fired on while they are still subtler devices were resorted in the toils and before they have recovered from their surprise. At first this method was successful; but later, when the intended victims became more fully acquainted with the wiles of their adversaries, they knew that a man on a motor bicycle, travelling fast and looking behind him frequently, with an obvious display of interest in their movements, was a sure sign of some hostile intention. They were aware, too, that a piece of road that was hidden from a distance, or the first few yards after turning a corner, were the most likely spots for an ambush. The insecurity of the ordinary post as a means for the conveyance of official documents very soon made it necessary to send all correspondence by road, and the more active partisans of Sinn Fein, who had hitherto found scope for their energies in raiding postoffices, speedily turned their attention to the more profitable resource of holding up the cars that carried the mails. At first the insurgents did nothing more than lurk on the sides of roads behind trees, and fire at the oars as they passed, a proceeding which very seldom produced any notable effect, for their weapons were generally old and rusty. They were not as a rule surpassing marksmen, and the drivers simply forged ahead at breakneck speed out of reach. When it was found that these tactics resulted in failure, to. They organised over the countryside an elaborate system of spies, by which they could make sure of knowing when the mails started and the route by which they travelled. They told off one of their number to patrol the roads on a motor bicycle, and to supply them with information of any movements of "the military.' The scout made it his business to note the outgoing journey of the mail, to report the fact to Sinn Fein Headquarters, and then to race on by a different route to a spot which it was certain to pass. Here the main body, who were to carry out the surprise, would cut down trees and lay them across the road; and if time allowed, they would dig trenoh behind and conceal themselves. 8 On two or three occasions this plan succeeded. The drivers of the swiftly-travelling Crossley cars tore along at a pace that would horrify the zealous guardians of the speedlimit in a more law-abiding country, and confident of defying and outdistancing any one who attempted to check their course with rifle-fire, orashed blindly into a mass of logs and branches, while a shower of bullets pelted on them from somewhere unseen. The first of these occurrences was, in the main, a triumph for the insurgents. Of the twelve men of the escort and two drivers, fourteen in all, seven were killed or wounded in the first shock. By some means news of what had happened was conveyed to a neighbouring barracks, and a rescue party was soon on its way to the scene of action. When it arrived, every one of the fourteen occupants of the car was wounded, and four of them were dead. The fight had lasted considerably more than half an hour, for the Sinn Feiners, in this instance, were dogged in their determination to get hold of the car and the rifles. But when the rescue party arrived the new factor of fresh men and full supplies of ammunition turned the balance, and the sharpshooters drew off, balked of their prey. It is not too much to say that escorting mails was the duty in which the troops took the greatest pleasure. The remark may savour of braggadooio, but if this should be the impression conveyed, remember that they were allowed out of barracks only on the rarest occasions; that their ordinary routine duties, as well as inlying picquets, patrolling of roads, curfew patrol, and frequent guards, were oooupations attended with almost insuperable monotony, and that the conducting of the mails supplied the diversion of a mad drive through miles of glorious country and the fresh air of the hills, accompanied by new scenes and the prospect of novelty and adventure. And it is true to say that service in Ireland, with all its obvious disadvantages, is more popular than the dull routine of soldiering at home. Many of the men are young, and not having had experience of the war, are anxious to have something to their credit of what, if not called by the name, at least partakes of the nature of active warfare. Το go back to the Sinn Fein emissary on his bioyole. He would ride on madly ahead of the Crossley car and appear almost as if he was taking a friendly interest in their welfare, and then suddenly dart on like an arrow and disappear. The first time or two they took no notice of him, but later the portent became known, and the officer in command of the car would order the driver to change his route, and frequently by this means the hunters would be robbed of their prey. The first successes of Sinn Fein were not followed up by others, for the military authorities got wind of their methods; and whereas it had been the rule for mail escorts to sally forth armed only with rifles, they were afterwards provided with a Lewis gun and bombs, weapons which succeeded on several occasions in dispersing the conspirators a very few moments after their appearance. Strict orders were given that if the mails were attacked the escorts were to fight; and it was surprising to see what a feeble stand was made against their endeavours. It was just about this time also that several of the ringleaders of the rebellion were arrested and sentenced. This fact may have discouraged the smaller fry, for all they did, on occasions when attempts to trap the mails were tried, was, in the words of the song, to "throw their bombs and run away." IV. ESCORTING THE MAIL. It was a brilliant morning in the latter half of August when an officer, eight men, and two drivers received orders to form an escort to the Dolney mail. Dolney is a town distant some twenty-three miles from the city which boasts of Rooks' Castle among its possessions. The car was a specially selected car, new, and in perfeot running condition, while the drivers were old and tried hands who were accustomed to the work. The men were armed with rifles and bombs, and in the middle stood a Lewis gunner, a keen, lively, active man with shining black eyes, who had seen much service during the war, and looked the very embodiment of strength and efficiency. The first part of the journey lay along the banks of a river through small villages of grey stone. Occasionally, rather to the surprise of the soldiers, they were cheered by the civilians and the cheers, be it emphasised, were not ironical, the reason being that the part of the country through which they were passing is one much patronised by people of loyal sympathies, retired sergeants from Irish regiments, their wives and families, and others still well affected to the British rule. Farther on appeared people of a different kind and cast dark, silent, sly, suspicious. They gave unmistakable signs of the restless and disturbed state of the country, looking at the troops as if they were some unusual kind of monster very rare in those parts, an object both of curiosity and fear. Alertness and uncertainty are the prevailing elements of life in these times. The necessity of continual watchfulness is constantly brought home. Even when revolver practice takes place close to the barracks, an escort with fixed bayonets accompanies the party down to the range, and soldiers with their rifles at the firing position and pointed at the surrounding hills lie on the bank above the pit. All may be comparatively quiet for twenty days, and on the twenty-first something may occur to show that the country is really in a state of war. To a certain degree under tranquil conditions, and to a still greater extent in the existing state of affairs, Ireland reminds one of a foreign country. There are many parts of this land which, owing to the scarcity of buildings and the long tracks of moor and plain that the eye travels over with hardly a notable object to break the continuous vista, recall the sweeping downs of Languedoo and the unending slopes of Castile. There is no orowding in of villages and parks and avenues of trees, while everything is on large soale. that trade on the other side of the St George's Channel. It is said that men acquire the nature of the animals they tend that bullock drivers are silent and stubborn, horsemasters lively and animated, muleteers human mules, and so on. Conversely, animals acquire the temperaments of humans, and so Irish animals display that easy indifferent attitude to things in general which is characteristic of their masters, and affords so much amusement to casual visitors who are not accustomed to it. A donkey lying in the road as the car approached paid not the slightest attention to the whir of the engine or the wild blasts of the horn. He monopolised were monopolised not half but three-quarters of the highway, and the driver unable and unwilling to pull up or slacken his speed, passed by within an inch of the nose of the animal, who gave no other sign of life than the lazy wagging of his tail in the dust, while the vehicle went in imminent risk of embedding itself in the ditch. The people too have a very un-English appearance. It is said that there is a great deal of foreign blood, particularly in the south of Ireland. Many of the people whom one sees on the quays of the ports in the south and west of Ireland, as well as in the surrounding country, must be descended from Spaniards who came here in former ages to trade. There is a habit, when this is mentioned, of repeating the absurd figment about their being descended from the shipwrecked mariners who were cast on shore from the Armada. But those unfortunate castaways can scarcely have amounted to several thousand, nor is it likely that they found their way into almost every seaport town in Ireland. These ports did a considerable trade with Spain in the sixteenth century, and you can see its legacy in the aspect of the buildings as well as of the people. In Seville and Malaga the inhabitants love to congregate in the streets and talk. You see the same thing here. In Spanish towns there are an astonishing number of beggars, There are countless beggars too in Ireland, and beggars who request an alms in the same lordly way that the Spanish beggars affect-not with the downcast demeanour of the occasional individuals who ply The Lewis gunner might well sweep every tree and bush as he passed with the searching glance of a hawk, for no country was ever more admirably made for an ambuscade. Behind these grey walls, these grassy mounds, these trees and hedges, there might at any moment be a party of the enemy ready to hurl their bombs, or pour in a hail of bullets. Every one of these solitary, dark-looking loiterers whom the car rushed swiftly past, might be in league with an assassin, and off to spread the news directly it was out of sight. And yet how strange that one should connect all the features of this country only with thoughts of death and strife. How cool and delightful the streams appear glittering in the sunlight; one's thoughts inevitably turn to the trout and salmon lurking in the pools beneath the willows, and longing arises for a few days' sport free from any other care or distraction. And then there is the scene of the far-off mountains as the summit of a hill is reached, and the long expanse spreads out before the hurried travellers. They seem so peaceful under the soft mists that olothe their farthest ridges. And then the mail rushes down through forests of beech and pine into the village of Rathdooley. Soon after it ascends a steep hill, and from the eminence that it has gained, commands a view of a broad river as noble as the Severn or the Thames. On its farther bank stretch the spacious lawns of a park, and its margin is overshadowed by majestic elms. For a moment it seems as if a piece of England had been removed and taken into a foreign land. Then the eye travels farther to where the olosely-packed town of Dolney olusters round its narrow, winding, precipitous street, with its small low-fronted houses, and the people crowding shy and inquisitive at their doors, gazing suspiciously at the soldiers as they oress the bridge and begin the steep ascent. Everywhere there is a ragged uncared-for look, as if nothing that had been begun had been properly finished off; as if in every 088e some one had started off enthusiastically to do something, and then had suddenly wearied of it, and left off in the middle. The barracks stand high on the top of the hill in a commanding position like medieval fortress. It is seldom that they stand anywhere else in the chief towns of Ireland; and the sight of these towering strongholds contributes another cause for the resemblance to places remembered abroad. In Winchester and Shrewsbury the barracks are not built on hills, though there are hills to build them on if such had been the intention. It would seem rather that the valleys had been specially chosen for their site. The gate opens, the car travels in; a tall silent staff officer with fair hair and blue eyes receives the imposing sheaf of documents. They are safe. He hands out others, a smaller packet, and during the interval the party of men regale themselves on their frugal meal of sandwiches and cheese. For a short moment they are among friends, and can exchange a few jests and the news of the hour with their comrades. What a contrast between the neatness and orderliness of the barracks and the happy-go-lucky world |