get here?"

"I spotted this window," said Bland, "as I rode along, and I asked
them to put me in here. Is it a club?"

"Yes," I said. "What happened at the meeting?"

"Get me a whisky and soda," said Bland, "if you're a member."

I rang the bell.

"What happened?" I said. "Did they hold the meeting?"

"They were holding it," said Bland, "when I left. But it wasn't much
of a meeting."

I ordered a whisky and soda from a terrified waiter.

"What about the police?" I asked.

"They ran over the police," said Bland. "I don't think they killed
many. There wasn't any shooting. The whole thing was done with a rush.
Damned well done. You couldn't call it a charge. The police were drawn
up in the middle of an open space where four or five roads met. The
men kind of flowed over them. When the place was clear again, there
weren't any police. That's all. Ah! here's the whisky!"

He was evidently thirsty for he drank the whole tumbler-full at a
draught.

"What about Moyne?" I said. "What did he do?"

"Oh! He stood up on the back seat of a carriage and began to make a
speech. But that didn't matter."

"What did he say?"

"I don't know. I didn't stay to listen. I expect he urged them not to
kill any one. But it does not matter what he said. The men with
rifles, the volunteers, began to march off at once, in good order,
some in one direction, some in another. In five minutes there wasn't
anybody left to listen to Lord Moyne except a few corner boys. I can
tell you this, Lord Kilmore, there's a man with a head on his
shoulders behind this insurrection. He has those men of his holding
all the most important parts of the town. I got hold of a bicycle--"

"How?" I said. "You're very wonderful, Bland. How did you get a
bicycle in the middle of a battlefield?"

"Stole it," said Bland. "It belonged to a policeman, but he is
probably dead, so he won't mind. I rode after two or three different
parties of volunteers just to see where they were going. When I got
back to the place of the meeting there was a body of cavalry trotting
up. I had a sort of feeling that the battle would come this way. It
ought to. This is the most important place in the town. All lines of
communication meet here. Your side has brains enough to see that. The
question is, will the soldiers attack them here? I chanced it. If
there's any good fighting to-day it ought to be here."

I am not sure whether the General in command of the troops had the
brai