The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-01-16

at the time. They were big enough for
the feet of the giant, Fin McCool. The
little fellow could hardly walk in them,
for with every stride he took they would
either fall off or trip him up. At last he
got some hay and straw from the car and
padded them we'll, until they fitted him
tight enough to perform his work He
then cleared away the tracks Of the mule
and car, and went to work removing our
footprints along the lawn leading to
Captain Barry's mansion. When we got
to the hall door we found it locked and
bolted, but the brave fellow with the
sledge soon made short work of it. He
battered aud smashed it into splinters,
although it was strong, solid oak, but it
couldn't resist the sledge, and no man
knew how to use it better than he did,
for he exercised it many time before
at honest toll over the anvil. After the
front door was broken in there was a
glass door inside which was also locked.
The sledge was again introduced and in
less than a minute the inner door was
shivered into thousand fragments.
"When we got inside we found four of
the domestics in a room trembling for
their lives. The sight of our black faces
made them doubly in dread-they were
seized at once, and weapon pointed at
the head of each. While they were plead
ing for mercy, we could hardly refrain
from laughing, for, of course, we had no
intention of doing them bodily harm.
The strangest part of it was, that one of
our men had a rifle leveled at the head Of
his own father; the old man, however,
was ignorant Of the fact that it was his
son who stood over him, on account of
bis blackened face. The rest of our men
were not idle; they raided the store room
of the mansion and secured six sacks
filled with arms of every description,
swords, pixies, carbines and pistols But
the greatest prize of all was the seizure
of two gold hilted swords, the private
property of Captain Barry, which the
boys took down from the -autlers on the
wall The gold alone on the swords was
worth at least 9l00. They we're relics in
the family and belonged originally to the
captains father, who had been general
under Wellington. One of them was
presented to him at Toulouse-the other
at Waterloo.
The captain, as was but natural, set
more value on the relics of his ancestor,
and priced them more than al the guns,
pis4 OILS and swords in Ireland.
Our mission proved to be grand sue
cess. We were masters of the situation.
Yet we took no mean advan age ofour
enemy. There was every delicacy in the
way of eating and drinking. There was
wine, brandy and whisky in plenty, but
it did not tempt us. Our men were hon
est, brave and determined. They scorned
to touch anything in the mansion except
what they came for. They had a mission
to fulfill, and, having succeeded, took
possession of the arms and departed from
the mansion. We had our pickets we'll
posted outside, behind and in front of
the house. After depositing the sacks in
the cart, the young man with the big
boots set to work with his shovel and re-
moved every footprint.
"Having secured the prize," he con-
tinued, the next thing to consider was,
where to conceal it. Finally we arrived
at the conclusion that five acre wheat
field belonging to Champion Foley's
father would be the safest place. So
brave Foley jumped on the car, took the
reins, and led on the funeral cortege.
The night was growing colder by this
time; it had stopped showing and the
moon was bright. We had to cross over
the luncheon bridge, with it's thirteen
arches, and, by the light of the clear
moon, we could see the salmon and trout
leaping and diving in the purling water
below. We passed the village the three
big trees of Glanworth and the police
barrack, and met but one patrolman dur
ing the journey, and as luck would have
it, he chanced to be a Fenian. We gave
the signal and continued on our way
without interference. When we arrived
at Blan Rhue we had to get suitable
coffin to hold the arms before consigning
them to their resting place. Brave
Champion Foley, who was always ready
in case of an emergency, took couple of
the boys with him, and in less than five
minutes they returned carrying brand
new pig trough about thirty-five feet in
length. The trough and the six sacks
we're conveyed at once into Foley's barn,
and by candle light we slowed the weap-
ons as carefully as possible into the pig
trough, wrapping them up neatly and
covering them over with some fax and
tow which Champion brought from the
house unknown to his parents. The