you men know the way?"

"I don't," said one voice; "I'm a Cavan man myself."

"Roscommon," said another, "is my country, and I wish I was there now,
so I do."

"Well, if we walk straight on we're bound to get somewhere, so step it
out. Have you got a good hold of that man, Shawn?"

"I have so," said Shawn.

The Philosopher's voice came pealing through the darkness.

"There is no need to pinch me, sir," said he.

"I'm not pinching you at all," said the man.

"You are so," returned the Philosopher. "You have a big lump of skin
doubled up in the sleeve of my coat, and unless you instantly release it
I will sit down in the road."

"Is that any better?" said the man, relaxing his hold a little.

"You have only let out half of it," replied the Philosopher. "That's
better now," he continued, and they resumed their journey.

After a few minutes of silence the Philosopher began to speak.

"I do not see any necessity in nature for policemen," said he, "nor do I
understand how the custom first originated. Dogs and cats do not employ
these extraordinary mercenaries, and yet their polity is progressive
and orderly. Crows are a gregarious race with settled habitations and an
organized commonwealth. They usually congregate in a ruined tower or on
the top of a church, and their civilization is based on mutual aid and
tolerance for each other's idiosyncrasies. Their exceeding mobility and
hardiness renders them dangerous to attack, and thus they are free to
devote themselves to the development of their domestic laws and customs.
If policemen were necessary to a civilization crows would certainly
have evolved them, but I triumphantly insist that they have not got any
policemen in their republic--"

"I don't understand a word you are saying," said the sergeant.

"It doesn't matter," said the Philosopher. "Ants and bees also live in
specialized communities and have an extreme complexity both of function
and occupation. Their experience in governmental matters is enormous,
and yet they have never discovered that a police force is at all
essential to their wellbeing--"

"Do you know," said the sergeant, "that whatever you say now will be
used in evidence against you later on?"

"I do not," said the Philosopher. "It may be said that these races are
free from crime, that such vices as they have are organized and communal
instead of individual and anarchistic, and that, consequently, there
is no necessity for policecraft, bu