t smile illuminating a countenance of surpassing griminess, "an'
they rode to widin range, an' got off their hairies, an' dhropped in a
volley just to insinse them they took to be squattin' down inside them
insijious divizes, into what they would be gettin' if they put up the
heads av them." He mopped his brimming eyes with a handful of cotton
waste, not innocent of lubricating fluid. "Tower av Ivory! 'twas grand to
see the contimpt av thim when the cowards widin did not reply. 'Donder!'
says the gaffer in the tay-thray hat and the beard like the grandfather av
all the billygoats. 'Is this,' he says, 'the British pluck they talk
about? Show thim verdant English a Dutchman behind a geweer,' he says, an'
that's what they call a gun in their dirty lingo--'an' they lie down wid
all four legs in the air like a puppy that sees the whip. Plug thim again,
my sons,' says he, 'an' wid the blessin' av Heaven, we'll stiffen the
lot!'"

"You could never hear him, so you could not, not at all that distance,"
the Cardiff stoker objected.

"Could I not see him, ye blind harper, swearin' in dumb show, an' urgin'
thim to shoot sthraight for the honour av the Republics an' give the rooi
batchers Jimmy O! Ga-_lant_-ly they respondid, battherin' the sides av the
mysterious locomotive containin' the bloody an' rapacious soldiery av
threacherous England wid nickel-plated Mauser bullets, ontil she hiccoughs
indacintly, an' wid a bellow to bate St. Fin Barr's bull, kicks herself to
pieces!"

"She did so, surely," affirmed the Cardiff stoker. "Surely she did so."

"Tell the Colonel 'ow the engine jumped right off the metals," advised the
guard.

"Clane she did," went on Kildare jubilantly, "an' rattled Davis an' me
inside the cab like pays in an iron pod. See the funny-bone I sthripped
agin' the side av her!" He exhibited a raw elbow for the inspection of the
Chief. "An' when Davis gets the betther av the rest av the black that's on
him wid soft soap an' hot wather, there's an oi he'll not wash off."

"The brake-handle did that, it did so," said Davis, touching the optic
tenderly. But Kildare was answering a question of the Chiefs.

"Killed! Wisha, yarra! av I'd left a dozen an twenty to the back av that
sthretched on the bog behind me, it's a glad man I'd be to have it to tell
ye, sorr. But barrin' they wor' blown to smithereens entirely, not a
livin' man or horse av thim did I see dead at all, at all. But the
Sergeant an' the Reconnoith