hey cheered quite heartily. Mr. Billing crossed
the square and walked over towards the hotel. He smiled and nodded right
and left as he went. An outburst of cheering pursued him through the
door.

Sergeant Colgan and Constable Moriarty had stood during the speeches in
a quiet corner near their barrack. When Father McCormack went home and
Mr. Billing entered the hotel, they marched with great dignity up and
down through the people. They looked as if they expected someone to
start a riot It is the duty of the police in Ireland on all occasions of
public meetings to look as if there might be a riot, and as if they are
quite prepared to quell it when it breaks out. It is in this way that
they justify their existence as a large armed force.

Occasionally Sergeant Colgan spoke a word of kindly advice to anyone who
looked as if he had drunk more than two bottles of porter.

"It would be as well for you, Patsy," he would say, "to be getting along
home."

Or, "I'm thinking, Timothy John, that you'd be better this minute if you
were at home."

There are no stronger believers in the value of the domestic hearth than
the police. They always want everyone to go home.

No one, least of all the individuals who received the advice personally,
was inclined to leave the square. The meeting might be over, but there
was still hope that young Kerrigan would muster the town band again and
play "The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond" once or twice more. He
did not do so, but the waiting people were rewarded for their patience
by two events of some interest. Mr. Gregg came out of the barrack and
crossed the square rapidly. He caught Dr. O'Grady and Major Kent just as
they were turning to follow Mr. Billing into the hotel. Mr. Gregg was in
uniform, and the determined way in which he took Dr. O'Grady by the arm
would have made most people uncomfortable. It is not pleasant, even
if your conscience is quite clear, to be grabbed suddenly by a police
officer in the middle of the street. But Dr. O'Grady did not seem to
mind. He went, though not very willingly, with Mr. Gregg into the police
barrack. Major Kent followed them. Several men, perhaps a dozen, drifted
across the square towards the barrack door. They had some hope of
finding out what Mr. Gregg wanted with the doctor. They were not,
however, given the opportunity of peering through the barrack windows.
Sergeant Colgan saw them in good time and dispersed them at once.

"Get along ho