18 SPORTING REMINISCENCES 



sent me flying to do the same in the bedrooms, 

 and locked the door of the kitchen. Just in time, 

 for next minute Snap went growHng out there 

 and that door was shaken. 



We put out the Hghts in the front, but crept to 

 the kitchen looking for a gun to fire, so as to 

 alarm the caretaker. We found one, but no car- 

 tridges, and the man outside continued to walk 

 round trying the windows. 



I was too small to be frightened, but my sister 

 muttered " Mack ! " and was thoroughly scared. 

 He walked round and round and we walked round 

 and round until about two o'clock, when we heard 

 him walk away. 



He may have only intended to frighten us, but 

 if he had come in one can never tell, especially if 

 he was drunk. 



It was in late autumn, and almost before there 

 was a glimmer of Hght the Conlons were over. In 

 some way they had already heard of it. Irish 

 people will never tell you how they hear, and they 

 wiU always shield each other; very likely our 

 friend rattled at their door before he went home. 



I spent a happy day by my beloved river, my 

 sister, I think, an uneasy one, because there Mack 

 had friends and they were what the people called 

 * very bither agin us,' but unexpectedly my ex- 

 tremely wild brother Frank turned up, walking 

 down from the station. He sent us off back by 

 train to Limerick, made the Conlons sleep out 



