the local Sinn Fein Court; -and here the chief offender was fined £27 and the others large sums, and -they were warned that if they interfered with O’Brien again they would -be dealt with very severely. - -And this is a good example of how British law protects a decent citizen -in Ireland at the present time; but one forgets that the peace -atmosphere must not be disturbed at all costs! But is there any wonder -that the people are fast leaving the King’s Courts for those of Sinn -Fein, and of their own free will now? - -Republican Local Government inspectors appeared in every district, and -quickly ousted the King’s inspectors; held courts of inquiry on -unfortunate road surveyors who had refused to take the oath of -allegiance to Dail Eireann, and tried to sack loyal dispensary doctors. - -The chief amusement of the local gunmen on leave, and of their friends, -male and female, was now to spend their time joy-riding through the -countryside, flying Sinn Fein flags on their commandeered lorries and -singing the “Soldier’s Song” whenever they passed any police or a -barracks. - -One expedition of this kind went out to Ballyrick on a Sunday and -returned to Ballybor about midnight. Blake happened to be passing down -the main street at the time, and encountered a party of drunken bank -clerks trying to see how much row they could make. - -Blake remonstrated with them, and told them that if they did not go home -quietly he would have them arrested. One clerk at once started to sing -the “Soldier’s Song” at the top of his voice, and another shouted at -Blake in an insolent voice, “What about the truce, Mr B——, D.I.?” Blake -saw red—he had borne and suffered much for many days,—and he gave the -bank clerk a full drive on the chin which sent him flying. The whole -party then swiftly retreated in silence. - -The following day Blake paid a visit to the bank, and said to the clerk -he had ousted the previous night, “Look here, Mr Bank Clerk, don’t think -I hit you last night because you were drunk. There’s a fine open yard at -the back of the barracks, and if you will come round now, we can fight -it out.” Abject apologies from Mr Bank Clerk, and Blake left the bank. - -One morning a woman arrived at the barracks in a state of great distress -and asked to see the D.I. She told Blake that she lived in a small house -in Cloonalla, which she rented from another woman in the village. Twice -her landlady had tried in a British court to evict her, and had failed. -The landlady then applied to the local I.R.A., who promptly turned the -unfortunate woman with all her furniture and belongings into the street, -and there she remained. When she remonstrated with them they showed her -a warrant signed by the village Sinn Fein magistrate and left her. - -Blake at once applied to the County Inspector for instructions, who -applied to the higher authorities. Back came the answer, “See circular -so-and-so,” which on being turned up stated that all breaches of the -Truce should be at once reported. Meanwhile the woman remained homeless: -neighbours in an Irish village nowadays fight shy of an I.R.A. victim, -and circulars are not substitutes for roofs. - -Again Blake tried to get leave to take action, and this time the answer -was to forward four copies of the case to the police adviser in -Scotland. In despair he put his pride in his pocket and applied to the -I.R.A. liaison officer of the district for help. - -And the next day the liaison officer arrived in Ballybor—an ex-soldier -and a well-known murderer. Blake felt that he could hardly stand this -final insult to an honourable uniform; but duty is duty, and a truce -must be kept. - -The liaison officer went out in a car to Cloonalla, and ordered the -local braves to put the woman and her furniture back in her house, which -they flatly refused to do. And that was the end of the matter. - -After some weeks’ rest the chiefs of the I.R.A. issued an order calling -all men to the colours, whether they liked it or not. - -It has been mentioned that the country round Ballybor was famous for its -excellent shooting, grouse, snipe, woodcock, duck, and geese chiefly; -and in the days before the rebellion many Englishmen must have spent -happy times shooting and fishing in the many shooting-lodges dotted -about on the mountains and moors to the east and west of Ballybor. - -Now all these lodges are occupied by instructors of the I.R.A., who take -so many of the young men and boys of the district in relays for an eight -days’ intensive training course—drilling, musketry, instruction in the -use of Lewis and Thompson machine-guns, bombing, and twenty-five-mile -route-marches in full fighting order, the latter most unpopular. - -Not only have all old members of the I.R.A. to attend these courses, but -every young man and boy, who had previously refused to join up, have to -go; and there is no refusing to go now. - -You may miss your garden-boy or shop-assistant, to meet him in the -course of the week taking part in a route-march; or if you are foolishly -inquisitive, you may see him at dawn advancing across your demesne in -company with other boys, or firing his musketry course. - -Blake watched two lorry-loads of these recruits setting off on a Monday -morning from the main street of Ballybor under his very nose, Sinn Fein -flags flying; and they sang the “Soldier’s Song” for his special -benefit. - -About two miles from Ballybor there lives a retired officer in a nice -house with a good demesne, a man who served the Empire well and truly -for many years. When the war was over he retired, fondly hoping to spend -the remainder of his days in peace and comfort in his old family home. - -But not so: he happened to be the owner of a demesne which the Transport -Union had promised to its members. So they tried repeatedly to stampede -him out of the country, but that failed. Now his place is occupied by -what the I.R.A. call a week-end camp for the drilling and instruction of -the Ballybor shop-boys. They use his cooking utensils, burn his turf, -and make the night hideous with their yells and oaths, so that the -officer and his family find it impossible to get any rest. Moreover, -they, the I.R.A., do not appear to be strong in sanitary sections. And -they told him that if he took any action they would burn his place to -the ground. - -What action could he take? There is no law in the country except the law -of the pistol. The police are now bound hand and foot. They report these -outrages to the Castle, and what happens? Nothing. The Government are -far too busy hunting for that elusive formula which is to turn this -Irish hell into a paradise, to worry about a stupid old retired officer. -He has no vote in England, nor can he ever affect their political -careers. - -And why all these feverish military preparations? Either to invade -Ulster when the time of a settlement and peace comes, or, if the Truce -is broken, to massacre the R.I.C. and the Loyalists. - -About this time a constable, transferred from the south-west to -Ballybor, brought with him a story—he swore it was true—which will take -a queer lot of formulæ to explain away. Not long ago the I.R.A. ran a -cargo of arms on the coast where he was stationed, openly, with the -police looking on. The police at once reported the affair, and were told -that it did not matter as the arms would never be used. - -Presumably the authorities meant that these arms would not be used -against the Crown forces; but what about loyal Ulster, and those most -unfortunate of people to-day in Europe, outside of Russia, the southern -Irish Loyalists? - -Apparently the I.R.A. chiefs are believers in games for their men, as -witness the following advertisement which appeared in the Ballybor shop -windows:— - - GREAT FOOTBALL MATCH. - - - NORTH BALLYRICK FLYING - COLUMN, I.R.A. - - _v._ - - BALLYBOR PATRICKITES. - - - PAY YOUR SHILLING AND SEE - HOW WE ENJOY THE TRUCE. - -The Transport Union unwittingly supplied the comical element of the -situation when they started a great row with the I.R.A. people in -Ballybor. It appeared that the I.R.A. had been in the habit of not -paying the Union rate of wages to the stalwarts of the Transport Union -for digging trenches across roads and breaking down bridges during the -war, and now they were furious because the I.R.A. refused to pay up the -difference, and threatened them with all sorts of horrible things. And -the I.R.A. laughed at them. - -People in England have not the remotest conception of the terrible -Frankenstein monster which De Valera & Co. have reared up and armed in -Ireland, a hideous monster of murderous and armed gunmen, fearing -neither God nor man, which in the summer of 1921 was on the point of -being exterminated by British bayonets to make this beautiful island of -Ireland once more a clean and wholesome land, where men might dwell in -peace. - -That chance has gone. Will it ever occur again? And if it does will the -British Government seize their opportunity like men and rid Ireland of -this terrible menace? Or will they again be found wanting, groping after -some wretched formula? - -Do people realise why De Valera acts the part of the coy fly in -hesitating to enter Mr Lloyd George’s talking parlour? The sinister -reason is that if he once gives up his claim to an Irish Republic he -seals his own doom. The day he enters into a conference with the British -Government on these conditions, the Irish Republican Brotherhood signs -his death warrant, and well he knows it. - -But if, for argument’s sake, a so-called settlement is arrived at, what -becomes of De Valera’s Frankenstein monster? - -Will it beat its automatics into reaping-hooks and convert its -machine-guns into potato-sprayers? Possibly in the minds of English -Radicals, but nowhere else. - -And when the Welshman and the Mexican have fooled the English and the -southern Irish with a formula, do they think that any formula ever -phrased would fool Ulster? - -On the day that an Irish Republic is set up (Dominion Home Rule is only -another name for it), Sinn Fein, its _raison d’être_ accomplished, dies; -but out of its corpse will arise two parties, or rather armies (for all -men in Ireland are armed to-day except the Loyalists), one consisting of -the farmer shopkeeper class, while the other will be the Citizen Army of -the Bolshevist Labour Party. - -The rank and file of the I.R.A. consists of farmers’ sons, young -townsmen, shop assistants, and the like; they expect either a fat -pension for life or twenty acres of land. Both have been freely promised -to them, and both are equally impossible. - -And these disgruntled gunmen, all armed, will take sides according to -their sympathies, and before many months are past these forces will be -at each other’s throats. And the national air of Ireland will be the -“Red Flag.” - -Like Kerensky in Russia, De Valera will disappear in the welter of -revolution. - -The R.I.C. will have vanished—they have already been told that when the -“Cease fire” sounds, they will be given a month to clear out of Ireland, -lock, stock, and barrel. - -The surrender to Sinn Fein by the British Government is a good example -of the evil which can be brought about by that modern plague, skilful -and unscrupulous propaganda. - -The sooner the good elements in England wake up and combine to insist -that the necessary action is taken in Ireland to enforce law and order, -the better it will be for both countries and the Empire. - -The English people have been fooled by a press which carefully -suppressed all news of the true state of affairs in Ireland, and then -gave lying and distorted accounts. - -It is futile to say that the remedy for false reports lies with the law. -All honest men know that a clever lawyer in a court of law can make a -half or three-quarter black lie appear a whole truth white as driven -snow, as easily as a smart and up-to-date accountant can juggle with a -balance-sheet to show + or - half a million as the necessity arises. - -The day will come in Ireland when men will pray to God for a sight of -the good old green uniform of the R.I.C. And it will be too late. - - - PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES - - - 1. Changed fight to light on p. 198. - 2. Silently corrected typographical errors. - 3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. - 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Tales of the R.I.C, by Unknown and The Royal Irish Constabulary - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF THE R.I.C. *** - -***** This file should be named 53324-0.txt or 53324-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/3/2/53324/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |