The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1888-03-03
amuse myself at times mystifying
Them $ it lightens the tedium Of jour
ney. and owe them grudge, as you

imprisoned Ave times by the British
government, once for seven years at
penal seryitude.
":rhe horrors of that term said Mr..
Dayitt, after the train had started and
we were alone in our compartment,
defy all description. Think what it
is, for instance, not even to see a fire
for seven years in climate brutally
cold. The misery of the life was dread
full, but the monotony worse. Details
grew gigantic. I schemed and worked
Tor weeks once to manufacture writing
materials. There was some brown pa
per in my cell, and l managed by dint
Of hard work to clear one side Of sheet
by holding it near the fame Of the can
die. Then l laid another sheet over
the charred page. and wrote on it Will,
a bit Of wire from the bed. 1t was like
the copying presses now in use i'll COM
mercial houses. Night after night l
dreamed Of this achievement, Finally
wrote a note to my mother. / was dis.
covered and punished. They gave me
| bread and water for two months" Ine
train stopped at q small station and the
door was yanked open. q n1an thrust
his head in and gIared aG us. Dayiit
greeted him with d roar Of laughter. It
| was the moon-faced detective who had
come back to his fellows. They were
all in an adjoining compartment. The
moon. faced one had ticket punch ia
his hand and On his pumpkin shaped
head was ridicously small Cap thaJ be
had borrowed Of the guard. He had
also assumed the conductors coat---the
same being some inches short in the
sleeves-and in this superb disguise he
had come to collect oar tickets. His
big red face, dropping mouth, and star
ing eyes were agitated by the peril OF
his deep laid adventure as he said hus
kily:
Tickets era, gents, please.''
"Who?" asked Mr. Davitt, blandly,
''Tickets, SIT; VERY sorry t. disturb
y'u--"
1--WE are going,'' said shortly, '%to
Mullingar. When we get there you
may take the tickets. Meanwhile your
shield is in sight"
lie dropped the ticket punch and
clapred his hand over his left breast.
Finding the shield there and not in
sight, he said with dignity;
''This 'ere larkin' with TIL railroad
hoaicials may 90 you gents sonae
harm"
( At this moment the bell rang and
our disguised" visitor scrambled OUT,
aud whipping off the coat and hat.
handed them to the half-clad station
master who stood shivering there. 1t
all took place in full view of our VIM
dow. Then the representative Of her
majesty's detective service scrambled
back among his companions With the
air Of a man vino had made a master
stroke in his profession.
AT every succeeding station the de-
tectives climbed out OF their copopart-
rlent and watched the door narrowly
from distance Of about sixteen inches
preventing us frGmz recognizing them
by turning up the cJflars of their coats
at MulIlngar they were particularly
vigilaut. Jlst as the bell rang, and af-
ter the fat officers had struggled back
into their compartment, Mir. Daviit,
! yielding to a temporary ln1pu!se, pushed
our door open, aud jumping out on the
platform, shouted sharply to nobody:
"Now, thcrel Out with Our traps!
Qu!ck!''
The detectives heard the order, and
in an instant chaos reigned among
them. They houndered around wildly
in their den, shouting holly to one an
other. Then the door was flung open
aud the moon faced one dashed ahead
to stop the engineer I'm the Queens
name,' while the others boinbarded the
station with rugs, yalises, shawls, hat
boxes, canes, umbrellas, gripsacks,
pipes, lunch baskets. travelling caps
and parcels. finally laundering out
themselves. The guards came running
up from the ends Of the train, and
the uniformed polio ,men at the station
called loudly on everybody to ..lend a
hand there, like hearty lad" Every
body proceeded to it by means OF foua-
dering all over everyone else. The
passengers, observing the row, came
swarming out of the train to learn the
particulars of the ''escape of Davitt and
the American general"
Meanwhile we sat calmly smoking
within our compartment. and when we
were eventually discovered there, the
feelings of the British detectives were
too vast for expression. They slowly
loaded their traps into the compart-
ment again and slowly followed them,
amid the jsers of the passengers and
the crowd.
At every step after this somebody
was sent to our compartment by the de-
tectiyes, and at Woudiawn there were
10 trayel-stained policemen on the