Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1921-07-28
CHAPTER IiI-continued.)

q sklnful. You'll meet people worth
knowing" +
"The Breakneck club isn't good
name for a tirst-class institution" re-
marked Dyck, with pause and q
laugh :; "but I'll come if, you'll fetch
me-"
Erris Boyne, who was eighteen years
older than Dyck, laughed, fiieked a
little pinch of snuff at his nose with
his finger.
Dear lad, of course I'll come and
fetch you," he said. There's many d
man has done worse than lead gay
STRIPPING like you into pleasant weys'
Bring along any loose change ycH have,
for it may be night of .p:ghts. It's
the best place to come 10 ever an hon.
est man had"
"Are they sllIthe right sort" asked
Dyck, .wiffe little touch of malice. Il
nlrSa, are they loyal and true"
Erris Boyne laid hand on Dyck's
arm.
Come and find out. Do you think
I'd lead you into bad company? OF
course Emmett and Wolfe Tone won't
be there, nor any of that lot; but
thereql be some men of the right
stamp" He watched Dyck carefully
out of the corner of his eye. Its
funny" he added, that in Ireland the
word loyal means being true to the
Union Jack, standing by King George
and his crowd"
"Well, what would you have?" said
Dyck For this Is a day and age when
being loyal to the king is more than
aught else in all the Irish world. We're
never two days alike, we Irish. There
are the United Irlshmen and the De-
tenders on one side, and the Peep-o'-
Day Boys, or orangemen, on the other
Catholic and Protestant, at each 9TH
er's throats. Then there's hand thrust
in, and up goes the sword, and the
rifles, pixies and bayonets; and those
that were ready to mutilate or kill
each other fall into each others arms. -"
Erris Boyne laughed. "Well, therell
be an end to that. The Irish parlia-
ment is slipping into dtsrepute. 1t
wouldn't surprise me if the astute Eng
lish bribe them into a union, to the
ruin of Irish Independence. Yet may
be, before that comes, the French will
have a try for power here" He came
step nearer, his voice lowered little.
Have you heard the latest news from
France? They're coming with good
sized fleet down to the south coast.
Have you heard it?'
"Oh, there's plenty one hears one
doesn't believe Is. gospel" answered
Dyck. his eyes half closing. I'm not
believing all ] hear, as If it was a
prayer-meeting. Anything may happen
here; Ireland's woman-very uncer-
tain"
Dyck tlicked some dust from his
waistcoat, and dropped his eyes, be-
cause he was thinking of two women
he had known; one Of them an angel
now in company OF her sister angels
his mother; the other a girl he had met
on the hills Of Connemara, wonder
fully pretty girl of seventeen. How
should he know that the girl was Errls
Boyne's daughter? - although there
were times when some gesture Of
BOyne, some quick look some lifting
of the eyebrows, brought back the
memory of Sheila Llyn, us 1t did now.
Since Dyck left his old home he had
seen her twice; once at LOyland tow
erS, and once at her home in Limerick.
The time he had spent with her had
been very brief, but full of life inter
est and character. Whether at 10y
land towers, or at her mothers house
In Limerick, there was no touch Of for
wardness in her, or in anything she
said or did. She was the most natural
being, the freest from affectation, he
had ever known.
As Erris BOyne talked TO him. the
memory of Sheila flooded his mind, and
on the flood his senses swan like
swans. He had not her careful com
poSure. He was just us real, but he
had the wilfuineSS of man. She influ-
enced him as no woman had ever yet
done; but he saw no happy ending to
the dream. He was too poor to marry
he had no trade or profession his
fathers affairs were in bad way.
He did not know that Erris Boyne
was set to capture him for the rebel
cause. How could he know that BOyne
was an agent of the most evil forces In
Ireland-an agent of skill and address,
prepossessing. with the face of Celtic
poet and the eye Of an assassin?
Boynes object was to bring, about
the downfall of Dyck CalhOun-that
Is, his downfall as a patriot. At the
Breakneck club this bad business be-
gan. 1t was here that Dyck again
met that tall, aScetic messenger from
the attorney general, who had brought
the message to Miles Calhoun. Ii was
with this man-LeOnard Mallow, eldest
son OF Lord MallOw-that Dyck, with
three others, played cards one after
noon.
The instructive antipathy which had
marked their first introduction was car.
ried on to this later meeting. Dyck
distrusted MallOw, and allowed his dis.
\ trust exercise. 1t was unfortunate
that Mallow won from hbIa three,
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