Ireland
would have risen in open war. But a competent General was exactly
what the insurgents lacked; for Cluseret, having surveyed the whole
situation with eyes trained by a lifelong experience of war, decided
that the scheme was hopeless, and returned to Paris.

Such were some--for I have only mentioned a few--of the incidents
which made 1867 a memorable year. On my own memory it is stamped
with a peculiar clearness.

On Wednesday morning, the 2nd of October, 1867, as we were going up
to First School at Harrow, a rumour flew from mouth to mouth that
the drill-shed had been attacked by Fenians. Sure enough it had. The
caretaker (as I said before) lived some way from the building, and
when he went to open it in the morning he found that the door had
been forced and the place swept clean of arms and ammunition. Here
was a real sensation, and we felt for a few hours "the joy of eventful
living"; but later in the day the evening papers, coming down from
London, quenched our excitement with a greater. It appeared that
during the night of the 1st of October, drill-sheds and armouries
belonging to the Volunteer regiments had been simultaneously raided
north, south, east, and west of London, and all munitions of war
spirited away, for a purpose which was not hard to guess. Commenting
on this startling occurrence, the papers said: "We have reason
to believe that one of the ablest of the Fenian agents has been
for some time operating secretly in the United Kingdom. He has
been traced to Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London. It is
believed at Scotland Yard that he organized these attacks on Volunteer
headquarters, arranged for the arms and ammunition to be transferred
by a sure hand to Ireland, and has himself returned to Paris." A
friend of mine who had gone up to London to see a dentist brought
back a _Globe_ with him, and, as he handed it to me, he pointed
out the passage which I have just cited. As I read it, my heart
gave a jump--a sudden thrill of delicious excitement. My friend
Mr. Aulif must be the Fenian agent who had organized these raids,
and I, who had always dreamed romance, had now been brought into
actual contact with it. The idea of communicating my suspicions
to anyone never crossed my mind. I felt instinctively that this
was a case where silence was golden. Fortunately, none of my
school-fellows had seen Mr. Aulif or heard of his visit; and the
old caretaker of the drill-shed had been too much gratified