glancing at the bystanders as he moved up the street. There was a crowd
of people on the edge of the pavement, and he thrust himself into it,
and glanced over the shoulder of a woman at the ground. There was a mess
of thick, congealing blood splashed on the road and the kerb.

"That's where the peeler was killed!" the woman said to him....

He edged out of the crowd as quickly as he could, feeling sick with
horror, and again he felt a bitter anger against John Marsh.

"He was going to Mass every morning, damn him, to make sure of his own
soul, but he didn't give the policeman time to make any preparation. All
his high motives and his idealism tumble down to that ... that mess on
the pavement!..."

10

"But what's the Government doing?" he wondered.

There were no police, no soldiers, no authority anywhere. It seemed
unbelievable that a number of armed youths and men could seize a capital
city without opposition of any kind. He wondered whether there was any
truth in the rumours that had been floating about the city all day.
Could it possibly be that the Germans had effected a landing in Ireland
and were marching on the city? Could it be true that the British Fleet
had been destroyed by the German Fleet? Had the Government thrown up the
sponge?...

He met O'Dowd, an official whom he had seen several times at the Club.
"Where's the Government?" he asked....

"Well, to tell you the truth, Quinn, I don't know. I believe there's an
election going on at Trinity College. It's a damned comic affair, this!"

"Comic!"

"Well, I mean to say, it's a bit rum, isn't it?"

11

He went back to the Club in the evening. There were no lights in the
streets, and as the dusk settled down, the crowds of holiday-makers
began to move homewards. There were no trams running and few cars to be
seen, and the tired crowd that had been standing or walking about all
day, dragged itself home listlessly and heavily. There was a sense of
foreboding over the people, and some of them glanced apprehensively
about them. The thing had been funny in the daylight, but it was getting
dark now ... and who knew what might be lurking in the shadows? It was
strange that there were no police to be seen anywhere, and stranger
still that the soldiers had not appeared....

There was a Sinn Feiner on guard at the gate near Henry's Club, and
sitting at the open window, Henry could see him very distinctly: a
little, red-haired, angry man, who chewed h