hat part out. Tell me what
you did with the guns when you'd got them."

"Right It was there the fun really came in. Not that I'm complaining
about the other part. It was sport all right, but the funny part, the
part you'll like, came later. What _about_ another cigar?"

I rang the bell, and got two more cigars for Sam.

"We had rather a tiresome passage home," he said. "It kept on falling
calm, and O'Meara's motor isn't very powerful. It took us a clear week
to work our way up to the County Down coast It was there we landed, in
a poky little harbour. We went in at night, and had to wait for a full
tide to get in at all. We got the sails of the boat outside, and just
strolled in, so to speak, with the wretched little engine doing about
half it could. Hazlewood told me that he expected four motor-cars to
meet us, and that I was to take one of them, and drive like hell into
County Armagh. There I was to call at a house belonging to O'Meara, and
hand over my share of the guns. He said he hoped I knew my way about
those parts, because it would be awkward for me trying to work with road
maps when I ought to drive fast. I said I knew that country like the
palm of my hand. The governor's parish is up there, you know."

Sam certainly ought to know County Down. He was brought up there, and
must have walked, cycled, and driven over most of the roads.

"The only thing I didn't know," said Sam, "was O'Meara's house. I'd
never heard of his having a house in that part of the country. However,
he said he'd only taken it lately, and that when I got over the border
into Armagh there'd be a man waiting to show me where to go. He told
me the road I was to take and I knew every turn of the way, so I felt
pretty sure of getting there. It was about two in the morning when we
got alongside the pier. The four motors were there all right, but there
wasn't a soul about except the men in charge of them. We got out the
guns. They were done up in small bundles and the cartridges in handy
little cases; but it took us till half-past four o'clock to get them
ashore. By that time there were a few people knocking about; but they
didn't seem to want to interfere with us. In fact, some of them came
and helped us to pack the stuff into the cars. They were perfectly
friendly."

"That doesn't surprise me in the least," I said "The people up there
are nearly all Protestants. Most of them were probably Volunteers
themselves. I daresay it wasn't the first