from the shore before the boat was made fast.  “Is Sir Edward on board?” A shake of the head brought a look of pathetic disappointment to the face of the hero-worshipper; but he was on board before the gangway was down and busy collecting the belongings of the leader’s unworthy substitute.  When laden with these and half-way down the gangway he stopped, and, entirely careless of the fact that he was obstructing a number of passengers impatient to land, he turned and whispered—­a whisper that might be heard thirty yards off—­with a knowing wink of the eye: 

“We’re getting in plenty of stuff now.”

“Yes, yes,” was the reply.  “Never mind about that now; put those things on a car.”

But he continued, without budging from the gangway, “Och aye, we’re getting in plenty; but my God, didn’t Mrs. Blank o’ Dungannon bate all?  Did ye hear about her?”

“No, I never heard of Mrs. Blank of Dungannon.  But do hurry along, my good man; you’re keeping back all the passengers.”

“What! ye never heard o’ Mrs. Blank o’ Dungannon?  Wait now till I tell ye.  Mrs. Blank came off this boat not a fortnight ago, an’ as she came down this gangway I declare to God you’d ha’ swore she was within a week of her time—­and divil a ha’porth the matter with her, only cartridges.  An’ the fun was that the Custom House boys knowed rightly what it was, but they dursn’t lay a hand on her nor search her, for fear they were wrong.”

This admiring tribute to the heroic matron of Dungannon—­whose real name was not concealed by the porter—­was heard by a number of people, and probably most of them thought themselves compensated by the story for the delay it caused them in leaving the steamer.

By the summer of 1913 several thousands of rifles had been brought into Ulster; but in May of that year the mishap occurred to which Lord Roberts referred in his letter to Colonel Hickman on the 4th of June, when he wrote:  “I am sorry to read about the capture of rifles."[85] Crawford had been obliged to find some place in London for storing the arms which he was procuring from his friends in Hamburg, and with the help of Sir William Bull, M.P. for Hammersmith, the yard of an old-fashioned inn in that district was found where it was believed they would be safe until means of transporting them to the North of Ireland could be devised.  The inn was taken by a firm calling itself John Ferguson & Co., the active member of which was Sir William Bull’s brother-in-law, Captain Budden; and the business appeared to consist of dealing in second-hand scientific instruments and machinery, curiosities, antique armour and weapons, old furniture, and so forth, which were brought in very heavy cases and deposited in the yard.  For a time it proved useful, and the Maxims from Woolwich passed safely through the Hammersmith store.  But the London police got wind of the Hammersmith Armoury, and seized a consignment of between six and seven thousand excellent Italian rifles.  A rusty