A WELL-SPENT SUNDAY. 257 



more considerate than they might have been 

 with you for their leader." 



" Well, well, I did not mean that, exactly ; 

 but that the nets are gone is a blessed 

 transaction for us fishermen. How was the 

 thing managed?" 



" Nay," said the Squire, " I should ask 

 you Ballyshannoners : I cannot be expected 

 to know so much about it as you do. But 

 the truth is, I can get no satisfactory answer. 

 No one seems to know exactly. There was 

 a good deal of firing, it seems, and the 

 policemen got much the worst of it ; but 

 how it was done, or by whom, I can get no 

 one to tell me, and I think no one knows." 



" Was any one hit?" said the Parson. 



" None of the policemen," said the Squire ; 

 " they seem to have fought under cover. 

 Besides, there was not much firing on the 

 side of the attacking party : they must have 

 rushed up and overpowered the police by 

 numbers. I hear, though, that two or three 

 of the boys were knocked over." 



" What, killed?" said the Parson. 



" Why, I cannot tell you that, either," 

 said the Squire. " I suppose not killed, or 

 there would have been the bodies ; but what 



