of awestruck warning, "Beware the
Jabberwock, my son." Malcolmson seemed to be a kind of White Knight,
lovable, simple-minded, chivalrous, but a little out of place in the
world.

However, Malcolmson and his friends, considered as characters in "Alice
in Wonderland," were effective, far more effective than the poor
White Knight ever was. They bought a lot of guns somewhere, perhaps in
Hamburg. They hired a ship and loaded her with the guns. They sailed
her into Larne Harbour and said to the Government, "Now, come on if you
dare."

The Government, having previously issued a solemn proclamation
forbidding the importation of arms into Ireland, took up the attitude of
Mr. Winkle and said it was just going to begin. It rolled up its
sleeves and clenched its fists and said for the second time and with
considerable emphasis that it was just going to begin, Malcolmson danced
about, coat off, battle light in eye, and kept shouting: "Come on!" The
Government, taking off its collar and tie, said: "Just you wait till I
get at you."

Gorman took a sane, though I think incorrect, view of the situation.

"The English people," he said, "are hopeless fools. It's almost
impossible to deal with them. They are actually beginning to believe
that Ulster is in earnest."

"Well," I said, "that's only fair. They've been believing that you're in
earnest for quite a long time now. Ulster ought to have its turn."

Gorman, though a politician, is essentially a just man. He admitted
the truth of what I had said.. He went further. He admitted that
Malcolmson's coup was exceedingly well conceived.

"It's just the sort of thing," he said, "which appeals to Englishmen.
Reason is wasted on them."

"Don't be too hard on the English," I said. "It's the same everywhere in
the world. Government through the people, of the people, by, with, from,
to and for the people, is always unreasonable."

"It's the theatrical which pays," said Gorman. "I didn't think those
fellows in Belfast had brains enough to grasp that fact, but apparently
they have. I must say that this gun-running performance of theirs is
good. It has the quality which Americans describe as 'punch.' It has
stirred the popular imagination. It has got right across the footlights.
It has fetched the audience."

"Awkward situation for you," I said.

"We'll have to do something," said Gorman.

"Arrest the ringleaders? Imprison Malcolmson?"

"Lord, no. We may be fools, but we're not suc