a battleship off Carrickfergus and shell
the whole town into a heap of ruins."

"I'm calculating on their trying that," said Conroy.

That was all I could get out of Conroy. I left him, feeling uneasily
that his vote would certainly go against Clithering's compromise. His
confidence in the fighting powers of the raw men whom Bob and others
had taken to church with them struck me as absurd. His cool assumption
of power to deal with the British fleet was arrogance run mad.

On my way back to my hotel I ran into a congregation which had just
got out of some church or other. In the first rank--they were marching
in very fair order--was Crossan. He saluted me and stopped.

"I'm thinking," he said, "that you won't have seen them."

He pointed to a small group of men who were bringing up the rear of
the congregation's march. They were dragging a heavy object along with
two large ropes. I recognized the leader of them at once. He was
Cahoon's foreman friend, McConkey. I was pleased to find that he
recognized me.

"I have her safe," he said. "Would you like to take a look at her?"

I did. She was a machine gun of a kind quite unknown to me; but her
appearance was very murderous. McConkey led me up to her. He stroked
her black side lovingly and patted her in various places.

"I was trying her yesterday," he said, "down on the slob land under
the Shore Road. Man o' man, but she shoots bonny!"

I had no doubt of it. She was likely to be accountable for a good deal
of bloodshed if there was any street fighting next day. The record of
her bag would, I should think, haunt Sir Samuel Clithering for the
rest of his life.

"I've a matter of five thousand cartridges," said McConkey in a hoarse
whisper, "and there's another five thousand ordered."

CHAPTER XIX

The committee met at three o'clock in the afternoon. Sir Samuel
Clithering was not, of course, a member of it; but he lurked about
outside and waylaid us as we went in. He was in a condition of pitiful
bewilderment. Alice whose adventures in Wonderland have been very dear
to me since I first read them aloud to Marion, was once placed in a
difficult and awkward position by the kings, queens and knaves of the
pack of cards with which she was playing coming to life. This was
sufficiently embarrassing. But Clithering was much worse off than
Alice. In her story all the cards came to life, and though the
unexpectedness of their behaviour made things difficult for he