Hyacinth

eries of regrettable incidents of the winter, raged violently among the Irish Loyalists. Nowhere were the recruiting officers more fervently besieged than in Dublin. Youthful squireens

sion. They were clothed, to their own intense delight, in that peculiar shade of yellow which is supposed to be a help to the soldier in his efforts not to be shot. Their legs were screwed into putties and breeches incredibly tight round the knees, which expanded rapidly higher up, and hung round their hips in voluminous folds. Their jackets were covered with a multiplicity of quaint little pockets, sewed on in unexpected places, and each provided with a flap which buttoned over it. The name of the artist who design

s difficult to imagine that the sick in the hospitals could have been properly looked after, or the letters of solicitors typewritten, so great was the number of damsels who attached themselves to these attractive heroes. The philosophic observer found another curious subject for speculation in the fact that this parade of military splendour took place in a city whose population sympathized intens

still in a position to assert that the Boers were victorious, and that the volunteers were likely to do no more than exhaust the prison accommodation at Pretoria. They could and did compose biting jests, but their very bitterness witnessed to a deep disappointment. It was not possible to deny that the despised English garrison in Ireland was displaying a wholly unlooked-for sp

ked at the yeomen with a certain admiration. Their exuberant youthfulness, their strut

were a good many children, and at this distance of time I can't be certain which of them it was that used to worry me most during the hour before dinner. The father is a landlord in the North, and comes of a fine old family. He's a strong Protestant, and English, of course, in all his sympathies. Well, a hundred years or so ago that

u are thinking of the vo

nion, wouldn't be bribed, and fought two duels with Castlereagh's bravoes. The curious thing is that the present man is quite proud of that ancestor in

sh gentry of 1782 were men to be proud o

was captained by her aristocracy. Think of the Geraldines and the O'Neills. Think of Sarsfield and the Wild Geese. Think of the men who wrenched a measure of indepen

hat Miss Goold was deliberately talk

wards a group of yeomen who were chatting at the street corner. 'They are going t

o matter what happens. But think: These Protestants have been accustomed for generations to regard themselves as a superior race. They conceive themselves to have a natural right to govern. Now they are being snubbed and insulted. There isn't an English official from their Lord Lieutenant down but thinks he is quite safe

' said Hyacinth. 'I suppose they

or an intolerable oppression, will awake them. Then they'll turn on the people that betrayed them. They will discover that Ireland-their Ireland-isn't meant to be a cabbage-ga

to be thought of a priesthood who, contrary to all the traditions of their Church, had nursed a revolution against the rights of property? or of a people, amazingly quick of apprehension, idealistic of temperament, who time after time submitted themselves blindfold to the tyranny of a single leader, worshipped a man, and asked no questions about his policy? How was he to place an aristocracy who refused to lead, and persisted in whining about their wrongs to the inattentive shopkeepers of English

worry and befog himself over the confused issues of politics, it was at all events a straightforw

. Her conscience, such as it was after years of patriotic endeavour, rebelled against committing a young man whom she

itia battalion of the Connaught Rangers, an honourable position which he had resigned because his brother officers persistently misunderstood his methods of winning money at cards. No one, however, was found to deny that he really did possess a wonderful knowledge of horses. The worst that Miss Goold's correspondents could suggest with regard to this third qualification was that he knew too much. None of these drawbacks to the Captain-he had assumed the title when he accepted the command of

joining the force, by pointing out to him that he was

she said. 'I don't suppose you'

r shaggy ponies, and when they do it is sitting sideways just above the creatures' t

ose you know much

o possess a gun unless a resident magistrate will certify to his loyalty and harmless-ness. Therefore, the inhabitan

which he described as 'the yellow pony' and 'the little mare.' Hyacinth began with the yellow pony, the oldest and staidest of the two. The little mare, who had a temper of her own, gave him more trou

. It was, of course, entirely different from the Mauser, and it was impossible to get an opportunity for firing it off. However, th

t about the spirit and abilities of M. de Villeneuve, who was to take charge of her soldiers after they joined him in Paris. On th

meet them until the time for starting comes. In fact, I

greeable excitement. He felt that

f informers

give information against me. You can yourself, if you like. But no one can betray a

e an object of hatred and dread to the Government, and nothing irrit

ven for his conduct at the Rotunda meeting, and missed no opportunity of scoffing-not, of course, publicly, but among his friends-at Miss Goold and her volunteers. Hyacinth avo

ted to see,' he said. 'Hav

rty. He said so, and tried to es

e Boers yourself. I didn't believe it, of course. You wouldn't be such a fool. But I thought you'd know that Doherty is one of th

ean>' asked Hy

ke of recruiting for the Boer service, and Miss Goold's hints about inform

t for a column of the kind! There didn't appear to be anything particular on, just a few ordinary drunks, until this fellow Doherty was brought in. I thought I recognised him, and when I heard his name I was certain of my man. He hadn't done anything

e impose on Miss Go

oked at him

s not precisely a fool, you know, and she has pretty accu

surel

hrugged hi

iling your hands. However, whether he imposed on her or not, there's no doubt about it that he was a deserter. Why, it appeared that the fool was tattoo

inth, still uneasy about the possibilit

ss him in if the circumstances were explained to them. By the way, it would be rather funny if he met the other nine out there on a kop