p, inward
look as if they were pondering over some great thing. Were they sad
for their shattered dreams of a safe return to Ireland; and of a
peaceful home life with a girl of blue eyes, red lips, and black hair
as its alluring central figure? An officer passed among them saying,
"Our time has come, boys, and we must not falter. Remember we are
Munsters; and, above all, remember Ireland." The men were thrilled by
this double appeal to pride in their gallant regiment and love for
their dear native land. At the words their spirits mounted high. So
that when it was discovered that one of the gangways had been shot
away by a shell, and a delay was suggested in order to see if it could
not be rigged up again, and one of the officers stepped forward, and
shouted, "Volunteers for the first dash," there was an instant
response, "We are ready, sir." I am told one of the Munsters made the
racy reply:--"Let us at them, sir; sure it's as aisy a job as we can
strike." It is the way of the Irish to make light of troubles.
"There's nothing so bad but it could be worse," runs one of their
sayings. They will seek to pluck contentment from the most desperate
of situations.

The officer stepped through the hole on to the gangway, with the men
pressing close behind him. At the moment the bullets were rattling
like diabolic hailstones against the steel sides by which the hull of
the vessel were strengthened. What happened then is graphically
described by Private Timothy Buckley, of Macroom, County Cork. Lying
wounded in a military hospital in England, he said:--

"The captain of my company asked for 200 volunteers, and as I
was in his company I volunteered. We got ready inside on the
deck, and opened the buckles of our equipment, so that every man
might have a chance of saving himself if he fell into the water.
He gave the order to fix bayonets when we should get ashore. He
then led the way, but fell immediately at the foot of the
gangway. The next man jumped over him, and kept going until he
fell on the pontoon bridge. Altogether 149 men were killed
outright and 30 wounded. I was about the twenty-seventh man out.
I stood counting them as they were going through. It was then I
thought of peaceful Macroom, and wondered if I should ever see
it again. When my turn came I was wiser than some of my
comrades. The moment I stood on the gangway I jumped over the
rope on to the pontoon. Two