Mary Grant Bruce

“ Wally accepted a tin mug of milkless tea with gratitude.
“That’s great,” he said, after a beatific pause, putting down the empty mug. He pushed his cap back from his tired young face, and heaved a great sigh of relief. “Blessings on whoever discovered tea! I don’t think I’ll have any beef, thanks.”
“Yes, you will,” Jim said, firmly. “I know it’s beastly, and one isn’t hungry, but it’s a fool game not to eat. If we have any luck there may be some work to-day; and you can’t fight if you don’t eat something. The first mouthful is the worst.” ”

“ There were deep pools of water here and there: the brown bog-water that scares the English tourists who finds it in a bedroom jug in a hotel, and gives foundation for future scathing comments on the dirty ways of Ireland: the fact being that if its exquisite velvet-softness could be taken to London, most of the Bond Street complexion specialists would go out of business for lack of customers.
“So that’s turf,” commented Wally, looking curiously at the rough stacks of sods, which the sun was drying to a lighter colour than the deep brown of the bog-face. ”

“ Far up on the northern headland, Norah crouched among sparse furze and heather, unheeding the prickly branches that forbade comfort. The edge of the low cliff prevented her seeing the inlet; she could only watch the dim outline of the coast, stretching northward, and the stormy sky with its hurrying clouds. Before her loomed dimly the heap of petrol-soaked wood and furze which they had roughly piled in the darkness behind a boulder that hid it from watching eyes, should any be on the alert. ”

“ Jim answered. “She came from Donegal. Father says she always loved it.”
“Well, well! Wherever you’re born, you love that place. But I think the love for Ireland is beyond most things. The people leave it because there’s no room for them and no money; but no matter where they go they leave the half of their hearts behind. And they put something of the love into their children no matter where they’re born, so that they always want to come and see Ireland: and when they come, ’tis no strange place to them; they feel they’ve come home. ”

“ In the big chair’s depths he looked smaller than ever; but his eyes were very bright, and soon Wally forgot his morning’s fishing and altogether lost sight of his host’s infirmities in the fascination of his talk. Half-crippled as he was, he had been everywhere, and done many things that stronger men long vainly to do. He had travelled widely, and not as the average tourist, who skims over many experiences without gathering the cream of any. John O’Neill had gone off the beaten track in search of the unusual, and he had found it in a dozen different countries. ”

“ Presently they came upon a path leading abruptly down-hill to the lough. They followed it, passing out of the garden into a little field where small black Kerry cattle looked inquisitively at them, and through a rickety gate on to the shore, where grey pebbles made a rough beach. A disconsolate donkey, attached to a windlass, walked round and round in a weary circle, pumping water up to the house—a spectacle which promptly set Norah to hunting for a thistle for him, which the donkey received coldly.
“It would take more than a thistle to sweeten that job,” said Wally. ”

“ Jim took off his coat and put it on his feet.
“We’ll get you up to the motor presently,” he said, his young voice unsteady. O’Neill laughed.
“Not before the finish,” he said. “It won’t be long.”
Norah’s head went down suddenly on his hand.
“You can’t die!” she said,—“we can’t spare you, dear Sir John. We’re going to make you better!”
“Dying is only a very little matter, dear little mate,” O’Neill said. “It’s living that hurts. And just think of what I have—a man’s finish! That is a great thing, when one has lived a hunchback.” ”

“ The fog of war always hangs closely: it was easy to make it hide from his boys details of the news that had plunged Australia alike into mourning and into deeper resolve to see the thing through.
For Norah and her father the time was an oasis of peace in a desert of anxiety. Too soon they must send Jim and Wally back, and themselves return to work and wait in London. Now, nothing mattered greatly, and they could try to forget. It was not the least of David Linton’s happiness that each day brought back light to Norah’s eyes and colour to her cheeks. ”

“ Sir John indicated a wiry little man leading a shambling old black horse bearing two creels slung across his back, piled high with sods. He turned into the back gateway of the inn as they drew up at the front door; and, hearing the motor, cast a glance over his shoulder, realized the presence of guests, and administered a sounding slap on the black horse’s quarter, disappearing hurriedly. They heard his voice, shrilly summoning the unseen.
“Is himself within?—let ye hurry! There’s a pack of gentry at the door, in a mothor-car!” ”

“ The air was full of the pleasant smell of newly-lit turf fires, and in the cottages the women were beginning their day’s work. Children ran to peep over the half-door at the stranger, and Norah, peeping over in her turn, saw fat babies crawling about the earthen floors and made friends with them until their mothers picked them up and brought them to the half-door for further admiration. Thus her progress up the street was slow, and it was some time before she came to the outskirts of the village and crossed a green where asses, geese, fowls, and long-haired goats wandered sociably. ”

“ Dimly, behind the cloud of gas, they could see shadowy forms clambering over the parapet of the enemy trench; German soldiers, unreal and horrible in their hideous respirators, with great goggle eyes of talc. Ahead, the quick spit of machine-guns broke out spitefully; and, as if in answer, Garrett’s Maxims opened fire. Then the gas was upon them: falling from above over the parapet, stealing like a live thing down the communication trench that led from the first line, where already the Germans were swarming. Men were choking, gasping, fighting for air ”

“ He dropped his voice. “I’ll keep him safe for you if I can, sir.’
“Thanks,” said David Linton. He shook hands with his boy again. The motor whirred off in a cloud of dust.
They went up the staircase in silence, to where Norah and Wally waited for them.
“Wally has told me all about it,” said Norah, pale, but steady-eyed. “Oh, Sir John, I could help! Do let me.”
“You can help by keeping out of harm’s way,” he told her, gently.
“And you all fighting!”
“Norah, dear, we can’t have you in it,” O’Neill said. “I know it’s hard: far harder than anything we have to do. ”

“ They met Jim’s, and the lips smiled too, while his weak hand rested on Norah’s head.
“And I worrying,” he said, “because I was out of the war.”
“You had your own job,” said Aylwin. “And you pulled it off, old man.”
“It was great luck,” O’Neill said. “God had pity. Enormous luck . . . to finish at a man’s job.” He did not speak again. The sun, climbing upwards, shone tenderly upon the happy face.
“The German saw his intention and shouted furiously, and shots began to whistle past O’Neill.” ”

“ As land, it Was worthless; nothing would grow in the stony barren soil save the moorland plants; but it formed a glorious ground for long rambles. O’Neill was fast recovering his normal strength, and his energy was always like a devouring fire; he could not, however, walk far, and he and David Linton would find rocky seats on the moor while Norah and the boys rambled far over the deer-forest, often stalking patiently for an hour, armed with field-glasses, to catch a glimpse of the shy red-deer. ”

“ The donkey was guiltless of bridle or saddle, obeying, with meekness, if not with alacrity, suggestions conveyed to it by the pressure of the bare knees and occasional blows with an ash cudgel.
“The asses of Ireland are a patient race,” remarked Wally.
“They had need to be,” Jim answered.
“It’s up to the ass to be patient in most places,” remarked Mr. Linton. “Life isn’t exactly a picnic to him anywhere. On the whole, the Irish donkeys seem well enough cared for; I have seen their brothers in other countries far worse treated. ”

“ Norah asked, clinging to the rail as a fresh jerk shook the ship.
“It’s our only chance,” Jim answered. “I don’t think the submarines can beat these boats for speed, or else she’d just come up and sink us at her leisure; and she can’t take aim accurately if we’re dodging. Of course we cut down our speed by not going straight; but we can’t afford the risk of letting her train her torpedo-tube carefully on us. Jove, can’t the skipper handle this ship! She answers the helm like a motor-car.”
“And can’t she go!” uttered Wally. ”

“ Wally uttered.
“Wally, I’ve got to. Don’t you see I have?” Norah put her hand on his arm.
“Yes, I suppose I do,” he said. “All our lives put together don’t matter twopence if we can put an end to even one submarine. I know we must let you. But I wish to goodness we’d left you in Australia!”
“Wally!” Norah flushed scarlet.
“I say . . . I didn’t mean to be a beast,” the boy said, contritely. “Only—I just can’t stand it!” He went out, his swift strides echoing down the corridor.
“Don’t mind him, little chap: he’s only worried about you,” Jim said, gently. “He’ll be all right when he comes back.” ”

“ With this pious hope echoing in their ears, the marauding party withdrew, Timsy racing ahead with the dipper, lest “herself” should make an untimely appearance and demand her cherished vessel. When Norah and Wally arrived at the boat he was baling furiously, and clung to his job until he was too breathless to argue the question further with Wally.
A flat-bottomed boat, built on elementary principles, is not the easiest thing to empty. ”

“ Norah said. “I never thought an Irish bog looked so pretty; all grass and rushes, like a big plain. Why do they call it a bog?”
“You’d know if you got into it,” said Mr. Burke, bearing patiently with the ignorance of the foreigner. “There’s parts of it firm enough to gallop a horse over; but you’d want to know where you were going, it’s that treacherous—it’d let you down as deep as your waist in a second, and it looking safe as a street. Some of the mosses that do be growing on it ’ud warn you: there’s one or two kinds that only grow where it’s deep and quaking. ”

“ Jim said. “And I don’t see how it can go wrong.”
“It certainly simplifies our plan of action,” O’Neill remarked. “And it doesn’t beat us, even if it fails; you would have to jump down among the boulders, in that case, and do the best you could with your revolvers as the people inside came out—which they would do in a hurry. My own little game must be the boat and the guard at it. It’s rather important that it should not be allowed to get back; a submarine without a collapsible is rather like a horse with a lame leg.” ”

“ There’s Lough Nacurra and Lough Anoor—they’re little enough, but you’d get finer fishing in them in a day than in a week of Lough Aniller.”
“Why don’t we go there?” spoke Wally, lazily.
“There’s no reason in the world why you shouldn’t. Sure, they’re no distance, and the fishing belongs to the house; there’ll not be a rod on them, barring your own.”
“What do they mean, Patsy?” Norah asked. Mr. Burke was her instructor in the Irish language, and she thirsted for translations of each unknown word.
“Lough Anoor’s the lough of the gold, miss, and Lough Nacurra’s the lough of the Champions. ”

“ Timsy uttered. “If you take the strain off when he’s hooked slightly he’ll get off on you. Isn’t he the great fighter entirely! Quick, miss, I’ll get him!”
He dived at him with the net. The trout leaped to one side, a wave hiding his flashing golden-brown body; and Timsy, following a thought too far, overbalanced, and shot head first into the water. Wally, casting in the bow, did not see. Norah had a moment’s vision of the slight childish body as the brown water closed over him. He had not uttered a sound.
“Wally, quick—the oars!” she gasped, dropping her rod. ”

“ No one was inclined for strenuous exertion. Jim and Wally, under orders to take life very easily for the present, were content to lie about in the fragrant grass, to go for short walks along the borders of the lough, or to let Patsy Burke row them slowly up its placid waters, where scarcely a ripple marked the rising of a trout. To Norah and her father it was sufficient happiness to watch their boys gradually winning back strength. ”

“ Presently he rose, shaking his head as he met David Linton’s eyes.
“There’s nothing to be done,” he said, softly.
The old man’s hearing was no less acute.
“ ’Tis myself could have told you that,” he said. “I knew . . . next time it came. And . . . when a man’s ready . . .”
His voice became almost inaudible, murmuring broken words of prayer. Behind them Jim had formed a line of soldiers, keeping off the curious crowd. Presently he spoke again.
“It’s easy, dying. Only it would be easier if I’d seen it again . . . Ireland.”
“We’re very near,” Norah told him, pityingly. ”

“ Look at this inlet—shut in by the headlands, with a perfect sandy bottom: a submarine could come in here and lie in complete safety, and no one would ever dream of looking for her. The cave is not five minutes from the water’s edge, even at low tide—of course, no one could get in to it at all unless the tide were right out: when it is in there’s a foot of water over the entrance.”
“Yes—and at low tide the sand is as hard as iron,” Wally said, excitedly. ”

“ Men, women and children; asses, ridden and driven; horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs, and a few stray geese, mingled in loud-voiced confusion, while dogs slipped hither and thither, managing to intensify the urgency of any situation. To get the big Rolls-Royce through such a concourse was no easy task, and even with a people so good-humoured, a tactless driver would have achieved swift unpopularity. Sir John, however, was at the wheel himself, and he slowed down to a crawl, sounding the hooter occasionally, more in the manner of a gentle suggestion than anything else. ”

“ The road to Gortbeg lay between high banks, with occasional gaps through which could be seen pleasant moors and fields, and sometimes an old mansion, almost hidden by enormous beech-trees. Most of the great houses of the country were silent and closely-shuttered; the men of the family away fighting, the women doing Red Cross work in London, or nursing as near the firing-line as they could manage to establish themselves. In a few were faint signs of occupation: a white-haired old lady on a lawn, an old man, surrounded by a number of dogs, of many breeds, wandering through the woods ”

“ The subalterns scattered along the trench, each to his platoon. They had already inspected the men, making sure that no detail of armament had been forgotten, and that rifles were all in order. Garrett, who commanded the machine-gun section, fled joyfully to the emplacement, his face like a happy child’s. The alarm ran swiftly up and down the trench: low, sharp words of command brought every man to his place, while the sentries, like statues, were glued to their peep-holes. Jim and Wally fingered their revolvers, scarcely able to realize that the time for using them had come at last. ”