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 LI E. RARY 
 OF THE 
 
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 /
 
 THE LAST WORK OF COLONEL BURNABY. 
 
 OUR RADICALS 
 
 Jl ^ale of |;obe anb f crlitics* 
 
 BY 
 
 FRED. BURNABY 
 
 EDITED, WITH PREFACE, 
 
 BY 
 
 His Private Secretary, 
 J. PERCIVAL HUGHES, 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES.— VOL. /. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, 
 
 ^ttbiish^rs iit ©rbiuiiru to ^)er (fttaj^st^ the (Slnttn. 
 
 1886. 
 
 \_All Rights Reserved,']
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 3M«C 
 
 N the summer of the year 1882 
 a paragraph appeared in the 
 World which graphically and 
 accurately described Colonel Fred Burnaby 
 at work in his house in Charles Street. 
 ' There is a little boudoir/ it ran, ' crowded 
 with superb Dresden and Sevres, and in 
 every corner are presents from princes, 
 many of them made on the occasion of 
 Colonel Burnaby's wedding. There are 
 tokens of regard from Mr. Labouchere 
 as from Mr. Yates, handsome souvenirs 
 of the friendship of the Royal Princes,
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and a beautifully inlaid and mounted 
 revolver from Don Carlos. Essentially 
 the dwelling of a travelled man, the 
 writing-room upstairs shows signs un- 
 mistakable of a literary workshop. Apart 
 from the official table, cumbered with 
 the reports and printed forms incidental 
 to the command of a regiment, is 
 another, with heaps of manuscript in 
 the strange scrawl with which the writer 
 thinks it well to tax the intelligence of 
 compositors, and which he likes to see in 
 type before attempting to put the final 
 touches to his novel; for he will not be 
 satisfied any longer with Rides to Khiva, 
 or Channel Voyages in a Balloon. Nothing 
 will serve his purpose but the authorship 
 of a novel, dealing with political questions 
 and personages. This is the magnum opus 
 on which the Colonel of the Blues gets to 
 work early in the morning, before his
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 regimental duties take him away to 
 barracks. His manuscript, like his acts 
 and deeds generally, is on a large scale. 
 There are certain men who require elbow- 
 room, and whose height makes ordinary 
 furniture appear absurd. At an ordinary 
 table Colonel Burnaby would find writing 
 crippling work, so he employs a writing- 
 board, like a drawing-board, made out of 
 the side of an old portmanteau. Resting 
 this on one knee, he describes with great 
 rapidity the caligraphic puzzles he intends 
 for the printer, sometimes in blue ink, 
 sometimes with a xylographic pen, often 
 with a lead pencil' 
 
 On the death of his mother, Colonel 
 Burnaby left i8, Charles Street, and took 
 up his residence at 36, Beaufort Gardens. 
 
 Most of the summer of 1884 he spent 
 at Somerby, his estate in Leicestershire, 
 returnlncr to Beaufort Gardens in time to
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 make his final preparations for his journey 
 to the Soudan. 
 
 The night before Colonel Burnaby left 
 England, he gave into my charge, amongst 
 other important papers, the manuscript of 
 the novel which I present to the public 
 under the title of ' Our Radicals.' 
 
 In doing so, I am but carrying out an 
 intention of his own. One of the last 
 things he said to me at Victoria Station, 
 a few minutes before his departure, 
 was, ' I shall publish that novel when I 
 return, but it will want a great deal of re- 
 writing.' 
 
 Had he lived to carry out his purpose, I 
 believe great alterations would have been 
 made in the construction of the work. 
 Those material alterations with which he 
 acquainted me, I have refrained from 
 making, as by so doing I should, in a great 
 measure, have destroyed its originality.
 
 PREFACE. 7 
 
 Occasionally it has been necessary to 
 remodel sentences, and to supply dialogues; 
 and as the novel was unfinished, I have 
 been obliged to complete it, on the lines 
 which he laid down. But, with these ex- 
 ceptions, I have followed the original read- 
 ing, w^ord for word ; and the difficulties 
 which others have experienced in decipher- 
 ing the manuscript, I have overcome 
 through familiarity with the author's hand- 
 writing. 
 
 In going through his papers after his 
 death, I found three letters written by him, 
 w^hich possess some general interest, and 
 which illustrate his own words, that to 
 describe the places through which one 
 travels, it is essential that one should write 
 easily and graphically. 
 
 The first is dated February nth, 1877, 
 from Erzeroum, Turkey in Asia, and was 
 written three days after his arrival at that
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 place, from Scutari, during his famous ride 
 on horseback across Asia Minor : 
 
 ' It has been a hard journey. Over 
 13,000 miles, and all on horseback, through 
 deep mud at first, and in some places up to 
 the horses' girths. But on we went, leaving 
 Ismid, the ancient Nicomedia, behind us, 
 and spending the nights with people of all 
 sorts of nationalities — Circassians, Tartars, 
 Turks, Greeks and Armenians, for all these 
 races own the Sultan as Lord of Anatolia — 
 till we reached Angora, the town from 
 whence the eoat's hair so celebrated in 
 Europe is brought to our English markets. 
 I stayed at Angora three days, and was 
 the guest of a rich Turkish gentleman, who 
 treated me in a princely manner. Then on 
 the track again, over mountains and crags, 
 passing over ground that abounds with 
 mineral wealth, and, alas! left idly in the 
 earth, till I reached Jurgat, where I was
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the guest of an Armenian Christian. 
 These Armenian Christians keep their 
 wives in harems, and never allow them to 
 expose their faces to a stranger. They 
 are limited to one wife, it is true ; but to all 
 intents and purposes they are exactly like 
 the Mahommedans. 
 
 * "" Why do you not introduce your family 
 to me.-*" I inquired one day of my host. 
 
 * " I keep my wife and daughter for 
 myself, and not for my guests," was the 
 reply. 
 
 ' All through this part of the world the 
 same custom exists. Poor Armenian 
 women ! They are indeed to be pitied. 
 They receive no education whatever. 
 What they do not know themselves, it is 
 impossible to teach their children ; the 
 result is that the whole population, Chris- 
 tian as well as Mussulman, is steeped in the 
 deepest slough of ignorance. And now I
 
 lo PREFACE. 
 
 leave Jurgat, and pass by the town of 
 Tokat. The snow grows thicker about 
 our path ; we have to ride down glaciers 
 and by precipices where a slip would prove 
 our last. Now we cross the mighty 
 Euphrates ; along its banks we go ; the 
 scenery is lovely. The glaciers flashing in 
 the sun, the many-coloured rocks glinting 
 from above their beds of snow. Then the 
 road becomes more elevated. We are 
 always rising higher and higher. We 
 lose sight of the Euphrates, which for 
 some time has looked like a streak of 
 silver beneath our horses' feet, and we are 
 above the clouds. I am more than a mile 
 high, but on we go, still ascending, ever 
 higher and higher. The sun clears away 
 the surrounding mist, and before us in the 
 distance, like a fleet of sailing-vessels 
 which have been tossed into a safe haven 
 by the lofty billows all around them, lies
 
 PREFACE, II 
 
 Erzeroum, which city Is supposed to have 
 been the home of our first parents. The 
 numerous minarets and spires appear In the 
 distance Hke the masts of a mighty fleet, 
 whilst the white and billowy shaped moun- 
 tains seem like the waves I have likened 
 them to. We approach the city. It grows 
 as we near Its walls. The houses take 
 form and shape, the minarets and domes 
 flash In the setting sun, and Erzeroum is 
 reached.' 
 
 In December of the year 1877 he was 
 in European Turkey with General Baker, 
 and was at the battle of Tashkasan, when 
 with 2,800 men they had to cover the 
 retreat of Shakir Pacha's army from the 
 Russian attack. 
 
 On this occasion he wrote from Shakir 
 Pacha's headquarters, Othlukol, eight days 
 after the battle, which occurred on the 31st 
 of December, 1878 :
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 * We have been constantly on the move, 
 and it has been a very exciting time, not 
 only for the Turks but also for lookers-on 
 like myself. When the news reached us 
 that Plevna had fallen, it became at once 
 clear that 120,000 more Russians v^ould be 
 free to march against our small force of 
 20,000, which, owing to the extreme cold 
 in the Balkans, was rapidly diminishing, 
 on an average 200 men going into hospital 
 every day with frost-bites, dysentery, ague, 
 etc. However, orders came from Con- 
 stantinople for Shakir Pacha to hold his 
 position at Kamack as long as possible. 
 This he did in spite of several attacks by 
 the Russians; but at last, on the 27th of 
 December last, they succeeded in sending 
 a large force of 30,000 men by a mountain 
 path across the Balkans, and were thus 
 enabled to attack us in rear as well as 
 front. Baker Pacha, with a small brieade
 
 PREFACE. 13 
 
 of 2,800 men, was sent to the village of 
 Tashkasan, to hold the fresh Russian force 
 in check whilst Shakir Pacha retreated 
 with the remainder of our troops in the 
 direction of the town in which we now 
 are. I went with Baker, and on the last 
 day of the year 1877 the Russians at- 
 tacked us. They had 30,000 men ; we had 
 only 2,800. The battle raged from day- 
 break till sundown, and Shakir Pacha's 
 reply to Baker's frequent demands for re- 
 inforcements was that he had none to 
 give, and that we must hold our own, as, 
 if the Russians were to carry our position, 
 the whole of Shakir Pacha's army, which 
 was retreating, would be taken in flank 
 and annihilated. The Turks fought 
 splendidly, in spite of the tremendous 
 odds, and struggled for every inch of 
 ground with an extraordinary tenacity. 
 The day seemed never inclined to end,
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and Baker kept looking at his watch, 
 whilst the Turks kept gazing at the sun, 
 their timepiece, as until nightfall it would 
 be impossible for us to move. 
 
 ' The hours rolled on, and our men died 
 in their places. Just before the sun set 
 the Russians collected themselves for a 
 supreme effort, and charged our troops for 
 the last time. The Turks, calling upon 
 Allah, rushed at their foes, and actually 
 drove them back a few hundred yards. It 
 was now too late for the Russians to make 
 another attempt. 
 
 ' In the dark we marched down the 
 plain, and mustered our men before 
 marching to this place. Out of our 2,800 
 men 600 were killed or wounded, over 450 
 being killed. The Russians must have 
 lost very heavily, owing to their attacking 
 us in column with dense masses of troops. 
 There was another little battle the day
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 before yesterday, and we had the worst of 
 it, losing over 200 men.' 
 
 In March, 1883, he was travelling in 
 Spain with a friend, and I make a few 
 extracts from a letter dated from the 
 Grand Hotel de Paris, at Madrid. 
 
 * We arrived here the day before yester- 
 day, having travelled through from Paris 
 in thirty-eight hours. It is very cold here, 
 some degrees below freezing, and a wind 
 which, as you know, makes the cold more 
 penetrating. The same day we arrived 
 
 we received a letter from Count S , 
 
 the Chamberlain of the King, appointing 
 the following day at six p.m. for an 
 audience of his Majesty. We went 
 there at that hour in evening dress, and 
 were the first to be shown into the 
 Sovereign's presence. He was very 
 amiable, and introduced me to the Queen, 
 who speaks English well, and showed me
 
 1 6 PREFACE. 
 
 his child, a Httle girl of about two years 
 old. He then said, '' I am afraid I cannot 
 keep the other people waiting. Come and 
 lunch with us to-morrow at 12.30. Only 
 the family, you know. I want so much to 
 have a long talk to you." Of course we 
 accepted. After dinner that evening we 
 
 went to Senor C 's box at the opera. 
 
 The theatre was crowded. " Mephis- 
 topheles " was the piece performed. The 
 house was full of all the beauty of Madrid, 
 and the King and Queen were in the 
 royal box, and nodded several times to us 
 during the opera. I met many old friends 
 in the house, and enjoyed myself very 
 much. To-day we went to the palace. I 
 sat on the left hand of the Queen, who 
 was very agreeable. The three Princesses 
 were there — the youngest sister of the 
 Sovereign, who is to marry a Bavarian 
 Prince on the second of next month. She
 
 PREFACE. 17 
 
 is pretty, and looks about eighteen ; he, 
 I should say, is about thirty. Then 
 there was a Spanish General whom I had 
 known some twelve years ago, and, in 
 addition, the English governesses, or com- 
 panions, of the Princesses. Nothing could 
 exceed the kindness of the family. The 
 King reminded me of his visits to me 
 when he was an exile in London, and of 
 how he had then partaken of my hospi- 
 tality. 
 
 ' After breakfast, or luncheon, which 
 was very good, and when we had par- 
 taken of some magnificent strawberries, 
 the King lit a cigar and we smoked, the 
 ladies talking to us all the w^hile. He is 
 a young man of about twenty-five years 
 of age, dark and good-looking, tall, with 
 large eyes, and a very intelligent face.' 
 
 It will be much regretted that a rough 
 diary which he kept of his life in the 
 
 VOL. I. 2
 
 1 8 PREFACE. 
 
 Soudan was lost on the Nile, and only a 
 few letters reached England. 
 
 The first was written from Wady Haifa, 
 and dated Thursday, December 4th, 1884: 
 
 ' I have been appointed inspecting staff 
 officer of the line between Tanjour and 
 Magrakeh on the Nile, about sixty miles 
 from this. I have to superintend the 
 moving of the Nile boats in that district ; 
 and as the water is very shallow, most of 
 them will have to be carried on land. It 
 will be very hard work, but at the same 
 time interesting employment. I leave this 
 to-morrow to take up my new duties.' 
 
 On the nth of December he wrote 
 from Dal, on the Nile : 
 
 * I left Wady Haifa about five days ago, 
 went by train (three hours) to Sarras, and 
 then rode on camels here. The camels were 
 bad, and broke down several times. We 
 journeyed through the desert, with not a
 
 PREFACE. r9 
 
 blade of grass to be seen — nothing but 
 white sand, high rocks, and black crags. 
 Since I have been here I have been very 
 busy. The Nile here is like a mill-pond 
 in many places, and when the wind is not 
 favourable the boats have to be carried for 
 two and a half miles across the desert on 
 men's shoulders. Each boat weighs eleven 
 hundredweight, and her stores three and 
 a half tons, so this will give you an idea of 
 the labour. I passed eleven boats through 
 the cataract the first day, seventeen the 
 next, thirty-four yesterday, and hope to do 
 forty more to-day. Our work is to spur 
 on all the officers and men, and see that 
 they work to their uttermost. This I 
 think they do, and it will be very difficult 
 for me to get more out of them. It does not 
 do to overspur a willing horse. I sleep on 
 the ground in a waterproof bag, and have 
 as aide-de-camp Captain Gascoigne, late of 
 
 2 2
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 my regiment. He has just gone for an 
 eight hours' ride down the Nile to report 
 to me on the boats coming up. A strong 
 north wind is blowing to-day, which helps 
 us much with the boats. I do hope it will 
 continue, as some four hundred and fifty 
 more have to pass through these cataracts 
 very shortly.' 
 
 Four days later he wrote from the same 
 camp at Dal, on the Nile : 
 
 * I am up before daylight, getting boats 
 and soldiers across the cataracts. It Is 
 very Interesting, but good hard work. 
 There was a deadlock here before I 
 arrived, but I have put things straight 
 again, and the boats are going on to 
 Dongola without any delay. 
 
 * There is a strange mixture of people 
 here — Arab camel-drivers, black Don- 
 golese porters, still blacker Kroomen, Red 
 Indians, Canadian boatmen, Greek inter-
 
 PREFACE. 21 
 
 preters, men from Aden, Egyptian sol- 
 diery, Scotch, Irish, and English Tommy 
 Atkins — a very Babel of tongues and 
 accents. The nights are cold, but on the 
 whole I feel well. Sir Red vers Duller 
 arrived this morning and expressed him- 
 self very pleased with the work done. 
 An English soldier has just had a narrow 
 escape ; his boat ran against a rock, and 
 he was tossed into the water. His com- 
 rades threw him a life-belt, and he 
 managed to catch it, or he would have 
 been sucked down to a certainty. Captain 
 Gascoigne has just taken him a tumbler of 
 whisky. Buchanan, my servant, is well 
 and very useful.' 
 
 On the 24th of the same month he 
 wrote : 
 
 * Great excitement is prevailing at the 
 present moment, as my basin, in which a 
 black was washing my shirts, slipped out
 
 22 PREFACE, 
 
 of his hands, and is sailing gaily down 
 the Nile. Buchanan is in despair, as it 
 cannot be replaced. The excitement in- 
 creases. A black on board a boat close at 
 hand has jumped into the river. The 
 stream is dangerous here, there being so 
 many rocks and eddies. He is pursuing 
 the basin, he has come up to it^ and landed 
 it safely. 
 
 ' It is dangerous bathing here, and two 
 days ago, when swimming after his helmet, 
 a man was drowned. He had just reached 
 it, when he threw up his arms and called 
 out. It was impossible to aid him, and he 
 sank immediately. He was probably 
 caught in an eddy or small whirlpool, 
 when the best swimmer has no chance. 
 
 ' It is extremely cold about two a.m. till 
 the sun gets up, and then it is very warm 
 in the middle of the day. I came back 
 this morning after a three days' excursion
 
 PREFACE. 23 
 
 to the Isle of Say, where I have been 
 arranging with the Sheiks for the purchase 
 of Indian corn, and wood for fuel. I 
 bought an Arab bedstead there for two 
 dollars. For food, I live the same as the 
 soldiers — preserved beef, preserved vege- 
 tables, and lime-juice, with occasionally a 
 drop of rum, which is very acceptable. A 
 piece of bacon was served out to each man, 
 and a pound of flour as well, this morning, 
 as it is Christmas to-morrow. Bacon is a 
 great luxury here. I am going to dine 
 with Lieut.-Colonel Alleyne, of the Royal 
 Artillery, to-morrow. He has a plum- 
 pudding he brought with him from England, 
 and I can assure you we are looking for- 
 ward to the consumption of that pudding 
 very much like boys at school. I must 
 have lost quite two stone the last month, 
 and am all the better for it. \ soldier 
 stole some stores a few days ago. He has
 
 24 PREFACE. 
 
 been tried by court-martial, and given 
 five years' penal servitude. In old days he 
 would have escaped with a flogging, but 
 now that is abolished the man has to suffer 
 five years instead. Poor fellow ! I expect 
 he does not bless the sentimentalists who 
 did away with flogging in the army. 
 Taking everything into consideration, the 
 men are behaving wonderfully well. They 
 have very, very hard work, and this so- 
 called Nile picnic is as severe a strain as 
 well could be put on them, physically speak- 
 ing. Yet you never hear a grumble, and 
 they deserve the greatest praise. My tent 
 is on the very edge of the river. Large 
 rocks and boulders are peering out of the 
 water In all directions, and as each day the 
 river falls, fresh blocks of stone come in 
 view. I do not expect the last boat will 
 pass this cataract before the middle of next 
 month, and then I hope to be sent for to
 
 PREFACE. 25 
 
 the front, as my leave ends the 3rst of 
 March, and it would take me quite a month 
 to get from Khartoum to London, travel- 
 ling almost night and day. It is a respon- 
 sible post which Lord Wolseley has given 
 me here, with forty miles of the most 
 difficult part of the river, and I am very 
 grateful to him for letting me have it ; but 
 I must say I shall be better pleased if he 
 sends for me when the troops advance 
 upon Khartoum. Of course, some one 
 must be left to look after the line of com- 
 munication, and each man hopes he may 
 not be the unfortunate individual. Anyhow, 
 if I am left behind I shall not outwardly 
 grumble, although I shall inwardly swear, 
 as Lord Wolseley has been so very kind.' 
 
 The last letter is dated the 26th of 
 December, from Dal on the Nile : 
 
 * Every morning I am up before six, 
 and am out of doors all day, either on a
 
 26 PREFACE. 
 
 camel or on my legs, superintending the 
 transport of boats and boat-stores up the 
 cataracts. I have not seen a newspaper 
 for the last month, and we all live in bliss- 
 ful ignorance of the outer world. I had 
 my Christmas dinner last night with 
 Colonel Alleyne. Party : Lord Charles 
 Beresford, Captain Gascoigne, and self. 
 Dinner : Preserved pea- soup, some ration 
 beef, and a plum-pudding, sent out from 
 England, which was done great justice to, 
 the dinner being washed down by libations 
 of whisky and brandy, mixed with Nile 
 water. As some one observed, the Nile 
 tastes strongly of whisky after six p.m. 
 One, joking about the expedition and its 
 difficulties, remarked that there had been 
 no such expedition since Hannibal tried to 
 cross the Alps in a boat. I expect to have 
 got the last boat-load of soldiers through 
 here by the second of next month, and
 
 PREFACE. 27 
 
 then there will be very little for me to do, 
 and I hope to be sent on.' 
 
 That hope was realized, and on the 1 7th 
 of January, 1885, in the battle of Abu 
 Klea, fell ' the brightest knight that ever 
 waved a lance.' One who had known him 
 intimately for twenty years wrote, on 
 hearing of the terrible news : ' His gallant 
 spirit has flown as he wished, in a hand-to- 
 hand fight for the service of his country, 
 and the death-roll of English heroes has 
 added to it a name inferior to none in 
 heroic quality.' 
 
 Had he lived to complete this novel 
 himself, it would not have been surrounded 
 with the sad reflections which must inevit- 
 ably fall upon the minds of those who read 
 these pages, and who knew him sufficiently 
 to be able to trace in them that complete 
 fearlessness which gave colour to his views 
 and characterized all his actions ; and
 
 28 PREFACE. 
 
 which, moreover, evoked admiration alike 
 from those who differed from him as from 
 those with whom he thought in common. 
 
 There is no need for me here to add to 
 the words of praise that have been spoken 
 and written already of him by illustrious 
 friends and generous foes. I complete this 
 labour of love with a great reverence for It, 
 which will be shared by all who remember, 
 as they read these pages, that the hand 
 which penned them was the hand that 
 struck its last blow for England's honour. 
 
 J. PERCIVAL HUGHES. 
 
 56, Westbourne Terrace, Hyde Park, W.
 
 NOTE BY THE PUBLISHERS. 
 
 S some delay has occurred in 
 placing Colonel Burnaby's Novel 
 before the public, it may not be 
 uninteresting to explain the cause. 
 
 The Story being written under very 
 unusual circumstances, bears traces of the 
 vicissitudes it has passed through, and 
 a portion of it written in Egypt during 
 the late campaign, was brought back to 
 England in such a state that it was hardly 
 possible to decipher the words. Indeed, 
 one of the principal photographic companies 
 returned a page of the MS. to the pub- 
 lishers, as being quite impossible to repro-
 
 so NOTE BV THE PUBLISHERS. 
 
 duce, and it was only after having the paper 
 of the original dyed, that many of the sen- 
 tences became sufficiently apparent to the 
 eye to be interpreted. 
 
 A page taken at random from the MS. 
 is reproduced here, but being photographed 
 after the colouring of the pages, does but 
 faint justice to the ingenuity and patience 
 spent upon it as a 'labour of love' by Mr. 
 Percival Hughes, and conveys but a partial 
 idea of the difficulties which he had to 
 encounter, some of the pages being 
 written in pencil, red chalk, or blue chalk, 
 with occasional after interpolations, dele- 
 tions, or emendations in ink — the chalk 
 havmg especially suffered in the chafing of 
 the sheets together, during their transit in 
 cam el -bags. 
 
 New Burlington Street, 
 Ju7ie., 1886.
 
 OUR RADICALS 
 
 31 %«U of Sobc mi Jpolitics.
 
 OUR RADICALS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ^Y Jove ! how it blows ! The 
 heavy cavalry w411 have a 
 rough passage to-night.' 
 These words issued from the lips of a 
 young officer dressed in a dragoon uni- 
 form. He was engaged in a game of 
 billiards in the Harnston barracks w^ith a 
 companion. The latter was a stout man, 
 in the prime of life. He had taken off his 
 mess-jacket, and, with braces loosened to 
 give him the more ease, he was leaning 
 forward to make a spot stroke. 
 
 VOL. I. 3
 
 34 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' Yes/ was the reply. * I hope, when we 
 sail for India, the elements will be more 
 propitious.' 
 
 Several other officers of the 2 ist Dragoon 
 Guards were watching the game. One of 
 them, a tall well-built man, was chaffing 
 the players. He was a senior captain of 
 the regiment, and of an old West-country 
 family. The baronetage of the DIgbys 
 went back for many generations. Sir 
 Richard DIgby, the present possessor of 
 the title, had been for several years in 
 the army. He was not much liked by 
 many of his brother officers, on account of 
 his assertive disposition. 
 
 ' There you go again, Doctor,' he re- 
 marked ; * your figure getting in the way 
 of the pocket. I have laid two pounds to 
 one on you, and never will I back such an 
 obese mortal again.' 
 
 * You will lose more than that, Dick, in
 
 OUR RADICALS, 35 
 
 your bet with Arthur Belper/ replied Dr. 
 Allenby, not at all pleased at the allusion 
 made to the size of his waist. 
 
 ' What bet is that '^' asked one of the 
 company. 
 
 ' Why, Digby has bet Belper ;^500, even 
 money, that he (Belper) will be married in 
 ten years, and Arthur, who is a most deter- 
 mined woman-hater, has offered to double 
 the amount ; but Dick funks, and won't 
 have it.' 
 
 * Of course not,' said the Baronet ; ^ why 
 should I make Arthur more resolved to 
 remain a bachelor than he is at present ?' 
 
 ' I don't think you will,' said another of 
 the company ; ' but here comes Arthur — let 
 us hear what he has to say to it.' 
 
 As these words were uttered Arthur 
 Belper entered the billiard-room. 
 
 He was above the middle height, and 
 well-built ; his age apparently about seven- 
 
 3—2
 
 36 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 and-twenty. His complexion had become 
 brown by frequent exposure to the air, and 
 a pair of large blue eyes lit up a singularly 
 handsome countenance. Yet at times a 
 sad expression would pass over his face. 
 He would seem to be bored, not only by 
 himself, but by everything around him. 
 He had been In one of these moods when 
 DIgby had joked him as to his having 
 some secret passion, and In an unguarded 
 moment he had bet DIgby an even ^500 
 that he would not be married In ten years. 
 
 The bet made some little commotion at 
 the time. Several dowagers in Belgravia, 
 with marriageable daughters to dispose of, 
 were furious with the Baronet. Arthur 
 Belper, besides being of a singularly 
 affectionate disposition, was the possessor 
 of a considerable fortune. 
 
 Whilst engaged In outdoor pursuits, no 
 trace of sadness could be seen on his
 
 OUR RADICALS. 37 
 
 features ; but when he was alone, and for 
 a time unoccupied, his gloomy fits would 
 take possession of him. What were they 
 produced by ? some of his elder brother 
 officers would ask themselves. Was there 
 a taint of hereditary Insanity In his family ? 
 for, Indeed, It was rumoured that Arthur's 
 grandfather had committed suicide. At 
 any rate, Belper, liked as he was by his 
 comrades, was nevertheless an enigma to 
 them. 
 
 If anyone understood him, perhaps. It 
 was DIgby, the captain of his troop, who, 
 hated as he was by many men In the regi- 
 ment, was on excellent terms with his 
 subaltern. 
 
 Never were two people so different In 
 character, yet between them there was a 
 strong bond of sympathy. Was It that 
 each one divined the other's secret ? For 
 most men have some skeleton which they
 
 38 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 try to hide from the world, and sometimes 
 from themselves, by an affectation of cyni- 
 cism. An impossible task, indeed, for the 
 canker remains, and fixes its roots more 
 firmly in the heart and brain, for all the 
 efforts made to obliterate it from the recol- 
 lection. 
 
 * They are discussing our bet,' said Sir 
 Richard, holding out his hand to Belper — 
 * but you are wet from head to foot !' 
 
 ' So would you be if you had taken a 
 header into the Thames, and had not had 
 time to change.' 
 
 ' How did you get your ducking ?' asked 
 one of the officers. 
 
 * Oh, simply enough. I was driving 
 over Putney Bridge, when a man de- 
 liberately pushed a boy over the parapet 
 into the water, and then ran for his life. 
 I don't know exactly what happened after- 
 wards ; but somehow I found myself in the
 
 OUR RADICALS. 39 
 
 river, swimming for my life with the Httle 
 fellow under my arm. It was rather dark 
 when I reached the bank, and, as there 
 was no one to be seen, I brought the boy 
 here.' 
 
 * Where is he ?' they all inquired. 
 
 * In my room. I ordered my servant to 
 put him in a warm bath. Conie and see.' 
 
 With these words, he led the way out 
 of the billiard-room into some quarters 
 tenanted by himself and his captain. 
 There, in a large hip-bath, a gigantic 
 dragoon was washing a lad, who, to judge 
 by his appearance, might have been 
 thirteen or fourteen years of age. 
 
 ' Ah, sir ! and I am glad you have come 
 here,' said Belper's servant to his master. 
 ' When I speak to him, he answers in 
 gibberish. I don't understand one word 
 he says.' 
 
 And Bruce, hxl\i\ix '^ fidtis Achates, con-
 
 40 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 tinued scrubbing the boy, and rubbing him 
 down with a rough towel, hissing all the 
 while very much as if he were grooming 
 one of his master's chargers. 
 
 * Stop, or you will hurt him !' said Belper, 
 laughing. ' I only w^anted you to bring 
 back his circulation. Put the lad on the 
 sofa and cover him with blankets. Pre- 
 sently I will find out who he is ; in the 
 meantime, get me a change of clothes.' 
 
 All the officers, except Digby, soon re- 
 turned to the billiard-room, and Belper 
 commenced undressing. 
 
 Sir Richard, sitting down in an arm- 
 chair, helped himself to a cigar from a box 
 that stood near him. 
 
 ' Why, Arthur,' he remarked, ' here you 
 are saddled with a child already !' 
 
 * Well,' replied Belper, ' if I cannot dis- 
 cover his relations, I certainly shall not turn 
 the boy into the streets.'
 
 OUR RADICALS. 4' 
 
 ' You do not mean to say that you would 
 adopt him,' said Sir Richard, laughing. 
 
 * Perhaps not ; but I would pay Bruce's 
 wife to look after the lad, and would see 
 myself that he was properly educated.' 
 
 ' How old should you say he is ?' 
 
 * Twelve or thirteen, perhaps ; ask him.' 
 Digby rose, and went to the sofa, ad- 
 dressing the boy. To his surprise, he did 
 not answer in English, but in French. 
 
 ' You have rescued some French street 
 arab,' said the Baronet ; ' and yet he does 
 not look or speak like one. Come here, 
 Arthur, You are a better French scholar 
 than I am ; ask him yourself about his 
 history.' 
 
 Belper approached the sofa. The boy's 
 eyes glistened at the sight of his rescuer. 
 
 * Who are you ?' said Arthur, ' and who 
 is the man who pushed you into the 
 water ?'
 
 42 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 The lad's face darkened, and he put his 
 hands before his eyes, as if to avoid seeing 
 some horrible apparition. 
 
 ' Don't be afraid,' said Arthur kindly. 
 * You are quite safe with us. Tell me all 
 you know about yourself.' 
 
 The little fellow looked for a moment 
 anxiously around the room, and then 
 spoke. 
 
 ' A short time ago,' he said, ' I was very 
 happy. People were kind to me. I was 
 in a school in France. One day I was 
 told that my father wanted to see me. I 
 had never seen my parents, at least not to 
 my recollection. I was taken into a little 
 room ; there I saw a man, the same one 
 who pushed me into the water. " I am 
 your father, Eugene," he said ; " I have 
 come to take you to a beautiful house. 
 You will have a pony to ride, and nice 
 companions to play with." I felt sure he
 
 OUR RADICALS. 43 
 
 was not my father, so I said, '* I have com- 
 panions here, and will not go with you." 
 And I wanted to run away from him ; but 
 the old lady we used to call Madame said, 
 *' Eugene, you must not be disrespectful 
 to your father. He brought you here 
 when you were a little boy, and paid for 
 you ever since." No one interfered ; and 
 I was made to go downstairs, and get into 
 a carriage. The man gave me something 
 to drink, and I went to sleep. When I 
 awoke, I was very ill, and on a ship at sea. 
 After some days we arrived in a large 
 town. I was taken to a house — I resisted 
 going, and called out, but no one could 
 understand me. This afternoon I was told 
 that I was to see my real parents. When 
 we were on the bridge, the man said, 
 '^ Eugene, get up here, and I will show 
 you where your father lives." I climbed 
 on the parapet, and he said, " Look straight
 
 44 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 before you." And he then gave me a push. 
 I fell into the water, and I remember nothing 
 more.' 
 
 With these words the boy left off 
 speaking, and began to cry bitterly. 
 
 * We are no nearer than we were before 
 as to who he is,' said Sir Richard. ' Do 
 you know Metrale, the head of the 
 police ?' 
 
 'No.' 
 
 * Well, I will give you a line to him. 
 He is an extremely able man, and a friend 
 of mine. Go to his house to-morrow, and 
 tell him what has occurred. He may be 
 able to put two and two together, and 
 advise as to what course to pursue.' 
 
 Sir Richard Digby lit another of 
 Helper's cigars, and left the room to 
 join the billiard-players.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EVENTEEN thousand three 
 hundred and forty-five pounds, 
 eleven shillings and seven- 
 pence three farthings. That is their exact 
 value, sir ; at all events, the value for 
 which the diamonds were insured. Then 
 there are the bank-notes and shares. I 
 think in all I might put the loss down at 
 forty-seven thousand pounds.' 
 
 The speaker. Inspector Jumbleton, was 
 a man of stunted growth, and about fifty 
 years of age. His head was thinly 
 covered with red hair^ and his eyes, which 
 were very small and close together, gave
 
 46 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 him a somewhat ferret-like appearance. 
 He was giving to Mr. Metrale, the head 
 of the police, an account of a robbery that 
 had been perpetrated a few days before at 
 a post-office in London. The robbery had 
 made a considerable sensation, owing to 
 the daring manner in which it had been 
 effected. A woman entered a central 
 office and asked for a receipt to a re- 
 gistered letter. The mail-bags were lying 
 on the ground by the counter. A few 
 minutes after her departure the mail-cart 
 driver came for the bags, and on being 
 informed of their contents was struck by 
 their lightness. On examination it was 
 discovered that they were not the original 
 sacks, but were imitation ones, which she 
 had left in the place of the real bags 
 she had carried away beneath her cloak. 
 
 ' Always a woman, sir, in these matters,' 
 said Inspector Jumbleton ; 'they walk
 
 OUR RADICALS. 47 
 
 round us just as they choose. If I were 
 at the head of the Government I would 
 have a detective department managed by- 
 women. Why, where their own sex is con- 
 cerned, they are ten times as sharp as we 
 are. '' Set a woman to catch a woman," 
 said Mrs. Jumbleton to me.' 
 
 The inspector was considered quite a 
 privileged character in Harley Street, 
 where Mr. Metrale lived. He was one 
 of the sharpest detectives in the force, not 
 so much, perhaps, on account of his own 
 innate shrewdness as on account of the 
 smartness of his wife. Mrs. Jumbleton 
 took the greatest interest in her husband's 
 business. He always consulted her when- 
 ever he was engaged in endeavouring to 
 unravel some criminal mystery ; and on 
 several occasions her clear powers of per- 
 ception — which enabled her, like many of 
 her sex, to jump to a conclusion — had
 
 48 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 given him the identical clue which led to 
 the detection of the delinquent. 
 
 Metrale was well aware of Mrs. Jum- 
 bleton's intelligence. When the inspector 
 first married, his chief was a little alarmed, 
 lest in a moment of amatlveness Jumbleton 
 might be indiscreet, and let out important 
 secrets connected with the department, 
 which, owing to his steadiness, Jumbleton 
 had been entrusted with. 
 
 But if he had, they never came back to 
 Metrale's ears, and on several occasions 
 when Mrs. Jumbleton had gone to him, 
 and offered her assistance In watching 
 certain suspected persons, he had been 
 much struck by her zeal and ability. 
 Metrale's office was no sinecure. It had 
 been started about three years, upon the 
 principles of the continental system. 
 Metrale was forty-seven when the appoint- 
 ment was offered him, and now, although
 
 OUR RADICALS. 49 
 
 only fifty years of age, he was quite grey. 
 A face furrowed with wrinkles gave evi- 
 dent signs of constant anxiety and over- 
 work. 
 
 Nothing could happen in town without 
 Metrale being aware of it. Several rob- 
 beries had recently occurred on an exten- 
 sive scale. The thieves had carried their 
 audacity so far as to effect an entrance into 
 Buckingham Palace, during the Court ball, 
 and had there plied their profession suc- 
 cessfully, having cut several diamonds of 
 enormous value from a Begum's dress, and 
 even stolen some ornaments from the 
 person of one of the Royal Family. 
 
 Then there were the daring Fenian 
 plots. Several explosions had taken place 
 in the military barracks, and other public 
 buildings had to be watched day and night. 
 
 Over and above these things, there were 
 the persons of the Ministers to guard, Lord 
 
 VOL. I. 4
 
 50 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 O'Hagan Harton, the Lord Chancellor, 
 having been fired at on one or two occa- 
 sions. The noble lord, who was not very 
 particular as to the feelings of others, was 
 highly sensitive whenever his own personal 
 comfort and security w^ere concerned. Me- 
 trale constantly received telegrams from 
 him as to anonymous letters of a threaten- 
 ing character which the Lord Chancellor 
 had received, and recently the Minister 
 had ordered a telephone to be constructed 
 between his own house and that of the 
 chief of police. He was thus able to 
 inform Metrale as to his intended move- 
 ments. The other members of the Cabi- 
 net had been similarly threatened, but few 
 of them lived in such a continual state of 
 apprehension as Lord O'Hagan Harton. 
 
 Several attempts had been made on the 
 Prime Minister's life. On one occasion a 
 torpedo had been discovered in his cellar ;
 
 OUR RADICALS. 51 
 
 on another he had narrowly escaped being 
 poisoned. An Irish cook in his service, a 
 woman affiliated with a branch of the 
 Fenians, had put a deadly drug into a 
 dressed lobster, for which delicacy Mr. 
 Cumbermore had a great partiality. For- 
 tunately for the Prime Minister, on this 
 particular occasion he did not partake of 
 his favourite dish. 
 
 All these matters naturally caused Mr. 
 Metrale great anxiety. He felt that he 
 was responsible for the safety of the 
 members of the Government, and of the 
 community at large, but the money allowed 
 him for his department was limited. The 
 Ministers required such a large number of 
 police as a bodyguard, that there were 
 hardly any officials left to look after the 
 interests of the public. 
 
 It was whilst he was considering with 
 Inspector Jumbleton as to what plan to 
 ' 4 — 2 
 
 U. Of ILL LIB. 

 
 52 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 adopt for the discovery of the perpetrators 
 of the post-office robbery that a tap was 
 heard at the door. 
 
 ' Come in,' said Metrale. 
 
 A policeman in plain clothes entered, 
 and gave Mr. Metrale a card and a 
 letter. 
 
 ' You can go now, Jumbleton. I will see 
 you again presently,' said Mr. Metrale. 
 ' Show the gentleman in,' he added, ad- 
 dressing the bearer of the card and 
 letter. 
 
 Belper was announced, and entered the 
 room. 
 
 * I am very glad to make your acquaint- 
 ance, Mr. Belper,' said Metrale. ' Sir 
 Richard Digby has often mentioned your 
 name to me. But you require my services, 
 I see by this letter.' 
 
 After Belper had told him of the ad- 
 venture of the previous day, the chief of
 
 OUR RADICALS. .53 
 
 the police remained for some minutes 
 buried in deep thought. 
 
 * I should like to see the boy/ he re- 
 marked at length. * Is he with you ?' 
 
 * Yes, I thought you might like to 
 speak to him. He is in my brougham 
 below.' 
 
 Metrale touched an electric bell twice. 
 Jumbleton entered. 
 
 ^ There is a lad in this gentleman's 
 carriage ; bring him here.' 
 
 ' He only speaks French,' said Belper ; 
 ' perhaps he will not understand.' 
 
 ' Our inspectors speak French and Ger- 
 man, and Jumbleton speaks Russian as 
 well,' said Metrale. 
 
 In a few minutes Jumbleton returned, 
 leading Eugene by the hand. 
 
 ' He is a fine boy,' said Metrale to 
 Belper, and then addressed Eugene in 
 French.
 
 54 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 * Should you know the man again who 
 brought you from France, and who pushed 
 you into the river ?' 
 
 * Yes,' answered Eugene, and an angry 
 expression passed over the boy's face. 
 
 Metrale then spoke a few words in an 
 undertone to the Inspector. The latter 
 left the room, but shortly returned with 
 some large albums. 
 
 * Now,' said Metrale, 'what was the 
 colour of the man's hair, and how old 
 should you think he was .'^' 
 
 ' His hair was black, and he seemed 
 about as old — as old as you, sir.' 
 
 ' Ah, about fifty, and with dark hair ; 
 now as to his height. Was he as tall as I 
 am?' 
 
 Eugene stood up by Mr. Metrale's side, 
 at the same time putting his hand above 
 his own head, and indicating by that means 
 the height of the man.
 
 OUR RADICALS, 55 
 
 * Did he speak French well ?' 
 
 ' No ; I could hardly understand him,' 
 said Eugene. 
 
 * Now, Jumbleton,' said Mr. Metrale. 
 ' The albums of Irishmen, above forty 
 years of age.' 
 
 The inspector produced an enormous 
 volume. 
 
 * There,' said Metrale to Eugene ; ' take 
 this book into the other room. If 3^ou see 
 any photograph at all like the man who 
 brought you to England, come and show 
 me.' 
 
 'What should yoii say was the man's 
 object in trying to drown the child .'^' said 
 Belper, as Eugene left the room. 
 
 ' One of two thincrs — either to obtain 
 money from some person who wished him 
 out of the way, or to gratify a revengeful 
 feeling. You have no idea how many 
 children have been stolen from parents
 
 56 OUR RADICALS, 
 
 of late years. It is a plan of the Fenians 
 to extort money, or political support in 
 Parliament. In one case the body of a 
 little girl was found at her mother's door. 
 It is a deplorable state of things. There 
 is only one way to stamp out secret 
 societies, and that is by force ; but then 
 that, you know, the Prime Minister says 
 is no remedy. If the Fenians have 
 had a hand in this case, I am power- 
 less.' 
 
 The inspector returned at this moment 
 with Eugene. He had seen a photograph 
 that was very like the man. 
 
 ^ Did he limp as he walked 't' asked 
 Metrale. 
 
 ' A little,' was the reply. 
 
 ' I fear my conjecture is right,' said 
 Metrale ; * this child is not born of humble 
 parents.' 
 
 * But he is French,' said Belper. 'Surely
 
 OUR RADICALS. 57 
 
 the Fenians could bear no grudge against 
 our neighbours across the water.' 
 
 ' Who can tell ?' said Metrale. ' There 
 is evidently some mystery ; if you will leave 
 it in my hands I will endeavour to unravel 
 it. In the meantime, what are you going 
 to do with the boy ?' 
 
 ' Take him into my service and educate 
 him/ said Belper, laughing. ' As I have 
 saved his life, I feel I am in a good measure 
 responsible for it.' 
 
 ^ Well, he will be safe with you in 
 barracks,' said Metrale. * Good-morning.' 
 
 * Good-morning, Mr. Metrale, and many 
 thanks for the interest you take in the 
 matter,' said Belper, as he left the room 
 with his proUge, ' Metrale may be right,* 
 thought Belper, as they were seated in the 
 brougham ; ' there is evidently some mystery 
 about his parentage. Anyhow, he shall 
 come to no harm while he is with me.'
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HERE were several broughams 
 standing outside 172, Arlington 
 Street, one wet Sunday after- 
 noon. The coachmen were grumbling at 
 the time they were exposed to the in- 
 clemency of the weather. 
 
 Lady Trylngton was always at home to 
 her friends on Sunday afternoon. She had 
 quite a clientele of men who made a point 
 of calling on her upon that day. 
 
 Lady Trylngton did not care much 
 about receiving her own sex ; she thought 
 that their presence might be a check on 
 the freedom of conversation. But on this
 
 OUR RADICALS. 59 
 
 particular afternoon her two nieces, Laura 
 and Blanche Tryington, were w^ith her. 
 
 Laura Tryington was an extremely 
 beautiful girl. It was said that she was an 
 express image of what Lady Tryington had 
 been in her younger days. She was con- 
 siderably above the middle height, and 
 possessed a very graceful figure. Her face 
 was not the Anglo-Saxon type. A glance 
 would have shown that there was foreign 
 blood in Lady Tryington's niece. Her 
 grandmother was a Greek by birth, and 
 Laura, with her flashing eyes, finely chiselled 
 nose, and small but determined mouth and 
 chin, might have passed for a beautiful 
 Athenian. 
 
 Blanche, on the other hand, although as 
 many declared equally beautiful, was below 
 the middle height, and very fair. She was 
 about two years younger than her cousin, 
 who had just passed her twenty-first year.
 
 6o OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Both the Misses Trylngton had received 
 offers of marriage, but so far no man had 
 succeeded In gaming their favour ; and 
 Lady Trylngton, who had been married at 
 the age of eighteen, was beginning to be 
 a Httle anxious as to the matrimonial future 
 of her nieces. 
 
 ' And so, my dear Laura will not marry,' 
 said the old Duke of Beaulleu, his palsied 
 hand shaking like an aspen leaf, as he put 
 down his cup. 
 
 * No, Duke ; not even you. If you made 
 the offer,' replied Lady Trylngton. ' It 
 makes me very anxious.' 
 
 'After all,' said Sir Richard DIgby to his 
 aunt, ' Laura is wise In her generation ; why 
 should she be In a hurry to leave this home, 
 so full of elegance and comfort, to marry a 
 man who might turn out indifferently ?' 
 
 * You don't, then, think highly of your 
 sex ?' said Lady Trylngton.
 
 OUR RADICALS. (>\ 
 
 ^ No, nor of yours either, aunt. We 
 both build upon ideals ; we picture to our- 
 selves the person we love as having every 
 perfection, and the end is, generally speak- 
 ing, deception and disappointment/ 
 
 * Sir Richard talks as if from experience,' 
 said Lord O'Hagan Harton. 
 
 * Digby's only experiences have been 
 with the Turks and Circassians,' exclaimed 
 Horace Deloony, laughing. 
 
 Horace Deloony was an old diplomate. 
 Some years previous he had left the 
 Foreign" Office. He now made a business 
 of society, and had developed into a per- 
 ambulating journal of all the scandals that 
 had happened, and were going to happen. 
 Nothing, in his opinion, could go on suc- 
 cessfully without his presence. He was of 
 Irish descent, and to no ordinary abilities 
 he added a complete mastery of the art of 
 repartee.
 
 62 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ^ Horace, you must have been a great 
 lady-killer in your day,' said Sir Richard 
 Digby. 
 
 * Lady-killer !' exclaimed the Duke. * He 
 was a dreadful dog !' 
 
 * The result being that he is now a dis- 
 contented, bilious old bachelor/ 
 
 These words fell from the lips of Mrs. 
 Ryder, the wife of an editor of a powerful 
 society journal. 
 
 She was always welcomed by Lady 
 Tryington, because, from her husband's 
 connection with the press, she had the 
 opportunity of bearing the latest news to 
 the tea-table of her patroness. 
 
 * If anything were to happen to Ryder, 
 I would propose to you at once,' said 
 Horace Deloony. 
 
 ' No ; that I protest against/ said the 
 Duke emphatically. *You are ill-natured 
 enough in conversation ; as the proprietor
 
 OUR RADICALS. d-^ 
 
 of a newspaper you would be unbear- 
 able.' 
 
 The wife of the editor smiled. She 
 was rather amused at this banter : it gave 
 her an idea of her own importance. 
 Although herself of excellent family, she 
 would not have dreamt a few years back 
 of being the tried and trusted friend of 
 Lady Tryington. 
 
 But things had changed vastly of late. 
 The editors of society papers had become 
 too powerful for society to ignore. The 
 names of its more prominent members 
 were inserted continually, and their actions 
 freely discussed. The majority of people, 
 much as they enjoy hearing scandal about 
 others, do not at all appreciate It when it 
 affects themselves. Some of the editors 
 had gone so far as to have their own 
 secret police. Husbands and wives found 
 that they lived under a microscopic obser-
 
 64 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 vatlon. Mr. Ryder was not so modest as 
 many of his contemporary editors. He 
 was known to be a firm friend, but a very 
 bitter foe. As most people preferred 
 to have him on their side, Mrs. Ryder 
 found herself admitted Into the best 
 society. 
 
 * By the way,' she said, turning to Sir 
 Richard Digby, * I have heard of your bet 
 with Belper. Will you win It ?' 
 
 ' Upon my word, for the last four days I 
 have been somewhat alarmed,' answered 
 Sir Richard. * Arthur has saved a child 
 from drowning, and now that he means to 
 adopt it, my chance of winning the ;^500 
 is considerably lessened.' 
 
 * How did the accident occur ?' said his 
 aunt. 
 
 And Digby then gave an account of 
 Helper's adventure. 
 
 ' How very curious and romantic !' said
 
 OUR RADICALS. 65 
 
 Mrs. Ryder, rising from her chair to say 
 good-bye to Lady Tryington. 
 
 ' There she goes, to tell her husband 
 to announce it in his paper,' said Lord 
 O'Hagan Harton. ' What a bore these 
 paper people are !' 
 
 * But you used to write yourself,' said 
 Horace Deloony ; * and people say that 
 even now you write out all your speeches, 
 and give each editor the amount he re- 
 quires.' 
 
 * People say a great many things, Mr. 
 Deloony,' said Lord O'Hagan Harton 
 haughtily. ' If Ananias were to return to 
 the earth, he would find himself heavily 
 handicapped in the society of to-day.' 
 
 * Of course, I do not move in the same 
 sphere as you do,' said Horace Deloony ; 
 ' but people will talk, and if they have no 
 better subject they will talk about you.' 
 
 Lord O'Hagan Harton rose from his 
 VOL. I. 5
 
 66 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 seat, and bowing to Lady Tryington, took 
 his departure. 
 
 * There you have made an enemy for 
 life/ Lady Tryington said, as LordO'Hagan 
 Harton's brougham drove away from the 
 door. 
 
 * I am quite indifferent to that,' said 
 Deloony ; ' my contempt for him as an 
 enemy is only equalled by my contempt 
 for him as a statesman.' 
 
 * How bitter you are,' answered Lady 
 Tryington. ' People say we women say 
 spiteful things, but we are nowhere with 
 a diplomate or a Cabinet Minister.' 
 
 ' I hope, Dick, Mr. Belperhas not caught 
 cold after his immersion,' said Blanche 
 Tryington, who had been conversing at the 
 other end of the room with her cousin 
 during the late passage of words. 
 
 ' No, I think not,' replied Sir Richard. 
 
 * And so your friend has sworn, like
 
 OUR RADICALS. 67 
 
 Benedick, to die a bachelor,' said Laura 
 Tryington. * Whenever a man swears that, 
 like Benedick, he is sure to live long 
 enough to eat his words.' 
 
 * And he is really too nice to die so un- 
 interesting a death,' added Blanche. 
 
 'Really!' said Sir Richard; * if Belper 
 could hear you say that, I might even yet 
 win my bet.' 
 
 Lady Tryington's guests left early that 
 afternoon. She took up a copy of the 
 paper edited by Mr. Ryder, and was en- 
 gaged in reading an article, when her foot- 
 man entered the room with a card, which 
 his mistress glanced carelessly at. 
 
 Suddenly her countenance betrayed the 
 interest she felt in the person announced. 
 
 ' What ! le Capitaine Victor Delange. 
 Show him in at once.' 
 
 5—2
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 fiADY TRYINGTON had made 
 the acquaintance of M. le Capi- 
 talne Victor Delange ten years 
 ago In Paris. He had just been appoint- 
 ed as MiHtary Attache to his Embassy. 
 Knowing that his old friend Lady Trying- 
 ton was a leader of society, and acquainted 
 with everything appertaining to the politi- 
 cal world, he took the earliest opportunity 
 of calling upon her. 
 
 ' So delighted to see you once more, 
 Monsieur le Capitalne,' said Lady Try- 
 ington in French. ' It is an age since we 
 met. I had just seen your appointment
 
 OUR RADICALS. 69 
 
 announced. I am so pleased that it 
 enables us to renew our friendship.' 
 
 * My first visit is to you,' said Victor 
 Delange. ' I said to myself, who can tell 
 me everything about everybody in London ; 
 who can post me up in society, in politics ? 
 Why, only Lady Tryington. So here I 
 am.' 
 
 ' Well, first of all, you will have a cup 
 of tea. And now, what do you want to 
 know ? About the last scandal, or the 
 new religion ; about the elopement, or the 
 wedding ; about the births, or the deaths ; 
 or about politics, M. le Capitaine ? I am 
 at your disposal ; command me, and I 
 obey.' 
 
 ' A thousand thanks ! it is so kind of 
 you ; but, my dear Lady Tryington, if you 
 remember you told me, when I last saw you, 
 about all the troubles that Mr. Gladstone, 
 your Prime Minister, had brought on his
 
 JO OUR RADICALS. 
 
 country, and how he had reduced the 
 rents on your Irish estate. Now, we 
 Frenchmen seldom speak EngHsh, and 
 our newspapers are badly informed as to 
 English matters, so do tell me briefly what 
 has happened in your country. You know 
 my profession, purely a military one ; but 
 it does not seem well for me, although a 
 foreigner, to appear ignorant of what 
 everyone knows.' 
 
 ' It will not take me long,' said Lady 
 Tryington. * You remember that I could 
 get no rents from my Irish estates, and 
 that my agents and bailiffs had been 
 murdered.' 
 
 * Yes ; and the horrible assassination of 
 the Government officials, and the secret 
 compact with the murderers.' 
 
 * The people at last became disgusted 
 with the Government. They clamoured 
 for a General Election, and they had one.'
 
 OUR RADICALS. 71 
 
 * And what happened after the General 
 Election V inquired Victor Delange. ' The 
 old Prime Minister was defeated, was he 
 not?' 
 
 * Yes,' continued Lady Tryington. ' The 
 Whig families, who had learnt that the 
 policy of their chief was one calculated to 
 seriously affect the landed interest at 
 home, and to make England ridiculous 
 in the eyes of foreign Powers, used their 
 influence for the Conservative cause. We 
 then had a Coalition or Liberal-Conser- 
 vative Government. I then sold my 
 Irish estates at twenty years' purchase, 
 although some time before I had received 
 an offer of thirty-three years ; but with all 
 that I am better off than the unfortunate 
 loyalists who would not sell their estates, 
 and now receive no rents at all. Well, we 
 enjoyed a few years of comfort and peace 
 under the Coalition Government, but our
 
 72 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 trade suddenly received a terrible check. 
 The fact was that the United States had 
 paid off their debt and had fostered their 
 manufactures by their protective duties to 
 such an extent that they could undersell 
 England in her own markets, as she had 
 abandoned a protective policy, and become 
 a free-trade country. Our hardware districts 
 were deluged with cheap American goods. 
 Men were thrown out of employment 
 everywhere. At last a cry arose for Pro- 
 tection.' 
 
 ' And the Ministers ?' inquired Victor 
 Delange. 
 
 ' Refused to give It. They believed In 
 the principles of so-called Free Trade, 
 which I believe to be an imposition.' 
 
 * Certainement, oui/ said the French 
 attache, who, however, had hardly followed 
 all the remarks of his hostess, but who 
 considered It polite to assent.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 73 
 
 ' The Radical party was at that time led 
 by a man of considerable ability. He had 
 made a large fortune many years previous 
 in a pork business in Chicago. Mr. Jonas 
 Cumbermore watched his opportunity. 
 Radicalism was at that time completely 
 severed from the ties which once bound it 
 to moderate Liberalism. Mr. Jonas Cum- 
 bermore determined to roast both Conser 
 vative and Liberal in the fires of their 
 free-trade principles. Apparently oblivious 
 to the opinions he had formerly publicly 
 expressed upon the question, he resolved 
 that the Radical party should go in for 
 Protection. Another General Election 
 took place. The agriculturists, who had 
 felt very acutely the force of foreign com- 
 petition in corn and cattle, combined with 
 the artisans and Irish against the Ministers 
 of the day. The result was the complete 
 overthrow of the Coalition Government.
 
 74 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Our Sovereign in vain looked for a 
 premier from the Liberal and Conser- 
 vative ranks. In the new House of 
 Commons three-fourths of the members 
 were sworn followers of Mr. Jonas Cum- 
 bermore. It was a bitter pill for the 
 monarchy to swallow, but there was no 
 alternative. Mr. Jonas Cumbermore was 
 summoned to Windsor. He was invited 
 to form a Cabinet. To this proposal he 
 at once assented, and for the last eight 
 months the affairs of our country have 
 been entirely in the hands of the Revolu- 
 tionary Radical.' 
 
 ' That means something worse than a 
 Communard,' said Victor Delange, 'does 
 it not ?' 
 
 ' Far worse,' continued Lady Trylngton ; 
 ' at least, that is what my friends the Con- 
 servatives say. But to resume. Our affairs 
 have not prospered. You may remember
 
 OUR RADICALS. 75 
 
 how your nation resented the heavy duties 
 imposed upon her manufactures ?' 
 
 * You ruined the trade of our people In 
 Belleville In fancy goods,' said Victor 
 Delange ; ' It nearly brought about a re- 
 volution In Paris.' 
 
 * Lastly, to add to our misfortunes, the 
 Irish — who some time previous were con- 
 ceded local self-government, and who have 
 passed laws calculated to drive every 
 loyalist out of the country — are now 
 clamouring to be annexed to the United 
 States. You are aware, of course, that 
 the Americans have recently largely in- 
 creased their army and navy ; but you will 
 hardly believe that to-day there Is a 
 rumour that a large band of American 
 filibusters are now on their way to aid 
 Ireland In a revolt. To make matters 
 worse, there Is news that an insurrection 
 has broken out In India, and my nephew's
 
 76 OUR RADICALS, 
 
 regiment — the 21st Dragoon Guards — 
 has been ordered to embark Immediately. 
 If you will dine here on Wednesday you 
 will meet him, and I have no doubt there 
 will be many subjects upon which you will 
 be mutually at home In conversation.' 
 
 Victor Delange took his leave of Lady 
 Tryington, apologizing for so long a visit, 
 and receiving an answer that the time had 
 passed most pleasantly In his company. 
 
 ' I must pay my homage to your 
 beautiful nieces/ said Victor Delange, on 
 leaving. 
 
 'And you will dine with us on Wed- 
 nesday.'
 
 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 'T was midnight. The telegraph 
 wires were busily at work in 
 Metrale's office ; particularly 
 those communicating with Downing Street. 
 Several people were waiting in different 
 rooms for an interview wuth the chief 
 of the police. At that moment the Lord 
 Chancellor was conversing with Mr. Me- 
 trale in his office. 
 
 * You say it really was to have taken 
 place to-night ?' 
 
 ' Yes,' answered Metrale. ' I do not 
 believe one of you could have escaped.' 
 The Lord Chancellor shuddered. Lord
 
 78 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 O'Hagan Harton's distress was occasioned 
 by the discovery Metrale had made, 
 through one of his female detectives, that 
 another attempt had been planned by the 
 Fenians to destroy the members of the 
 Cabinet. 
 
 * The Fenians are becoming more daring 
 every day,' continued Metrale. * Hitherto, 
 as you know, they have made attempts to 
 destroy buildings by putting dynamite in 
 the cellars, or against the walls. They 
 have learnt that we know most of these 
 devices. They therefore changed their 
 tactics, and hit upon the following plan. 
 They determined to destroy Mr. Cumber- 
 more's house, not from below, but from 
 above. It appears that there are some ex- 
 plosives which Ignite so rapidly that their 
 effect Is just as great In a downward as In 
 an upward direction. This fact estab- 
 lished, one of the Fenians obtained access
 
 OUR RADICALS. 79 
 
 to the roof of Mr. Cumbermore's house, 
 and placed 50 lb. weight of fulminating 
 mercury on the slates, in a straight line 
 above the room where a Cabinet Council 
 was to be held. He connected his in- 
 fernal machine with the telegraph wire that 
 runs over Belgrave Square, and tapped 
 that same wire about two miles farther off, 
 where it communicates with another build- 
 in or. His emissaries were on the watch to 
 signal to him when the Ministers arrived 
 in Belgrave Square. His intentions were, 
 after allowing you half an hour to settle 
 down to business, to connect the wire of 
 his battery, and explode the fulminating 
 mercury. If this had been effected the 
 whole building would have been rased 
 to the ground.' 
 
 ' How did you detect the plot .^' said the 
 Lord Chancellor. 
 
 ' By the merest accident/ answered
 
 So OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Metrale. * I had desired a female decoy, 
 named Moloney, to ingratiate herself with 
 O'Brien, a suspected Fenian. She did so 
 successfully. O'Brien succumbed to Mrs. 
 Moloney's charms.' 
 
 Here Lord O'Hagan Harton shrugged 
 his shoulders contemptuously. 
 
 ^ You need not be surprised,' said 
 Metrale, laughing. ' Mrs. Moloney is an 
 extremely well-proportioned woman, and 
 O'Brien is not the first man who has fallen 
 a victim to her attractions. The evening 
 before last O'Brien took her to his rooms 
 in the Strand. She saw some coils of wire 
 lying about, and asked their use. At 
 first O'Brien would not tell her. She 
 managed, by those arts which a woman 
 has the power to employ, supported by his 
 belief that she was devoted to the Fenian 
 cause, to get the secret of the plot from 
 him. I learnt the whole of It four hours
 
 OUR RADICALS. 8i 
 
 before the explosion was to have taken 
 place, and I surrounded the house in the 
 Strand, and succeeded in arresting three 
 of the rebels, including Mrs. Moloney, 
 whom I was obliged to take into custody 
 for her own safety/ 
 
 * Things are more serious than ever in 
 Ireland,' said the Lord Chancellor. 
 
 ' Do you think,' said Mr. Metrale, ' Mr. 
 Cumbermore cares in his heart whether 
 Ireland be annexed to the United States 
 or not ?' 
 
 * Yes, I do/ answered Lord O'Hagan 
 Harton. ' If Ireland were to be annexed, 
 there can be but little doubt that later on 
 England would share Ireland's fate. Now, 
 Mr. Cumbermore is a very ambitious man ; 
 and if once the annexation took place, all 
 dreams he may have formed, as to his be- 
 coming all-powerful in this country, will be 
 at an end.' 
 
 VOL. I. 6
 
 -82 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 * What with India and Ireland, he has 
 his hands pretty full,' said Metrale. * The 
 Irish are a terrible nuisance ; but this 
 country has treated them like a spoilt 
 child. If I had had money at my disposal 
 I could have picked up all the links of the 
 chain of conspiracy years ago ; but no, 
 I am stinted on every hand, and am there- 
 fore unable to employ a secret service. 
 Why, In France the police can spend 
 reasonable sums, and no questions are 
 asked ; but here, If I were to prevent 500 
 murders by spending ^5,000, In the first 
 place, if I asked to be repaid I shouldn't 
 receive an answer ; and In the second place, 
 If I complained I should be removed from 
 my post.' 
 
 ' It Is a God-forsaken country, Metrale,' 
 said Lord O'Hagan Harton, ' but we must 
 make it last out our time. I have sold out 
 ■everything almost that I possessed here.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 83 
 
 and have invested my money in Australia 
 and the United States. My child shall 
 have something to live upon, at all 
 events.' 
 
 ' No other country in the world would 
 tolerate such a state of things,' continued 
 Metrale, who had now thoroughly warmed 
 up upon his favourite grievance, * and the 
 more particularly as these secret societies 
 could be suppressed, even now, at the 
 eleventh hour. Treat Ireland as Crom- 
 well treated her, and give me the means of 
 buying information.' 
 
 * Cromwell was a great man,' said 
 the Lord Chancellor, ' but there were 
 no penny and halfpenny newspapers in 
 his time. By the way, have you had 
 all precautions taken for our future 
 safety ?' 
 
 * You can rest satisfied, my lord,' said 
 Metrale. ' No expense has been spared 
 
 6—2
 
 84 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 to ensure your safety and that of all the 
 members of the Cabinet.' 
 
 And the Lord Chancellor went away, 
 uneasy but re-assured.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 T was a lovely afternoon. Blanche 
 and Laura Tryington were at 
 Hurlingham with Sir Richard 
 Digby. All the world had gone to this 
 popular place of entertainment. The 
 great match of the season was to be 
 played between Digby's regiment and the 
 London garrison. There may be room 
 for doubt as to whether many of the 
 thousands of people present cared much 
 for polo, or, indeed, understood anything 
 about the game ; but it had been duly 
 announced in the papers, Mr. Ryder's 
 especially, that royalty would be present.
 
 86 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 In Spite of the levelling tendency of the 
 age, royalty was as safe to call together a 
 large number of people as usual. 
 
 The House of Lords had been repeatedly 
 ridiculed by Mr. Jonas Cumbermore, and 
 royalty itself had been threatened with ex- 
 tinction ; but the fact that it had been 
 menaced made it, if anything, more popu- 
 lar, and Mr. Cumbermore had come to the 
 conclusion that the time for establishing a 
 Republic in Great Britain had not yet 
 arrived. This was undoubtedly due, in a 
 great measure, to the personal popularity 
 of the Sovereign, for caucuses had been 
 hard at work for several years past, en- 
 deavouring to undermine the loyalty of the 
 people. Tracts had been scattered broad- 
 cast in the hardware district, showing how 
 much the Throne had cost the country. 
 One Mr. Buttertongue had made a calcula- 
 tion of the amount expended by Sovereigns
 
 OUR RADICALS. 87 
 
 of England since the days of the Conquest. 
 He had shown that this sum, if put out at 
 compound interest, would have paid off the 
 national debt of every country on the globe, 
 and in addition have left a balance that 
 would, if invested at 3 per cent., have given 
 every man, woman, and child in Melting- 
 borough three shillings per diem for life. 
 
 This attack upon royalty, coming shordy 
 after the abolition of perpetual pensions 
 and the reduction of the retired allowances 
 for officers in the army, had not the desired 
 effect. The masses were more loyal than 
 they had been before. 
 
 But to resume. Hurlingham was 
 crowded. All the Cabinet Ministers' 
 v/ives and daughters were present. A 
 tent was set apart for the friends of 
 officers competing in the match, and here 
 Sir Richard Digby found a place for the 
 ladies of his party.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' I am afraid you will see very little of 
 the polo,' observed Sir Richard to Lady 
 Tryington. 
 
 ' Polo, Dick !' exclaimed Lady Trying- 
 ton ; ' do you think I came to see polo ?' 
 
 ' Well, that was the idea I had in my 
 mind.' 
 
 * Nothing of the kind,' said Lady Trying- 
 ton. * I came here with Blanche and 
 Laura for them to see, and be seen, 
 especially the latter. Is not that your 
 friend Mr. Belper,' she continued, ' who is 
 talking with the Duke of Cumberland }' 
 
 His Royal Highness had known Belper 
 for several years, and was at the time con- 
 gratulating him upon his rescue of the 
 little boy, an embellished account of which 
 he had read in Ryder's journal. 
 
 * What do you mean to do with him .'^' 
 inquired the Prince. 
 
 ' I have been trying, sir, to find his
 
 OUR RADICALS. 89 
 
 parents, but have failed. Metrale has not 
 yet obtained any clue to guide him In the 
 search.' 
 
 ' There Is apparently some mystery,' said 
 the Prince. 
 
 ' There Is Metrale talking to Mrs. Cum- 
 bermore,' continued Belper. * I cannot 
 help thinking that he knows more about 
 the matter than he cares to acknowledge.' 
 
 ' Perhaps,' answered the Prince ; ' see, 
 they are expecting you to mount.' 
 
 Belper was In the act of leaving the en- 
 closure, when his eye fell upon Lady 
 Trylngton and her two nieces. He rode 
 up and cordially welcomed them. Lady 
 Trylngton was very civil to him, for she 
 had taken In the Importance of the fact 
 that he was on such good terms with the 
 Duke of Cumberland. Since that conver- 
 sation he had risen fifty per cent, in Lady 
 Trylngton's estimation.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Blanche soon attracted Belper's attention. 
 To-day she locked more beautiful than 
 usual, he thought, as their eyes met and 
 she put out her litde gloved hand, re- 
 minding him, as she stood bathed in the 
 golden stream of the sun's rays, of one 
 of Murillo's Madonnas, which he had 
 seen In the Museo at Madrid. Whilst 
 they were conversing a tremendous rush 
 of people occurred close to the enclo- 
 sure. 
 
 ' It Is only a rush of people eager to see 
 the Prince/ said Helper. 
 
 ' Now Mrs. Cumbermore will arise for 
 the occasion,' said Sir Richard DIgby ; ' for, 
 in spite of her husband's opinions, she Is 
 never so happy as when royalty favours 
 her with an arm.' 
 
 * I suppose you consider that a proof of 
 the fickleness of our sex,' said Lady 
 Trylngton.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 91 
 
 ' Only towards husbands,' said Sir 
 Richard, laughing. 
 
 ' What a beautiful rose that is you are 
 wearing !' Belper was saying to Blanche 
 Tryington ; ' it reminds me of the one 
 that Lothair gave to Lady Corisande. 
 There was a great meaning hidden in that 
 simple gift.' 
 
 ^ If this one would bring you good luck 
 to-day you are welcome to it,' said Blanche 
 Tryington, blushing as she gave the young 
 officer the rose. 
 
 ' Not to-day only, but always,' he an- 
 swered gallantly, as he rode off, looking 'the 
 brightest knight that ever waved a lance.' 
 
 * I wonder what brings Lord O'Hagan 
 Harton here ?' said Lady Tryington. ' I 
 had no idea he cared about polo.' 
 
 * Probably not,' said Sir Richard Digby; 
 'but the same reason that brought you 
 may have brought him.'
 
 92 OUR RADICALS, 
 
 ' And he is talking to the Duke of Cum- 
 berland,' added Lady Tryington. ' See, 
 he is whispering in the Duke's ear some 
 State secret, no doubt.' 
 
 ' More likely some epigram which he 
 has studied and learnt by heart, to pro- 
 duce upon this occasion,' said Deloony, 
 who was one of the party. 
 
 ' How bitter you are towards him,' ob- 
 served Lady Tryington. ' I shall really 
 begin to think you have been crossed by 
 him in some affair of the heart.' 
 
 Blanche all this time was leaning over 
 the rails, eagerly watching the game. She 
 could see that Belper was gradually ob- 
 taining possession of the ball, and driving 
 it out of the reach of his opponents. 
 
 * Capital !' said Sir Richard Digby. 
 ' Arthur is playing splendidly ; we shall 
 win the match.' 
 
 * Look,' observed Laura, ' he does not
 
 OUR RADICALS. 93 
 
 notice the man on the opposite side. See» 
 he is about to charge him.' 
 
 Warned by a friendly shout, the young 
 officer turned his head, but too late to 
 avoid the collision. The two ponies had 
 come together, and Belper was thrown to 
 the ground. One foot was caught in the 
 stirrup-iron, and the pony, frightened and 
 excited, dashed across the ground, drag- 
 ging Belper with him. Blanche had turned 
 deadly pale, and, if it had not been for 
 Metrale, who was standing near and 
 rushed to her assistance, she would have 
 fallen to the ground. Sir Richard Digby 
 returned to the ladies. He, with 
 others, had succeeded in catching the 
 pony. Belper had been stunned, and was 
 being attended to by a surgeon. Blanche 
 now opened her eyes, and, endeavouring 
 to regain self-possession, rose from her 
 chair.
 
 94 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' Do not move,' said the Baronet. ' I 
 will have your aunt's carnage brought 
 round here^ and will take Belper back in 
 my brougham/ 
 
 ' I hope he is not seriously hurt !' she said. 
 
 * No, not seriously,' answered Sir Richard 
 Digby ; and assisting her to rise, he placed 
 her in Lady Tryington's carriage, and then 
 rejoined his brother officer. 
 
 Dr. Planselle was in the act of bind- 
 ing up Belper's head, which had been cut 
 open by the pony's hoofs. 
 
 * Very fortunate that I was here !' the 
 medical gentleman was remarking. * Very 
 fortunate.' 
 
 ' I'll bet you two to one he will make a 
 point of telling us the wound is exactly like 
 one received in a similar accident by the 
 Duke of Cumberland,' whispered Deloony 
 to Metrale. * Old Planselle dearly loves to 
 air his acquaintance with royalty.'
 
 OUR RADICALS. 95 
 
 *Done!' said Metrale, laughing. 'In 
 half-crowns ; but I shall lose. See, Ryder is 
 approaching.* 
 
 ' Ah ! glad to see you here, Doctor/ said 
 Ryder, pushing his way through the crowd. 
 * Nothing serious, I hope.' 
 
 ' Nothing immediately serious,' replied 
 the medical gentleman. ' Perfect rest, per- 
 fect rest, my dear sir ; as I said not long 
 ago to his Royal Highness the Duke of 
 Cumberland, after an accident on the ice, 
 when I was called in. Rest, perfect rest, 
 is all that is required. The Marchioness 
 of Colleonic, when she fell from her horse in 
 the Row, was another instance of the value 
 of perfect rest.' 
 
 ' He will go through the entire peerage 
 if you do not interfere,' said Metrale to 
 Digby; and an officer raising Arthur in his 
 arms, carried him, with the assistance of 
 the Doctor, to his carriage.
 
 96 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' I will call to-morrow morning to see 
 him, on my way from the Duchess of 
 Montreal/ 
 
 And Dr. Planselle left them to drive 
 away, while he walked home with Mr. 
 Ryder, who managed to eke out of the 
 physician every particular of the accident 
 for publication in the next issue of the 
 Scrawler.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 R. PLANSELLE was sitting by 
 Arthur's bedside. DIgby rested 
 on the other side of the couch, 
 and Eugene was holding a tray on which 
 had been placed a medicine-bottle and a 
 wine-glass. 
 
 * Really !* said the Doctor, leaving his 
 patient for a moment and turning to the 
 little lad, ' I think your protdge wants my 
 services more than you do yourself, he 
 is so pale with watching. In ten days you 
 may leave your room, Belper, and in two 
 months you may go back to your regiment.' 
 ' Not before two months !' exclaimed 
 
 VOL. I. 7
 
 98 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Belper. * Why, we are under orders for 
 India, and may sail at any time.' 
 
 * Not for India/ interrupted Sir Richard 
 Digby. * I met the Adjutant-General in 
 Pall Mall a few hours ago. He told me it 
 was more likely we should be sent to Ireland. 
 Things there, it appears, are worse than 
 ever. Five thousand Fenians from America 
 landed yesterday, and the whole country has 
 taken up arms.' 
 
 A tap was heard at the door, and Eugene 
 went into the passage, and returned with a 
 card. 
 
 It was from Lady Tryington, to inquire 
 after Mr. Belper, and to ask if Sir Richard 
 Digby was with him. 
 
 ' I will go down and see her,' said 
 Digby. 
 
 Lady Tryington was in a great state of ex- 
 citement. The Doctor had ordered Blanche 
 immediate change of air. It was the middle
 
 OUR RADICALS. 99 
 
 of the season, and Laura did not like leaving 
 town ; however, as Blanche's life was at 
 stake, Lady Tryington had determined to 
 fall in with the physician's advice. He had 
 recommended a voyage in a sailing vessel. 
 Lady Tryington remembered that her 
 nephew had a large yacht. He had lately 
 wished to part with his vessel, and had men- 
 tioned the fact to his aunt. She determined 
 to find out whether he would sell the ship 
 to her, and she accordingly broached the 
 subject. 
 
 ' Certainly not, my dear aunt ; but you 
 are quite welcome to the yacht as often and 
 as long as you choose to use it. The crew 
 are in her/ 
 
 Now, Lady Tryington, although well off 
 in this world's estate, was not rich. It had 
 already occurred to her that the purchase of 
 a yacht would entail a considerable outlay. 
 She was, therefore, highly pleased with her 
 
 7—2
 
 loo OUR RADICALS. 
 
 nephew's offer, and after thanking him many- 
 times for his kindness, accepted his pro- 
 posal. 
 
 * And how is Mr. Belper to-day ?' 
 
 * Much better ; he will be out very soon. 
 But when do you start, and where do you 
 propose going ?' 
 
 * As soon as the ship is ready to receive 
 us, and the Doctor recommends the Medi- 
 terranean. It will be a complete change 
 for poor dear Blanche. And Laura is look- 
 ing fagged, after all her balls ; I am sure it 
 will do her good too. Good-bye now ; I 
 have to pay some visits.' 
 
 When Digby returned to the room he 
 found the Doctor gone, and Arthur busily 
 engaged in the perusal of a letter. It was 
 from Metrale, informing Belper of the 
 dangerous nature of the Fenian conspiracy, 
 and hinting that the Irish leaders might 
 have some object to gain in killing Eugene,
 
 OUR RADICALS. loi 
 
 at the same time recommending him to 
 guard the boy very closely. 
 
 ^ I have heard rumours of this new form 
 of tyranny, but never attached much cre- 
 dence to it/ said Digby. 
 
 ' Well,' said Arthur, ' if there is one 
 place where he will be safe more than 
 another, it is in barracks or with the regi- 
 ment.' 
 
 ^Why not enlist him as a drummer?' 
 inquired Digby. 
 
 ' He has been too well educated, and I 
 have determined to look after him myself,' 
 said Arthur emphatically. 
 
 ' I often wonder how It is you have 
 never married,' Sir Richard Digby said, 
 after a long pause, during which Belper 
 had fallen Into a light sleep. ' You would 
 make a model husband.' 
 
 A shade of sadness passed over Belper's 
 ace.
 
 I02 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 'It is a matter of duty that I should 
 remain unmarried. You do not under- 
 stand me.' 
 
 * No ; explain.' 
 
 ' It is a family curse,' said Belper. 
 
 *You are suffering from the effects of 
 your fall,' said Sir Richard ; ' let us talk of 
 something else.' 
 
 * No, Dick ; I am not delirious, as you 
 imagine. I am perfectly calm.' 
 
 'Well, then?' 
 
 ' You will readily understand, when I 
 tell you there is insanity in my family. It 
 misses one or two generations, only to 
 appear with redoubled force in the second 
 or third. Why should I perpetuate, as in 
 all probability I should, this fearful malady ? 
 I am the last of my race. Let it die with 
 me.'
 
 ^ 
 
 s;>a%\ 
 
 
 6 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 B 
 
 H 
 
 .*3 
 
 'V. 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^H 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^b 
 
 ^^i 
 
 1 
 
 B 
 
 
 m 
 
 ^3 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 X 
 
 B 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IT was a wet and windy day. To 
 make matters worse, a thick fog 
 hung along the side of the 
 Thames Embankment. It threw an im- 
 penetrable darkness over the houses in that 
 neighbourhood. Few people were in the 
 streets, and those who could be seen by the 
 aid of the lamps were, judging from their 
 appearance, compelled to be out more as a 
 matter of necessity than from any other 
 cause. 
 
 One man, rather better dressed than 
 the others, was hurriedly walking down 
 a narrow street which led from the river
 
 I04 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 to the Strand. He looked behind him as 
 he crossed the road, and more than once 
 he stopped, and Hstened carefully to hear 
 if he was being followed. Not a footfall 
 fell. A dead stillness reigned around. 
 To make assurance doubly sure, he turned 
 and retraced his steps for about a hundred 
 yards. Not a soul was to be seen. Even 
 the woman who kept a coffee-stall at the 
 corner of the street, thinking probably that 
 on such an afternoon she would have no 
 customers, had betaken herself to a neigh- 
 bouring public-house. 
 
 * None of Metrale's men are about,' said 
 the man to himself, ' but now to metamor- 
 phose myself.' 
 
 He then proceeded to tear oft a false 
 grey wig and beard, at the same time 
 removing a pair of spectacles from his nose. 
 Before this had been done he might have 
 passed for a man of sixty years of age, but
 
 OUR RADICALS. 105 
 
 now no one would have put him down as 
 being more than thirty. To complete the 
 transformation, he took off his coat, and 
 having turned it inside out, put it on again. 
 The inner lining was of a greyish hue, and 
 made of a cloth material, so that the coat 
 presented no unusual appearance in being 
 worn in this manner. 
 
 Turning on his heel, Barry proceeded 
 slowly along the street until he came to 
 the Embankment. Presently he saw, a 
 little in front of him, a man dressed exactly 
 as he himself had been a few minutes 
 before. A woman was walking a few 
 yards behind the man, shabbily dressed, 
 but as she passed under the light of the 
 lamps it was easy to see that she was 
 young and very handsome. Barry coughed 
 twice as a sort of signal, crossed the street, 
 and proceeded in another direction. 
 
 ' What idiots these detectives are !' he
 
 io6 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 thought. 'Here Metrale for the last three 
 months has been on the track of my double, 
 little thinking that the real Barry is at work 
 on a plan to set all London in a blaze.' 
 
 Presently he arrived at a semi-detached, 
 dilapidated-looking building, used appar- 
 ently for storing wood. 
 
 An announcement on the door informed 
 the public that coffins on the most approved 
 pattern could be supplied at wholesale 
 prices by Messrs. Davies and Bailey. A 
 tall wooden mast protruded from the roof 
 of the building. To this were attached 
 some fifty different telegraph wires, which 
 extended to various parts of the metropolis. 
 
 Nothing in the old house itself would 
 have attracted the attention of a bystander, 
 save that it had a deserted and dismal 
 aspect. Barry, taking a bunch of keys 
 from his pocket, selected the one which 
 opened the door of this house.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 107 
 
 Proceeding a few yards down the hall, 
 he touched a spring in the wall, which 
 opened a door the size of an ordinary- 
 brick. Taking two indiarubber tubes from 
 his pocket, he screwed them into the sides 
 of the aperture, and then placed the two 
 ends to his ears. He had improvised a 
 telephone, there being a concealed wire 
 which reached from the door to the mast, 
 and which was in communication with the 
 lines that passed over the building. 
 
 ' Anything stirring near the Tower .^' he 
 inquired. 
 
 A clear and distinct voice answered in 
 the negative. 
 
 * Near Buckingham Palace ?' 
 
 ^No.' 
 
 ' Near the War Office ?' 
 
 ' Yes,' the voice answered. 
 
 ' Good,' answered Barry ; * in an hour 
 at the usual place.'
 
 io8 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Pressing the spring, the door flew 
 back again, and only a person Initiated 
 into the secret could have discovered Its 
 whereabouts. 
 
 Placing the tubes again In his pocket, 
 he left the house, and continued his walk, 
 this time In the direction of Victoria Station. 
 
 Just by the Grosvenor Hotel he was 
 accosted by a woman, who appeared to be 
 begging alms of the passers-by. 
 
 'Take this,' said Barry, passing a coin 
 into her hand. 
 
 She at once rose from her recumbent 
 position, and crossed the street. On reach- 
 ing the other side, she gave some signal 
 to Barry, who followed her course on the 
 opposite side of the road. Suddenly she 
 stopped, and looking round once to see if 
 she was followed, disappeared down the 
 area steps of a house. 
 
 Barry crossed the street. By the time
 
 OUR RADICALS, 109 
 
 he had reached the opposite pavement, the 
 front door of the house was opened, and 
 Barry without any hesitation entered the 
 portico, the door closing behind him. 
 
 ' Here I am/ said a woman's voice. 
 The woman struck a match into a flame as 
 she spoke. * This way.' And Barry fol- 
 lowed her up one flight of stairs, and 
 entered a room. ' Wait one moment,' she 
 said ; ' I will eet rid of these clothes.' 
 
 She entered an adjoining room, and in a 
 few minutes returned to Barry. 
 
 No one, not even Barry himself, would 
 have recognised in the well-dressed young 
 man of twenty-two years, who now entered 
 the room, the tattered hag who had asked 
 alms of the passers-by. 
 
 ' Capital !' said Barry, laughing. ' Me- 
 trale thinks his women-detectives wonder- 
 fully clever, but they are children compared 
 with ours, Maggie.'
 
 no OUR RADICALS, 
 
 : ' Where are you going to-night ?' said 
 the other. 
 
 * To Metrale's. He has a party in 
 Harley Street. Several Cabinet Ministers 
 will be there, and not a few diplomates. I 
 know the French Military Attache, from 
 meeting him at my club. He thinks I am 
 a Canadian, and it is with him I am going. 
 O'Hagan Harton and Mr. Cumbermore 
 will be there.' 
 
 * A nicely arranged programme, to be 
 turned to some good, I doubt not,' an- 
 swered the other. 
 
 ' Yes ; I mean to take a run through 
 the thieves' quarters with one of Metrale's 
 men. You may happen to discover one or 
 two informers.' 
 
 * Have you heard anything more of 
 Eugene ?' 
 
 * He is still with Belper ; but his uncle, 
 who has learnt the fate we had prepared
 
 OUR RADICALS, 
 
 for the boy, ignores our threats. He re- 
 ceived an anonymous letter the day after 
 the event, telling him to look in the 
 Scrawler, and he would learn how nearly 
 Eugene's life had paid for his opposition 
 to our cause/ 
 
 * It is a pity Eugene's mother is dead,' 
 was the answer. * It is the soft hearts of 
 the women we should work upon. If she 
 were alive, and believed her son in danger 
 of death by fire, we might count upon the 
 old lord's influence against us being at an 
 end.' 
 
 * Leave a woman to break a woman's 
 heart,' thought Barry, as he parted from 
 his accomplice. 
 
 Barry mounted to the attics of the house. 
 He placed a hand-ladder under a window 
 in the centre of the ceiling. With some 
 little difficulty he succeeded in opening the 
 shutter and climbing on to the roof He
 
 112 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 cautiously made his way along the house- 
 tops for some distance, crawling where the 
 slanting roof precluded the possibility of 
 standing on his feet, and at times steadying 
 himself against a chimney. In less than 
 ten minutes he reached a house that had, 
 to all appearances, been recently con- 
 structed. Approaching a window with as 
 little noise as possible, he looked through 
 the glass. Several people were in a room 
 below. After scanning their countenances 
 for a few minutes, Barry tapped three 
 times on the slates. In answer to the 
 signal, a ladder was drawn from one side of 
 the garret wall and placed under the 
 window. In a few seconds Barry had 
 descended by the ladder into the room. 
 '• You are all here ?' he inquired. 
 * No, master ; Maggie is missing.' 
 *I have seen her, Mike,' Barry replied; 
 * she has her orders. I have some serious
 
 OUR RADICALS. 113 
 
 business to report to-night. Be seated. 
 You know that our plan to destroy Mr. 
 Cumbermore's house failed, and that several 
 of our men are in custody ; but one thing I 
 think you have yet to learn — how Metrale 
 discovered our plot. A traitor has been 
 in our midst,' he continued sternly. ' He 
 sold us, not for gold, but for a woman's 
 embraces ; for a thing as fickle as public 
 opinion in this country, which lauds a man 
 to the skies in one moment, and hoots him 
 down without a hearing the next.' 
 
 * Who is the traitor ?' exclaimed two or 
 three fiercely. 
 
 ' Ay, tell us the traitor's name !' shouted 
 Mike Lambish. 
 
 * It is useless at present to let you know,' 
 said Barry. ' He suffers with the rest in 
 prison ; perhaps he may divulge more of 
 our plans that we have confided to him. 
 I mention the fact to put you on your 
 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 114 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 guard, and to remind you of the oaths you 
 took as members of this Association, that 
 the most fearful death the Ingenuity of man 
 can devise shall be the punishment of all 
 who betray their associates.' 
 
 Barry now turned to his lieutenant. 
 
 * Have you/ he said, * executed my 
 orders ?' 
 
 ' Yes,' was the reply ; * all but one. We 
 have been unable as yet to re-capture 
 Eugene.' 
 
 ' That should not be a difficult task,' said 
 Barry. 
 
 ' What report have you to make of Mr. 
 Cumbermore, Michael ?' he continued, ad- 
 dressing another of the circle. 
 
 * That he Is not to be reached through 
 the affections, sir. He loves neither woman 
 nor child more than himself.' 
 
 * When do the steamers start for Dublin 
 with English reinforcements ?'
 
 OUR RADICALS. 115 
 
 ' To-morrow evening,' answered another, 
 who had been ordered to investigate the 
 subject. 
 
 * How did you obtain your information ?' 
 said the chief. 
 
 * Through a woman in the telegraph 
 office ; but not to rely solely on a woman's 
 word, I have corroborated her statement 
 by tapping the wire, and reading the return 
 message which passed an hour ago from 
 the Colonel of the 21st Dragoon Guards to 
 the War Office. The City of Rome will 
 take the troops.' 
 
 * Are any of our people amongst the 
 crew ?' 
 
 ' Only one ; he is below, if you would 
 like to see him.' 
 
 ' Bring him here/ said the chief, at the 
 same time placing a black mask on his 
 face, the other conspirators following his 
 example. 
 
 8—2
 
 ii6 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 The man was brought in. 
 
 * You know the value of your oath ?' said 
 the Fenian leader to him. 
 
 * Yes/ replied the man, seemingly much 
 alarmed. 
 
 ' You sail in the City of Rome to- 
 morrow. 
 
 ' Yes,' answered the man timidly ; 
 * but you do not wish anyone else poi- 
 soned ?' 
 
 ' No,' said Barry ; * on this occasion I 
 shall be satisfied if you will take with you 
 as kitchen lad during the passage a young 
 fellow in whom I am interested.' 
 
 * No more deaths, I trust !' said the man, 
 shivering. 
 
 * Silence, fool ! if it be necessary to wade 
 knee-deep in English blood, we must do so 
 for Ireland's sake.' 
 
 'Ireland for ever!' shouted all the 
 Fenians ; and the cook, led away by the
 
 OUR RADICALS. 117 
 
 enthusiasm of the moment, joined feebly in 
 the cry. 
 
 He was a mulatto, and had been a cook 
 in Dublin for some years, where he had 
 become affiliated to the Fenian Association- 
 He was of a cowardly disposition, and when 
 aware of his fate if he betrayed his com- 
 rades, he had been easily induced to obey 
 the orders of his chiefs. A few months 
 before this meeting he had received instruc- 
 tions to poison the Chief Secretary for 
 Ireland, in whose household he was em- 
 ployed. The official, however, did not fall 
 into the trap set for him, but his unfortunate 
 wife had done so, and had died in great 
 agonies. The mulatto, at once suspected, 
 had been able to clear himself from the 
 accusation, and an innocent man suffered 
 in his place. This crime placed the 
 wretched mulatto more in the Fenians' 
 power than he had been before.
 
 ii8 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' There are no further orders for to-day,' 
 said Barry, to his other followers ; and, 
 turning once more to the cook, he added : 
 ' Remember, you expect a kitchen lad on 
 board the Cz^y of Rome ; he will give you 
 the password. Now go.' 
 
 Soon afterwards the conspirators sepa- 
 rated, several of them making their exit 
 by the roof, and taking the course their 
 chief had done before. Barry waited a 
 few minutes after his followers had de- 
 parted. Lifting up a plank in the floor, 
 he took from beneath it some attire that 
 from its appearance seemed at one time to 
 have belonged to a stone-mason. Rapidly 
 dressing himself in these garments, he 
 descended the staircase and walked out 
 into the street below.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 NUMBER of carnages were 
 blocking the way in Harley 
 Street. Some of the footmen, 
 by the strange cockades they wore, were 
 evidently servants of foreigners. Link- 
 men were busy calling up broughams, 
 and making way for their owners to pass 
 through the crowd that blocked the entrance 
 to Mr. Metrale's house. It was the first 
 time that season that the Chief of the Police 
 had thrown open his salon. Almost every 
 well-known man in London had received 
 an invitation. Ambassadors jostled with 
 actors ; the Head of the Fire Brigade with
 
 120 6*67? RADICALS. 
 
 the Commander-in-Chief; the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury with Mr. Bullneck, the in- 
 fidel ; Professors of Philosophy with Hio^h 
 Church curates ; authors with artists. 
 
 It was a strange assembly. 
 
 INIetrale's parties were considered to be 
 the most entertaining of their kind in 
 London. ' Smoke and talk' were printed on 
 the cards of invitation that he sent out, 
 and talk his guests did on every conceivable 
 topic, and helped themselves to the choicest 
 regalias, which were ever at hand. Down- 
 stairs, in a large supper-room, a light but 
 substantial repast was always upon the 
 table. The attractions above were, how- 
 ever, greater than to allow of justice being 
 done to the viands. 
 
 A well-known actor began to recite a 
 short but excellent piece. The burst of 
 applause which followed his effort was a 
 proof of its favourable reception.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 121 
 
 Two young men were standing close to 
 the performer. One of them wore the 
 ribbon of the Legion of Honour in his coat. 
 As Metrale advanced to meet the actor, 
 this gentleman moved forward, and shaking 
 the Chief of the Police by the hand, asked 
 to be allowed to introduce his friend 
 Mr. IMonier Ballard, a Canadian gentle- 
 man. 
 
 ' Certainly — with pleasure.' 
 
 And the Chief of the Fenians was pre- 
 sented to the Chief of the Police. 
 
 * I have come to study your interesting 
 customs,' said Monier Ballard. 
 
 * In any way that I can assist you in 
 your study, I shall be pleased.' 
 
 ' Thanks ; I shall remind you of your 
 promise.' 
 
 ' I will make a note of it, Mr. Ballard. 
 Your address is ?' 
 
 ' Alcibiades Club, Piccadilly.'
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 And with a pleasant bow, Mr. Metrale 
 moved away to speak with other guests. 
 
 Sir Richard Digby approached the 
 Frenchman. 
 
 * I am so pleased to meet you,' said the 
 French Attache. ' I hardly know anyone 
 here, and yet I am acting as cicerone to my 
 friend Mr. Monier Ballard. Let me present 
 him to you.' 
 
 ' By all means,' said Digby. The intro- 
 duction then took place. 
 
 * Now,' said Victor Delange, ' tell me 
 what celebrities are here. That tall, pale, 
 but somewhat stout gentleman, for instance; 
 where have I met him ?' 
 
 ' That is Ricardius, the President of the 
 Alciblades Club. He is quite a character, 
 and is talking to Wild Thyne, the cynic of 
 the period. Let us join them.' 
 
 After an introduction of the two gentle- 
 men to the party, Ricardius observed :
 
 OUR RADICALS. 123 
 
 ' We were having an extremely illuminat- 
 ing discussion. It will be interesting, M. 
 Victor, to hear your opinion on the sub- 
 ject.' 
 
 ' Two to one the question is about the 
 women,' said Deloony, coming up at the 
 time. 
 
 ' You are right/ said Wild Thyne. * They 
 bring us into the world, cause most of our 
 misfortunes in it, and kill more of us than 
 diseases and doctors together. Ricardius 
 wishes to have women admitted into the 
 Alcibiades.' 
 
 ' Only divorced and unmarried women,' 
 said Ricardius. 
 
 ' I tell him,' continued Wild Thyne, 'we 
 shall all be set by the ears in less than a 
 week, if his idea is carried into effect. 
 They will want representatives on the 
 committee, and will blackball, perhaps, the 
 most agreeable men.'
 
 124 OUR RADICALS, 
 
 ' Yet you are for women sitting at West- 
 minster,' said Digby. * If that principle is 
 correct, why should you object to them in 
 your club ? 
 
 ' I will tell you/ answered Wild Thyne : 
 * I admire a beautiful creature who is 
 for woman's rights, and I flatter her 
 by taking up the question. I know it 
 will never be carried, so what harm is 
 done.' 
 
 * Then you believe in the tender passion ?' 
 said Digby. 
 
 ' No, only in self-interest. Metrale does 
 not love any of us, but we make his parties 
 go pleasantly. He invites you and me. 
 We eat his oysters and drink his Pommery. 
 Reciprocity of interest. Do you think 
 Lord O'Hagan Harton cares two oyster- 
 shells for Metrale, or Metrale for him ? 
 No. The Lord Chancellor values his 
 personal safety, and if he honours Metrale
 
 OUR RADICALS. 125 
 
 by his presence here, more care is used to 
 guard him from the Fenians. Metrale, 
 again, hopes for an increase of salary out 
 of the taxpayers through the Minister. 
 Wheels within wheels. Reciprocity of 
 interest, gentlemen ; nothing more.' 
 
 With these concluding words Wild 
 Thyne turned on his heel, and walked 
 to another part of the room. 
 
 'A queer character,' said Deloony, 
 laughing. 
 
 ' Yes/ said Mr. Ryder, who had heard 
 the last words of Wild Thyne ; * as 
 Diogenes was vain of his tub, so he is 
 proud of his cynicism.' 
 
 ' He is a good-hearted fellow,' added 
 Digby ; ' although he prefers to be 
 credited with half the crimes in the 
 Newgate Calendar rather than to hear 
 one of his good actions repeated.' 
 
 Meantime Metrale, who had been
 
 126 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 walking among his guests, recognised 
 DIgby, and advanced towards him. 
 
 * So you sail to-morrow ?' said Metrale. 
 
 * Yes/ replied the Baronet. ' We have 
 only this afternoon received our orders, 
 but I could not leave without coming here 
 to thank you for your kindness to Belper.' 
 
 ' I hope he Is better.' 
 
 * Yes ; but he will not be able to move 
 with the regiment. Eugene will go with 
 his soldier servant to Dublin with Belper s 
 luggage.' 
 
 ' I congratulate you on going to the seat 
 of war,' said Victor Delange. 
 
 * There Is, I fear, little to congratulate 
 us upon/ said Sir Richard ; Mt Is a miser- 
 able affair.' 
 
 * The conspiracy should have been 
 nipped In the bud,' said Metrale. 
 
 * Naturally,' added Sir Richard ; 'and If, 
 before the leaders of the Irish steeped
 
 OUR RADICALS, 127 
 
 themselves to the Hps In treason, martial 
 law had been proclaimed, the Fenian 
 movement would have been long ago at 
 an end. Moreover, Ireland should have 
 been temporarily deprived of her Members 
 of Parliament.' 
 
 ' But would that have put an end to the 
 secret societies ?' said the Canadian. 
 
 ' No/ said Metrale, ' nothing will put 
 an end to them, save money and counter 
 secret societies. But I have a plan which 
 I think will be the means of destroying 
 the traitors ;' and he turned once more to 
 his other guests. 
 
 The Duke of Beaulieu entered the room 
 at that moment. He had just returned 
 from the House of Commons, where he 
 had been listening to an important debate. 
 It had been brought on by Mr. Bullneck, 
 who had moved that, as England was a 
 peace-loving nation, and as the inhabitants
 
 128 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 of India were now trying to retake from 
 us what we had taken from them by force 
 and treachery in the last century, it was ex- 
 pedient that British forces be immediately 
 withdrawn from Hindostan. 
 
 'You know,' said O'Hagan Harton to 
 Metrale, * for a long time past there has 
 been a cry that India costs us more than 
 she brings us in ; not that this really is the 
 case, but it was felt that it would be con- 
 venient to have an excuse for retiring to 
 make way for Russia, who is always ready 
 to advance. With Russia in possession of 
 a railroad from the Caspian to Herat and 
 Candahar, our position in India has been 
 one of sufferance for some years past.' 
 
 * What was the result of the debate ?' 
 said Metrale ; * did they divide ?' 
 
 'Yes,' said the Duke of Beaulieu ; ' and 
 the curious part of the story has to come. 
 You remember it was decided a few
 
 OUR RADICALS. 129 
 
 months ago that all voting in the House 
 of Commons should be by ballot. Since 
 then It has been extremely difficult for the 
 whips to estimate what the majority would 
 be. This evening Snapper, the whip, in- 
 formed me that in all probability there 
 would be a majority of fifty for Bullneck. 
 Almost everyone spoke in favour of the 
 motion ; but after the votes had been 
 counted it was found that not more than 
 twenty members were voting with Bull- 
 neck.' 
 
 ' The fact is,' said Lord O'Hagan 
 Harton, ' members are afraid of their 
 constituencies, and vote in favour of 
 measures of which they quite dis- 
 approve.' 
 
 ' Then India is not to be given up T 
 said Sir Richard Digby. 
 
 ' Thank heaven, there is still some little 
 patriotism left in the House !' said Metrale. 
 
 VOL. I. 9
 
 I30 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' Oh, we are going to the dogs as fast as 
 we can !' said the Duke. 
 
 ' Any more news about Ireland ?' asked 
 Sir Richard DIgby. 
 
 ' The old story. Only a few more 
 women and children burnt to death,' re- 
 plied the Lord Chancellor ; ' and the 
 Fenians are reported to have landed from 
 America.' 
 
 ' When will there be an end of It ?' said 
 Sir Richard DIgby despairingly. 
 
 By this time the company had broken 
 up into little knots for conversation. The 
 smoke was so thick that It was difficult to 
 recognise anyone across the room, and It 
 enabled the Canadian gentleman to pass 
 about unobserved, and gather from the 
 fragments of conversation some valuable 
 information. 
 
 He and Captain Victor Delange were 
 almost the last to depart from a room
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 131 
 
 which that evening had held beneath its 
 roof representatives of art, science, litera- 
 ture and politics, and even of Fenianism 
 itself. 
 
 9—2
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 EVEILLE had sounded at day- 
 light in the Harnston Barracks. 
 Everything was In preparation 
 for an early march. A number of large 
 vans, drawn by horses, were filled with the 
 penates of the men and officers of the 21st 
 Dragoon Guards. Soldiers In their shirt- 
 sleeves were giving the last rub-down to 
 their troop horses. Women were trying to 
 discover a spare place for some small piece 
 of furniture they could not find it In their 
 heart to abandon ; and there was the usual 
 apparent confusion which is to be seen In 
 every barracks in the kingdom the last
 
 OUR RADICALS. 133 
 
 three hours before a regiment shifts its 
 quarters. 
 
 * I shall not be sorry when we are out of 
 this,' said stout Dr. Allenby to his friend 
 Tom Ostend. * In the last half-hour I 
 have been sent for to the orderly-room at 
 least a dozen times. The married women 
 and children give so much trouble. The 
 Adjutant says that these people are under 
 my special charge, and that I must see in 
 what order they leave their quarters, and 
 that their rooms are left in a proper 
 sanitary condition before we march.' 
 
 * You will have old Titus down on you 
 if you are not careful. He told me he 
 intended going round the barracks him- 
 self. He is in one of his tantrums this 
 morning ; probably because her ladyship 
 has announced her intention of embarking 
 with him.' 
 
 ' If he bullies us,' said the Doctor, * there
 
 134 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Is one consolation — he gets well bullied 
 himself.' 
 
 ' The old man looked quite pleased,' 
 said Ostend, 'when he received the tele- 
 gram ordering us to start at once for 
 Dublin ; and did you see how his face fell 
 when Lady Mulligan announced her inten- 
 tion of accompanying him ?' 
 
 ' There he is/ said the Doctor, ' in a 
 fidget, as usual. He is gesticulating at the 
 Adjutant. I suppose I must go and look 
 after these confounded women.' 
 
 ' And I to my troop stable,' added 
 Captain Ostend. 
 
 Sir Titus Mulligan, who commanded the 
 2 1 St Draeoon Guards, was a short slim 
 man. His bronzed face and many medals 
 showed that he had seen much service in 
 many different parts of the globe. He was 
 about forty-seven years of age, and was 
 looked upon as a martinet by his regiment.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 135 
 
 In private life he was agreeable and 
 pleasant enough, but in barracks he was 
 extremely strict. Before his marriage to 
 Mrs. O'Donnell, a widow lady about four 
 years younger than himself, he had been 
 frequently on leave of absence for weeks at 
 a time, leaving the management of the 
 barracks in the hands of his second in 
 command and his Adjutant. But since his 
 marriage, whether it was to escape from 
 Lady Mulligan, or from some more chival- 
 rous cause, he had hardly ever been out of 
 the barrack-yard. The men were kept 
 burnishing steel accoutrements from morn- 
 ing to night. 
 
 Sir Titus had been quartered for some 
 time in India, and he now found that the 
 cold east winds of England were very try- 
 ng to his liver. He had been hoping to 
 receive instructions to embark his resfiment 
 for Hindostan, but the teleo^ram from the
 
 136 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 War Office had countermanded the original 
 orders, and he was forced to proceed to 
 Ireland. To crown his misfortunes, Lady 
 Mulligan, who never let him have a 
 moment's peace, and who was seldom out 
 of the barracks, had announced her Inten- 
 tion of accompanying him. India, he knew, 
 would have been too remote a quarter of 
 the globe for his wife ; but Dublin was 
 quite another place, and there would in all 
 probability be entertainments at the Local 
 Self-Government Lodge of a sufficiently 
 exclusive order to allow of her presence 
 there. 
 
 Just outside the barrack-gates stood a 
 detached villa, which had been rented for 
 six months by Sir Titus, and before the 
 door of this residence stood three enormous 
 vans filled with the household goods of 
 Lady Mulligan. She was screaming in a high 
 key from a window to some men engaged
 
 OUR RADICALS. lyj 
 
 in packing boxes of glass and china, 
 that they were not to economize their 
 straw. 
 
 Meanwhile, her husband was striding 
 round the barracks finding fault with his 
 men for the most trivial things. 
 
 ' Such things never occurred in my time, 
 sir/ he was shouting to Captain Ostend. 
 ' When I was subaltern there were no 
 competitive examinations. We had not to 
 learn Chaucer by heart, or digest Shake- 
 speare ; but we had to study cleanliness. 
 Look at that horse ! he has not been 
 properly groomed ; put your finger on the 
 animal's shoulder. Not there, sir. God 1 
 the man doesn't know his shoulder from 
 his hoof.' 
 
 * Damn it, there's no pleasing him now !' 
 said Captain Ostend, as the commander 
 passed on. * If it were not for Adjutant 
 Careful, who keeps him in some sort of
 
 138 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 bounds, I should have sent my papers in 
 long ago.* 
 
 Adjutant Careful was a very different 
 man from his chief. He was the only officer 
 in the regiment of whom Lady Mulligan 
 stood in awe. Careful's calm and phleg- 
 matic manner had the effect of cold water 
 on her gushing temperament. She did 
 not fail to urge her husband to use his in- 
 fluence against Careful. His Adjutant, 
 however, gave him no opportunity to find 
 any fault with the performance of his 
 military duties. He knew his work quite 
 as well, if not better than his Colonel, 
 and was twice as popular as that officer 
 in the regiment. 
 
 The Colonel had duly visited the stables, 
 and was on the point of returning to the 
 mess-room, when Dr. Allenby appeared. 
 
 ' I have inspected all the married 
 people's quarters/ said the Doctor.
 
 OUR RADICALS. I39 
 
 As the Doctor was speaking an open 
 carriage entered the barrack-yard, con- 
 taining the Colonel's wife and her sister. 
 
 'Dr. Allenby !' exclaimed Lady Mulligan. 
 In spite of his corpulence, the Doctor ran 
 rather than walked to the barouche. 
 
 Lady Mulligan graciously extended her 
 hand. 
 
 ' Oh, Allenby,' she said, ' it has occurred 
 to me that I should like to look round the 
 married people's quarters.' 
 
 ' I was just about to show the Colonel 
 over them, but he has gone away for a 
 moment,' answered Dr. Allenby. 
 
 ' Oh, we need not wait for him,' said 
 Lady Mulligan, 'if you will accompany us.' 
 
 The Doctor did not hesitate. Lady 
 Mulligan ruled Sir Titus, and Sir Titus 
 ruled the regiment, so Lady Mulligan may 
 have been said to rule them both. 
 
 Great was the consternation amongst
 
 I40 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 the soldiers' wives when they saw her 
 ladyship approaching. Many attempts 
 were made to hide from her eagle-eye 
 small heaps of rubbish, broken glass, 
 etc., the accumulation of the last six 
 months. Amongst other rooms which more 
 particularly offended the gaze of Lady 
 Mulligan was one tenanted by Bruce's 
 wife. The poor woman had Eugene to 
 attend to, and her husband was busy 
 looking after his master's luggage. 
 
 'Very untidy,' said Lady Mulligan, as 
 she entered ; ' and you, too, the wife of an 
 officer's servant ! Who is the boy ?' she 
 added, pointing to Eugene. 
 
 ' He is Captain Helper's, my lady.' 
 
 * Captain Belper's !' screamed Lady 
 Mulligan ; ' the monster isn't married !' 
 
 * Allow me to explain,' said Dr. Allenby. 
 And the Doctor told Lady Mulligan the 
 circumstances of the case.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 141 
 
 ' And SO you are going to take him with 
 you to Ireland ?' said her ladyship. 
 
 ' Yes, my lady,' answered Mrs. Bruce ; 
 * that is, if the Colonel — leastways, your 
 ladyship — has no objection.' 
 
 ' He may go,' said Lady Mulligan, 
 sweeping out of the room, and joined In 
 the hall by Sir Titus. 
 
 An hour later the trumpeter had sounded 
 a general parade, and Sir Titus and his 
 Adjutant were riding by the ranks of the 
 
 2 1 St. 
 
 Her ladyship was giving some In- 
 structions to the bandmaster from her 
 carriage-door. 
 
 ' What shall you play when you march 
 out of barracks ?' she was saying. 
 
 ' " The girl I left behind me," my 
 lady.' 
 
 ' Play something operatic and dignified,' 
 said her ladyship. ^ I will not have any
 
 142 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 cats'-meat tunes played by the band of the 
 2ist Dragoon Guards.' 
 
 Outside the barrack-gates hundreds of 
 people had assembled, mostly the wives 
 and children of the troopers, bewailing the 
 loss of their relatives, for only a few mar- 
 ried women were allowed to accompany 
 the regiment. 
 
 * If we were going to India they could 
 not make more fuss,' said Lady Mulli- 
 gan contemptuously. 
 
 As the regiment proceeded along the 
 streets of London to the martial music, 
 the cheering from the assembled crowds 
 was tremendous. Mn Cumbermore was 
 riding in Hyde Park at the time. He 
 rode up to Sir Titus, and had a few 
 minutes' conversation with him. The 
 hurrahs of the bystanders were redoubled 
 in vigour. To the British public It 
 seemed as If the young Prime Minister
 
 OUR RADICALS. 143 
 
 had at last shaken himself free of the 
 ' Peace-at-any-prlce ' party, and that he 
 was really going to put his foot down, and 
 settle the Irish question with the sword. 
 The feeling against Ireland was intense in 
 the Metropolis. One of the first things 
 the Irish had done when Local Self- 
 Government had been conceded to them 
 some years before, was to put heavy duties 
 on manufactures and all articles of com- 
 merce coming from England. 
 
 The English manufacturers and artisans 
 who were for taxing foreign goods im- 
 ported into England were indignant with 
 the Irish for carrying out the same policy 
 with reference to their own affairs. 
 Nothing makes a peaceful Briton so 
 irritable as to hit him in his pocket. The 
 result was that the masses, which were 
 previously indifferent to the murder of 
 Loyalists in Ireland, and who had made
 
 144 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 more fuss about an elephant which was 
 taken from London to the United States 
 than about the mutilation of human beings 
 on the other side of St. George's Channel, 
 were now furious with the Irish people. 
 
 Indeed, Mr. Cumbermore himself had 
 stated that it would be an easy matter to 
 get up an anti- Irish movement throughout 
 England, and have Irishmen expelled from 
 England, as the Jews were expelled from 
 Russia. 
 
 ' Is it true, Mr. Cumbermore,' said Sir 
 Richard Digby to that gentleman, who had 
 joined the Baronet on leaving Sir Titus — 
 * Is it true that you may safely appeal to 
 the passions and prejudices of Englishmen 
 but never to their reason ?' 
 
 * It would indeed appear so very often,' 
 said Mr. Cumbermore. ' Public opinion is, 
 I fear, easily manufactured In this country. 
 Just as the average juryman is first led one
 
 OUR RADICALS. 145 
 
 way by the counsel against the prisoner, 
 then another by the delinquent's advocate, 
 and finally gives his verdict upon the 
 judge's remarks, so are the electors of 
 Great Britain led by the nose. Some have 
 a fetish they call Radicalism, others Toryism. 
 It would puzzle them sorely to give the 
 reasons for their political faith. As for 
 the remainder, they are in a ship without 
 rudder or compass, at the mercy of every 
 political gust of wind.' 
 
 The troops arrived at the docks In time. 
 The confusion at the barracks was nothing 
 as compared with that which occurred at 
 the place of embarkation. Women were 
 trying to smuggle themselves on board to 
 go with their husbands ; horses were kick- 
 ing violently as they were lowered Into 
 the vessel ; officers and men were making 
 desperate efforts to discover their respec- 
 tive berths ; sailors were storing their 
 
 VOL. I. 10
 
 146 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ammunition ; friends of the officers, who 
 had been admitted on board, were con- 
 tinually getting In the way of the crew, 
 and adding thus to the general confusion. 
 Amongst the last to arrive was Mrs. Bruce, 
 with Eugene. Tired and thoroughly worn 
 out, she was In the act of going on board, 
 when a young man accosted her, and 
 Informing her that he was one of the crew, 
 offered to assist In finding out what accom- 
 modation there was for her. 
 
 ' No, thank you,' she answered. ' Walt 
 a moment, Eugene,' she added, addressing 
 the boy. 
 
 'Eugene!' murmured the young man; 
 * this must be the boy.' 
 
 The speaker was Maggie, who was on 
 the vessel, endeavouring to carry out some 
 orders received from Barry. 
 
 Mrs. Bruce, who had been away for 
 a minute to make some necessary in-
 
 OUR RADICALS. I47 
 
 qulries, now returned, and led Eugene 
 away. 
 
 Amongst a group of men on the steerage 
 side of the vessel was the Fenian mulatto. 
 He did not recognise Maggie as she passed 
 him in her disguise. She trod, however, 
 rather heavily on the cook's foot, who, in 
 return, swore violently. In doing so, he 
 remembered that it was connected with a 
 preconcerted signal. When the deck was 
 a little clear, the mulatto joined Maggie. 
 
 * Have you it here ?' he said. 
 
 * Yes, everything is in the basket,' 
 answered Maggie. ' Now show me the 
 kitchen.' 
 
 ' You look innocent enough in that garb/ 
 said the mulatto with a grin, as he led the 
 way down the steps. 
 
 lO-
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 N unlooked-for incident occurred 
 on board the City of Ro77ie be- 
 fore the departure of the troops. 
 Officers and men had succeeded in having 
 their horses properly accommodated, and 
 were lounging about the deck in small 
 groups. Lady Mulligan was in a fury 
 at the limited size of the cabin that had 
 been provided for her; and her husband, 
 finding himself in the way, was glad to 
 escape on deck. Just as he reached the 
 top of the cabin steps, he started back as 
 if he had seen an apparition. 
 
 * Captain Belper — you here !' he ex- 
 claimed.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 149 
 
 'Yes,' said Belper. * I know 1 have 
 disobeyed the Doctor's orders, but I could 
 not let the ship sail without me. So here 
 I am.' 
 
 ' A gross piece of insubordination, sir !' 
 said Sir Titus fiercely. ' If I did my duty 
 I should place you under arrest' 
 
 With these words Sir Titus strode 
 towards a group of officers, frowning 
 ominously. They dispersed to carry out 
 some orders he gave, with no very good 
 grace. 
 
 ' What a bore old Titus is !' said Ostend 
 to Digby as he and his companion walked 
 away. ' He has just been giving it to poor 
 Belper, simply because he disobeyed his 
 doctor to be with his regiment.' 
 
 * What, is Arthur on board ?' said Digby, 
 with surprise. ' I had no idea of it. Where 
 is his cabin .'^' 
 
 ' He is sharing mine,' answered Ostend.
 
 I50 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' I will show you the way.' And the 
 Captain descended the stairs leading to 
 the officers' quarters. They found Belper 
 lying on his berth. He was very pale, 
 and rose with difficulty to greet his com- 
 rades. 
 
 ' It is too bad of you, my dear Arthur,' 
 said Sir Richard. ' Titus is a brute, we all 
 know ; but it is really very rash of you to 
 risk your life in this way.' 
 
 ' I shall be better presently,' replied 
 Arthur, who was looking very pale. ' I did 
 not expect such a warm reception, and I 
 am still weak.' 
 
 A knock came at the door. 
 
 ' Come in,' said Captain Ostend, and 
 Eugene answered to the summons. 
 
 Arthur's face brightened up as he saw 
 the lad. 
 
 * Well, Eugene, how do you like being 
 on board ?' he said kindly.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 151 
 
 ' Very much, now you have come, sir/ 
 answered the lad. 
 
 Eugene had brought some hot water in 
 a can, which Belper tried to hft, but the 
 effort was too great, and he w^as obh'ged 
 reluctantly to abandon the idea. 
 
 ' You are still weak, Arthur,' said Sir 
 Richard, ' and I shall be your nurse. Let 
 me have your berth, Ostend, and you take 
 mine. I have a cabin to myself.' 
 
 Ostend readily assented, and left his two 
 friends together, to seek his new quarters. 
 The vessel by this time had weighed 
 anchor. A thick mist covered the waters, 
 and the lights of the passing boats could 
 hardly be seen in the dense fog. All was 
 still on the vessel, nothing being heard but 
 the throbbing of the machinery, or the 
 voices of the men on watch. Hard by the 
 engine-room two men were busily engaged 
 in placing some plates and dishes in a
 
 152 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 cupboard. From time to time they ceased 
 working, and conversed together in a low- 
 tone of voice. 
 
 * See, It looks like a piece of coal,' said 
 the taller of the two, who was Maggie, the 
 Fenian agent. * Only an experienced eye 
 could distinguish the difference.' 
 
 ' There is one thing I do not see,' said 
 the mulatto, her companion. ' You are 
 going to destroy the ship, but how are we 
 to escape ?' 
 
 * Very easily,' replied the woman ; * but 
 you are in a great fright about your precious 
 life. You ought to be proud to die for 
 Ireland.' 
 
 ' What is Ireland to me ?' said the 
 mulatto fiercely. * I gain nothing by all 
 this.' 
 
 * But you have a great deal to lose,' 
 replied Maggie sharply. ' Your life, if you 
 disobey my orders.'
 
 OUR RADICALS. I53 
 
 The mulatto put on a resigned look, but 
 his eyes glistened as he saw a cleaver 
 lying on the table by his side. 
 
 * I know what is passing through your 
 mind,' said Maggie, smiling. 'You are 
 thinking how easy it would be to murder 
 me. It would not benefit you. Within 
 twenty-four hours you must die.' 
 
 ' What do you mean ?' asked the black, 
 terror-stricken. 
 
 * I gave you a poison with your dinner/ 
 answered the woman, ' knowing you were 
 a traitor. To that poison there is but one 
 antidote, and that is in my possession ; but 
 not on my person,' she added with a smile. 
 * You cannot fight against us, you see — we 
 are too strong for you. Here, I have 
 some more of the poison. Would you 
 like to see how the drug does its deadly 
 work ?' 
 
 There was a fowl in a coop hanging
 
 154 OUR RADICALS, 
 
 against the ship's side. The woman took 
 the bird, and, squeezing its neck, put some 
 of the poison down its throat. 
 
 ' Watch the bird carefully,' she said, 
 replacing the cage against the wall ; ' in 
 two hours the bird will be dead ; but in far 
 less time you will realize from Its condi- 
 tion the tortures you will undergo. The 
 antidote I shall not give you till after the 
 explosion. I am now going to sleep.' 
 
 Curling herself up on a mattress in one 
 corner, the Fenian emissary was soon 
 buried in the most profound repose. 
 
 The mulatto, however, tried in vain to 
 sleep. From time to time he looked 
 anxiously at the bird, and then at the 
 sleeper, wondering In his mind whether 
 she had lied to him to terrify him Into 
 compliance with her designs. It was a 
 long time to wait in such fearful sus- 
 pense.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 155 
 
 * If I were only sure,' he murmured, * I 
 would betray the plot to the captain/ 
 
 He arose at last from the fjround with 
 this determination, when a slight scratching 
 sound reached his ear. He turned his 
 head towards the direction from whence It 
 came. The bird was pecking violently at 
 the bars of Its cage. He went up to It. 
 The hen was evidently in great pain. Not 
 content with pecking at the framework, 
 she was driving her talons deep into her 
 flesh, and scattering her feathers In the 
 act. Between each convulsion there would 
 be but an Interval of one minute. He 
 could not remain lookinor at the fearful 
 sight alone, so he went to the sleeper, and 
 shook her. 
 
 She smiled with satisfaction when she 
 realized how completely she had the mulatto 
 in her power. 
 
 The bird was now unable to stand. The
 
 156 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 sounds became each moment fainter as she 
 tried to reach the cage bars with her claws. 
 StruggHng from her recumbent position, 
 she appeared for an instant, as it were, 
 galvanized into life ; then, fluttering her 
 wings, she fell an inert mass on the floor 
 of her prison. 
 
 The mulatto looked as terrified as if he 
 had been viewing his own death-struggles. 
 
 * You have the antidote ?' he gasped. 
 
 ' I will give it you five minutes after the 
 explosion takes place. The means for our 
 escape are ready. Can you swim ?' 
 
 *No.' 
 
 * It will not be necessary,' she replied 
 carelessly. ' Here, in this bag, are two 
 waterproof suits. After putting one of 
 them on, all you have to do is to blow into 
 the lining through an indiarubber funnel. 
 The space below the outer and inner cloth 
 becomes filled with air. You can float till
 
 OUR RADICALS. 157 
 
 doomsday. If you can, take a small 
 paddle from the ship. The explosion will 
 occur about twelve miles from the coast. 
 It will be your own fault if you do not 
 succeed in reaching the shore.' 
 
 ' How shall we get into the sea without 
 being detected ?' 
 
 ' Through the porthole by a rope,' an- 
 swered Maggie. Tf you have any difficulty 
 in getting through with your dress inflated, 
 you must not blow into it till you are on 
 the rope itself.' 
 
 Maggie went to the side of the ship, and 
 looked out into the night. 
 
 ' There is no moon,' she said ; ' the fates 
 mean to favour us.'
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LANCHE TRYINGTON was 
 
 not at all sorry to hear that her 
 aunt had determined to take her 
 cousin and herself to the Mediterranean. 
 She had been very ill since the day at 
 Hurllngham when she had witnessed Cap- 
 tain Belper's accident. Often, as she sat In 
 her boudoir at Arlington Street, had she 
 catechized herself about the events of that 
 day and the effect they had produced on her. 
 Had she really a tender interest in the 
 welfare of Captain Belper ? or was it 
 merely the effect produced upon her 
 nerves by seeing a fellow-creature in such
 
 OUR RADICALS. 159 
 
 imminent peril ? Did she love Arthur 
 Belper? She admired him, it was true. 
 He was handsome, and brave, and truth 
 was stamped upon his brow. She liked 
 his society, she respected his qualities ; but 
 between these sentiments and love — the 
 love that a noble woman should have for 
 her future husband — there was a great, 
 though apparently only a passable gulf. 
 
 Who was to define love to her ? Who 
 could open a heart, of which she only 
 possessed the key ? Was she piqued, as 
 women sometimes are, at the mere re- 
 solution of a man to defy the boy Cupid ? 
 She argued these and many other ideas in 
 her mind, but could arrive at no satisfactory 
 conclusion. 
 
 Even supposing that she instinctively 
 felt there was no other man who could 
 rouse such feelings in her breast as the 
 young officer, what right had she to en-
 
 l6o OUR RADICALS. 
 
 courage them, seeing that he had never 
 shown the slightest predilection for her 
 society In preference to that of any other 
 person ? He had chanced on one or two 
 occasions to meet her at balls and dinners, 
 and had ridden by her side in the Park, 
 and at such times had made himself more 
 than agreeable, even to the saying of pretty 
 sentences ; but who of her acquaintance 
 had not done the same ? However, In spite 
 of all these things, he was ever In her 
 thoughts, and she was loth to put those 
 thoughts away from her mind. But now 
 she was going to visit new countries, 
 and would be free for a time from all the 
 restraints of society. There would be no 
 at homes, no calls to make, no teas, no 
 dinners, no balls ; and would she not be 
 better able, out on the great blue Mediter- 
 ranean, to put him out of her mind 
 altogether ? Alas, she felt there was no
 
 OUR RADICALS. i6i 
 
 sea that could divide her from him In 
 thought, no distance so great that It could 
 divide her from him In spirit ! 
 
 It was with a feeling of satisfaction, 
 however, that she found herself with her 
 aunt and cousin In a railway carriage on 
 the way to Milford Haven. There they 
 had arranged to meet Sir Richard Digby's 
 yacht, and embark for Cadiz, Seville, and 
 Gibraltar. Laura was by no means In a 
 good humour at having to leave London 
 before the expiration of the season. She 
 had at last an object in life. Until now 
 everything had bored her ; but at last she 
 had discovered some interest In existence, 
 and that Interest was centred in an 
 object, and that object was to bring 
 Arthur Belper to her knees. Not that 
 she bore any affection for him, but merely 
 because It amused her to do so, and, 
 moreover, because she was determined 
 
 VOL. I. II
 
 i62 OUR RADICALS, 
 
 that he should never marry her cousin 
 Blanche. 
 
 And again, her views upon matrimony 
 were not of a very elevated order, though 
 they may have been orthodox, and she 
 considered Captain Belper a very fair 
 matrimonial speculation. He was of a 
 good family, and had at least ^7,000 a 
 year ; with only one drawback, the fact 
 that he had no title to confer upon his 
 wife. She had not closed her eyes to the 
 state of her cousin's mind ; and \i she were 
 able to achieve her purpose, she would 
 by that means strike a mortal blow at 
 Blanche's happiness. Laura hated her 
 cousin. Lady Tryington she knew would 
 leave half her fortune to Blanche, and that 
 would leave her a very Inadequate sum 
 with which to supply her extravagant 
 demands. She was quite unaware of the 
 fact that Belper was about to embark for
 
 OUR RADICALS. 163 
 
 Ireland, and was still under the impression 
 that he was confined to his room. She 
 had looked forward to meeting him in the 
 Park on his recovery, and had exercised 
 her brains not a little In devising new 
 schemes with which to succeed in capti- 
 vating the heart of the young dragoon. 
 But now she was dragged away from the 
 scene of her possible triumphs, to gratify 
 the whims of Lady Trylngton and the 
 fads of her niece. 
 
 * Who ever heard of going to the 
 Mediterranean In summer ?' she had said, 
 on hearing of the proposed voyage ; ' it 
 would ruin the complexion of a negress.' 
 
 Their journey so far at an end, the 
 ladies found themselves at a comfortable 
 hotel called ' The Dorking.' The best 
 apartments had been prepared for them, 
 and a special waiter hired for the occasion. 
 In the landlord's opinion Lady Trylngton 
 
 II — 2
 
 ;64 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 was, to use his own expression, ' the 
 nobbiest among the nobs,' and her visit to 
 his hotel was an excellent advertisement 
 for him. A waiter entered the room with 
 a card upon a tray. ' Mr. Walsh ' was 
 written upon it, and underneath ' The 
 White Camellia' that being the name of 
 Sir Richard Digby's yacht. 
 
 ' Mr. Walsh,' said Lady Tryington ; 
 'that is the name of Dick's captain.' 
 
 The captain of the WJiite Camellia was 
 announced. After receiving her ladyship's 
 instructions, he withdrew to make the 
 necessary arrangements for their reception 
 on board the following day. The following 
 morning broke cold and windy, but Lady 
 Tryington was a woman of her word, and 
 at five o'clock they were all on board the 
 White Camellia. 
 
 The vessel had been newly fitted up by 
 Sir Richard Digby's orders, and no ex-
 
 OUR RADICALS. 165 
 
 pense had been spared to make the ladies' 
 cabins as luxurious and comfortable as 
 possible. Flowers were placed every- 
 where in abundance and with great taste, 
 and an Erard's piano, with a quantity of 
 new music, was a conspicuous feature in 
 the saloon. 
 
 ' How very thoughtful of Dick !' said 
 Lady Tryington with real pleasure, as 
 they walked through the ship. 
 
 'When would your ladyship like to 
 sail ?' said the captain, approaching them 
 as they were curiously looking into the 
 hold of the ship. 
 
 ' As soon as possible, please,' was the 
 answer. 
 
 ' The barometer is falling very fast, my 
 lady.' 
 
 * Never mind ; we may as well get out 
 to sea,' answered Lady Tryington. 
 
 Sir Richard Digby had given strict
 
 i66 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 orders that Lady Tryington's wishes were 
 to be carried out in every respect. Walsh 
 consequently did not think of suggesting 
 that it might be advisable to postpone the 
 departure. An excellent dinner had been 
 prepared on board, and shortly after their 
 repast the ladies retired to their cabins 
 for the night. Very early the following 
 morning they were awakened by the 
 sound of sailors running about on 
 deck. 
 
 The anchor was being weighed. An 
 hour or two afterwards the vessel began to 
 roll heavily. 
 
 ' I thought we should catch it as soon 
 as we got outside,' murmured Walsh to 
 himself. ' The barometer falls steadily.' 
 
 Sir Richard Digby had engaged an ex- 
 perienced woman for the cruise in the 
 person of a Mrs. Blenkinsop. She had 
 crossed the Atlantic many times on board
 
 OUR RADICALS. 167 
 
 one of the vessels of the Cunard line, and 
 had experienced all weathers. 
 
 * We are having a very bad passage, but 
 it will be smoother presently,' said the 
 worthy stewardess, tapping at Lady Try- 
 ington's cabin-door. 
 
 ' We are caught in a gale, my lady,' she 
 continued, as she received no answer; * but 
 you need not be alarmed.' 
 
 The position of the yacht was more 
 perilous than even Mrs. Blenkinsop 
 imagined ; but she was under good hands, 
 and all that could be done was being done. 
 
 The captain had shortened sail ; but the 
 vessel, with almost bare masts, was scud- 
 ding along at a great speed, driven by the 
 wind and waves. An hour or more was 
 passed in this predicament. To put into 
 port was out of the question, the elements 
 being too powerful. The only one who 
 had thoroughly preserved her self-posses-
 
 i68 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 slon was the invalid, Blanche. Laura and 
 Lady Trylngton were confirmed in the 
 opinion that their last hour had come. 
 Lady Tryington slept after a while for 
 some hours. When she awoke, there was 
 no longer any need for anxiety — the wind 
 had fallen. On deck, Captain Walsh was 
 busily engaged in endeavouring to discover 
 the damage his craft had received during 
 the storm. She had shipped a quantity of 
 water ; but after a careful inspection the 
 skipper came to the conclusion that there 
 was no important leakage. However, 
 several masts had been destroyed, and the 
 vessel had been severely strained. It was 
 absolutely necessary to put into some port 
 for repairs. The yacht had been driven 
 out of her course, and it would be necessary, 
 before proceeding, to rest for a few days^ 
 while she was being refitted. 
 
 The sun was shining brightly in the
 
 OUR RADICALS. 169 
 
 heavens. There was hardly a ripple on 
 the waters. Mrs. Blenklnsop had assured 
 the ladies that now all danger was at an 
 end. Lady Tryington and her nieces 
 were persuaded to come on deck, and 
 having seated themselves beneath an awn- 
 ing, were watching the exertions of the crew, 
 who were working with indefatigable energy. 
 In the distance, a noble-looking steamer 
 could be seen ploughingher way through the 
 sunlit waters. Blanche was looking at this 
 vessel with a field-glass which the captain 
 had lent to her. 
 
 ' She does not seem to have suffered so 
 much as our yacht in last night's gale.' 
 
 As she said this, she turned to gaze in 
 another direction. An exclamation from 
 her cousin attracted her attention. A 
 strange commotion appeared in the steamer. 
 She seemed to have been suddenly up- 
 heaved, as if by a submarine convulsion.
 
 I70 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Her masts were reeling over in the air. 
 Detached portions of the vessel seemed to 
 be floating about at a distance from it. A 
 blue and vaporous smoke was rising from 
 the waves. Suddenly, Captain Walsh was 
 heard giving orders for the boats to be 
 lowered. The sailors exercised every effort 
 to get the boats into working order, and in 
 ten minutes they were leaving the yacht for 
 the wreck. In a moment, the sinking ship 
 disappeared beneath the waves, never to 
 rise again. It was a race for life, and the 
 sailors strained every nerve to reach the 
 scene of the disaster in time to save their 
 fellow-creatures. From the deck of the 
 White Camellia Blanche could see the 
 figures of several people holding con- 
 vulsively to the spars and fragments of the 
 wreck. The sailors, though worn out with 
 the fatigues of the previous night, still 
 worked with a will, and with a determina-
 
 OUR RADICALS. 171 
 
 tlon worthy of the occasion. Laura had 
 procured a large telescope from Sir Richard 
 Digby's cabin, and the captain had fitted 
 it up for her on a stand. Through the 
 powerful lenses, the goal towards which 
 the sailors were rowing could be distinctly 
 seen. A spar had floated to a considerable 
 distance from the other debris, and two 
 people were holding on to this piece. In 
 the meantime, Lady Tryington and Blanche 
 had descended to the cabins to arrange 
 for the reception of the survivors. Mrs. 
 Blenkinsop was carrying out their instruc- 
 tions with great alacrity. The sailors were 
 now rapidly approaching the immediate 
 scene of the disaster. 
 
 * Steady all !' shouted the man in com- 
 mand of the first boat. ' I see two figures 
 moving on our right.' 
 
 A voice was heard calling for assistance. 
 A few minutes afterwards two men were
 
 172 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 hoisted into the boat ; one was dead, the 
 other insensible. The boat was rowed 
 forward. At a short distance, some more 
 of the steamer's passengers were found, 
 and were at once removed from the planks 
 to which they were clinging. Three per- 
 sons could be seen close at hand — one of 
 them being a woman — and they were soon 
 safe on board. In an hour, or a little more, 
 the yacht's boat was turning away from the 
 catastrophe, and making towards the 
 White Camellia, with many survivors in the 
 little craft. Hardy, the man in command, 
 had heard that the lost steamer was called 
 the City of Rome. As the boat reached 
 the yacht. Lady Tryington and her nieces 
 were anxiously counting the number of 
 people saved from the wreck. Alas ! only 
 seven had been rescued alive. An exclama- 
 tion from Blanche, who had turned suddenly 
 pale, attracted Lady Tryington's attention.
 
 OUR RADICALS, 173 
 
 * What is it, my child ?' she said anx- 
 iously. 
 
 ' Oh, aunt !' exclaimed her niece. ' Look, 
 look ! there is Dick, and Captain Belper ; 
 what — what does it mean ? Oh ! I must 
 be dreaming.' 
 
 Blanche was not dreaming. There, true 
 enough, was Sir Richard Digby, supporting 
 Belper on his arm, and seated near to 
 them were Mrs. Bruce and Eugene. The 
 poor woman was in tears, for her husband 
 had been lost in the wreck. She had only 
 been saved herself by the presence of mind 
 displayed by Eugene, who immediately the 
 explosion took place had seized two life- 
 belts, one of which he had given to the 
 woman. Sir Richard Digby had only been 
 able to find one, and that he had placed 
 round Belper, trusting himself to his strong 
 arms for safety. 
 
 A few hours afterwards, Sir Richard
 
 174 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 was sitting at dinner with his aunt and her 
 nieces, giving them a detailed account of 
 their misfortunes on board the City of 
 Rome. 
 
 ' But how did it occur ?' said Blanche 
 eagerly. 
 
 'We have that to learn yet/ answered 
 Digby. * My impression was that a boiler 
 had burst, but the explosion did not 
 seem to me to have happened in that part 
 of the ship. The moment it occurred, 
 however, in poured the water to such an 
 extent that it was immediately seen the 
 pumps were useless. All the soldiers were 
 on deck. By the Colonel's orders we 
 called the roll. While that was being done^ 
 the captain of the ship said, in an undertone, 
 that the life boats had been destroyed. 
 
 * " Attention !" shouted the Colonel. 
 
 * You could have heard a pin drop, but 
 for the rushing of the water into the ship.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 175 
 
 ' '' Men of the 21st," said Sir Titus Mul- 
 ligan, "our ship is going down. Die 
 like men. Save the women if you can. If 
 there be a survivor, let him be able to say 
 that the 21st looked death in the face as 
 readily as they have done a hundred times 
 before." 
 
 ' One cheer rose from the ranks as the 
 Colonel finished speaking. It sounded like 
 a requiem over the dying. 
 
 ' I cannot describe the confusion which 
 ensued. Women rushing hither and thither 
 in search of their husbands, willing to die 
 only in their arms. Lady Mulligan was as 
 calm and collected as her husband. The 
 waters were now surrounding us, and I 
 remember very little more with any cer- 
 tainty, till I found myself in the waves, 
 surrounded by hundreds struggling with 
 death, from which so few of the brave 
 fellows escaped.'
 
 176 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Sir Richard DIgby drank a glass of 
 wine to cover his emotion as he finished 
 speaking. 
 
 The survivors had been quartered in the 
 cabins, and every attention was being paid 
 to their wants. 
 
 Blanche remembered that night to pour 
 out her heart in gratitude to Him who 
 holds the waters in the hollow of His hand 
 for the souls who had been saved that day 
 from the wreck. Creeping quietly up on 
 deck, after the others had retired for the 
 night, she leaned over the side of the 
 vessel, and looked out into the night. The 
 moon was riding calmly over the peaceful 
 waters, and casting its reflection on the 
 dark blue waves. 
 
 A figure passed slowly near her in the 
 darkness, and descended the cabin steps. By 
 the light of the moon she discerned the face 
 and form of Arthur Belper. In his hand he
 
 OUR RADICALS. 177 
 
 held a rose, which he placed lightly and 
 reverentially to his lips. It was the one 
 she had eiven him at Hurlino^ham. He 
 paused a moment before descending the 
 steps, and placed his fingers delicately 
 amongst the faded petals. 
 
 ' She gave me a rose,' he said softly to 
 himself. ' Will she ever give me a still 
 more precious gift }' 
 
 VOL. I. 12
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AGGIE was one of the survivors. 
 The explosion had taken place 
 long before the hour upon which 
 she had calculated. She had seen the hor- 
 rors worked by her own remorseless hand, 
 and such an effect had it produced on her 
 mind that she would gladly have shared 
 the fate of those who had been drowned. 
 
 Arthur Belper suffered from a great 
 depression, which lasted some days. He 
 could scarcely realize that his brother 
 officers, the men with whom he had passed 
 so many happy years, had gone from his 
 sight for ever.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 179 
 
 The remembrance of the scene on deck, 
 too, preyed upon his mind, and rendered 
 him prostrate and deHrious. 
 
 Blanche slept very little on the night 
 following the day of the disaster. The 
 horrors of the shipwreck were too vividly 
 imprinted on her mind. But with it all, 
 she was more grateful than words could 
 express that Arthur Belper had been saved. 
 She had heard, too, his avowal of love to 
 the poor rose she had given him at Hurling- 
 ham, and she could no longer blind herself 
 to the fact that his love was fully recipro- 
 cated by her. 
 
 Laura had not given a second thought 
 to the unfortunate crew of the City of 
 Rome. She only realized that once more 
 Arthur Belper was near her, and in a 
 position where she would have every 
 opportunity of exercising all her powers of 
 fascination. 
 
 12 — 2
 
 i8o OUR RADICALS. 
 
 On the following morning, Digby, who 
 was the first to appear on deck, found 
 Walsh busily engaged In superintending 
 some repairs to the vessel. 
 
 ' We had better put in at Holyhead, and 
 have her refitted there,' said the skipper to 
 his master. 
 
 This seemed the wisest course to pursue, 
 and Sir Richard gave instructions accord- 
 ingly. It was necessary, moreover, that 
 he and Arthur Belper should present them- 
 selves to the authorities as soon as possible. 
 They would both be required as witnesses 
 before the Court of Inquiry which would 
 be certain to be assembled to investigate 
 the cause of the loss of the vessel. Again, 
 they could the sooner be attached to some 
 •other regiment, for affairs in Ireland were 
 very critical, and the Baronet was aware 
 that the arrival of the American contingent 
 in Ireland was the prelude to a life-and-
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 death struggle between the Celts and 
 Saxons. 
 
 Whilst conversing with the skipper, the 
 three ladies came on deck, accompanied by 
 Captain Belper. He was still very ill and 
 weak, and after some persuasion he was 
 induced to return to the saloon and recline 
 upon a sofa. 
 
 Blanche looked anxiously at Sir Richard 
 Digby as he returned from accompanying 
 him. 
 
 ' I wish,' said Digby, as if in answer to 
 her mute appeal — ' I wish, Blanche, you 
 and Laura would see that he Is properly 
 looked after, for he requires great care.' 
 
 Maggie had been watching this scene 
 from a distance, and she fully realized 
 its meaning. Nothing escaped her keen 
 eye — not even the anxious expression on 
 Blanche's face as she watched Arthur 
 being led away. From the captain she
 
 1 82 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 had gathered that Belper and Sir Richard 
 Digby were great friends. It gradually 
 dawned on her recollection that Belper 
 was the one who had saved Eugene's life. 
 Then there was something in Sir Richard 
 Digby's face that was not unfamiliar to 
 her. It haunted her continually, but she 
 could not recall under what circumstances 
 she had seen it before, for it to have so 
 clearly impressed itself on her memory. 
 
 She ran back over the years of her past 
 life. Oh, those years ! what would she 
 not give to recall and re-spend them ! 
 Then she thought of Eugene, with his 
 fair, handsome, and open face, and a shade 
 of regret passed over her countenance as 
 she thought how little the love of any 
 human being had ever entered into her 
 life. 
 
 She paced the deck moodily, thinking of 
 those on board the White Camellia^ and
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 183 
 
 of the face of Sir Richard Digby, whom 
 she felt sure she had seen before. 
 
 * Where have I met him ?' she said 
 fretfully in her thoughts. ' Where have I 
 met him .^ If I could only pick up the 
 links, what a chain I might forge !'
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 'A Cabinet Council in Downing Street. 
 The " City of Rome " gone down in the British 
 
 Channel — all hands lost. 
 Great Battle near Dublin — Defeat of the 
 
 English Troops. 
 
 Fresh Rising in India — Massacre of English 
 
 near Delhl 
 
 Determined attitude of the Volunteers.' 
 
 ^J^^HIS was the alarming placard of 
 a London journal, which caught 
 the eye of the Fenian Barry as 
 he was walking in one of his numerous dis- 
 guises, through Piccadilly Circus, in the 
 direction of the Strand, where he was going 
 to attend a meeting of the conspirators.
 
 OUR RADICALS. i8; 
 
 ' Good !' he said to himself, as he walked 
 on ; ' Maggie has done her work well. 
 Now, if we can only destroy the Members 
 of the Cabinet, we shall be one more 
 step in the direction of Ireland's freedom.' 
 
 Immense excitement prevailed not only 
 in the metropolis, but in every town and 
 city throughout the kingdom. Meetings 
 of the Volunteer forces, in defiance of the 
 order of the Queen's regulations, had been 
 held in many parts of England, to denounce 
 the Peace-at-any-price party with reference 
 to India and Ireland. 
 
 Lord Cromer, a distinguished general, 
 who had been removed from the army on 
 account of his political views by Mr. Cum- 
 bermore, presided at several of these meet- 
 ings in the metropolis. It was rumoured 
 that the Militia and Regulars would join 
 with the Volunteers. Lord Cromer had 
 publicly declared that under existing cir-
 
 i86 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 cumstances Parliamentary Government was 
 a farce. The effigies of the Members of 
 the Government had been burned in public 
 thoroughfares, amid great cheering and 
 rejoicing. 
 
 ' A house divided against itself cannot 
 stand long, but time is everything to our 
 cause ; for, let Cromer once establish a 
 Military Government, the spirit of the 
 country might assert itself, and all would 
 be lost.' 
 
 Another plot had been formed, under 
 Barry's superintendence, for the destruction 
 of the Cabinet Ministers. It had been 
 thought by the Fenian leader that, as so 
 many attempts had been made on their 
 lives and had been frustrated by Metrale, 
 the Chief of the Police, now perhaps he 
 might, buoyed up by success, have relaxed 
 his vigilance. 
 
 Besides which, Barry had hit upon a
 
 OUR RADICALS. 187 
 
 plan which he thought would completely 
 baffle the police. The large cistern on 
 the roof of the Foreign Office had been 
 out of order for some time, but had re- 
 cently been put into repair. The pipe for 
 filling it with water was attached, but the 
 cistern itself was empty. Barry received 
 this Information from a Fenian In his ser- 
 vice, who had been employed as a plumber 
 in the work. By means of a plan of the 
 sewers and underground communications 
 of London, In the conspirator's possession, 
 he had ascertained the exact position of 
 the pipe that supplied the Foreign Office 
 with water. His men had taken a house, 
 beneath which the pipe passed. They had 
 orders at a certain time to tap It, and then, 
 by means of a small but powerful steam- 
 engine, to force petroleum Into the cistern. 
 It was further arranged that at a given 
 signal the plumber, who had arranged to
 
 i88 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 secrete himself on the roof, was to turn 
 a tap which, for the extinction of fire at 
 the Foreign Office, was connected with 
 the reservoir on the roof. The build- 
 ing would at once become fairly saturated 
 with petroleum, and, what with the fires 
 and the gas burning below, it would be 
 indeed strange if a single person within 
 the walls were to escape the conflagra- 
 tion. Never had a more diabolical plan 
 been formed ; and it was to meet his 
 associates, and discuss the final arrange- 
 ments of the plot, that Barry, the arch- 
 conspirator, was making his way when the 
 placard struck his eye. 
 
 The rooms In the lower part of the 
 Foreign Office were being painted and 
 whitewashed, and this would cause the 
 Members of the Cabinet to hold their 
 council in one of the upper rooms. 
 
 On reaching Charing Cross, the con-
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 spirator entered a small, mean - looking 
 house. It had formerly been a pawn- 
 broker's shop, but the owner had become 
 bankrupt, and had consequently to give up 
 business. The house had then been ad- 
 vertised as to let, and Mike, Barry's lieu- 
 tenant, had taken possession, paying down 
 the first quarter's rent. It was now a 
 common rendezvous for the Fenians, and as 
 the cellars communicated with the sewers 
 of London, they afforded a means of escape 
 in the event of the house beinof surrounded 
 by the police. 
 
 On entering the house, the chief con- 
 spirator walked rapidly to a small yard at 
 the back of the premises, first carefully 
 closing the door behind him. He had 
 previously whistled in a low tone, and the 
 signal had been answered in a similar 
 manner. Once in the yard, he looked 
 cautiously round, and then, perceiving that
 
 IQO OUR RADICALS. 
 
 he was unobserved, removed a large bundle 
 of faggots, when a trap-door was disclosed, 
 evidently covering a well. It had been 
 placed there previously, to prevent people 
 from falling Into the hole. A slight noise 
 was heard at the bottom of the pit, and It 
 was evident from the sound that the well 
 was quite dry. Some object was gradually 
 being pushed upwards, reaching In time 
 the level of the ground, and remaining In 
 that position. It was a ladder arranged 
 on a telescopic system, and which drew out 
 to any length required — a very convenient 
 invention, as It could be elevated In a very 
 confined space. Taking hold of the top- 
 most rung, Barry lowered himself till he 
 found a foothold, and In a few minutes he 
 was at the bottom of the well, where his 
 lieutenant was anxiously waiting his arrival. 
 ' Is everything In preparation ?' Inquired 
 the chief.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 191 
 
 ' Yes/ said Mike, ' our men are hard at 
 work at the pump.' And stooping down, 
 he crouched beneath a low arch into a 
 narrow passage, which led to an opening 
 in one of the main sewers. A footpath 
 had been made beneath this huge drain. 
 Along it Mike walked, bearing a lantern, 
 and followed by his chief After proceed- 
 ing some few hundred yards the lieutenant 
 stopped, and stooping once more, passed 
 through another arch similar to the one by 
 which he had entered the sewer. Barry 
 now found himself in a large vault, pre- 
 sumably at one time a dungeon belonging 
 to an old mansion that centuries before 
 had been erected near the Thames. Several 
 men were at work here, and in the middle 
 of the cellar was a small, noiseless steam- 
 engine. The gauge showed that this 
 machine w^as working at high pressure. 
 
 'Just over our heads/ said Mike to
 
 192 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Barry, ' are the tanks belonging to Gilot 
 and Son, the petroleum importers. They 
 contain thousands of gallons of paraffin, and 
 we have tapped them successfully, and they 
 are now forcing the liquid through this pipe 
 into the cistern above the Foreign Office.' 
 
 A red light from some torches that were 
 burning In a corner of the chamber threw 
 its lurid rays on the faces and forms of the 
 Fenian conspirators, as, stripped to the 
 waist, they were engaged — some in feeding 
 the furnace, others in attaching a fresh 
 pipe to the fierce little pumps of the engine. 
 
 Barry looked at his watch. 
 
 ^ It is now about five o'clock,' he re- 
 marked. ' Everything will be ready by 
 seven, will it not ?' 
 
 * As near as possible,' answered Mike. 
 
 * Mr. Cumbermore will not return from 
 Windsor before night,' said the chief of the 
 Fenians. ' A special train has been ordered
 
 OUR RADICALS. 193 
 
 to be in readiness at 7*30, to bring him to 
 town. The Cabinet Council cannot be 
 held before nine or half-past. So that we 
 shall be in perfect readiness for the signals. 
 By the way, have any of you heard or 
 seen anything of Maggie ? It is now three 
 days since the explosion took place, and 
 she ought to have been with us by this 
 time, unless she paid with her life for her 
 success.' 
 
 No one had heard of her, but all were 
 anxious. Barry issued his final orders, and 
 then retraced his steps to the mouth of the 
 well. Leaving his lieutenant in the old 
 house at Charing Cross, he went in search 
 of some information about Maggie. 
 
 * I must keep my eye on her,' he said, as 
 once more the newspaper boys thrust their 
 papers before him. ^ She is a desperate 
 and successful ally, but she would be a 
 dangerous foe.' 
 
 VOL. I. 13
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HE people of England were be- 
 coming very dissatisfied with the 
 continual reverses experienced 
 by their armies. Mr. Bullneck found it 
 very difficult, in spite of his great oratorical 
 powers, to induce English audiences to pass 
 Peace -at -any -price resolutions. Indeed, 
 some of his meetings had been disturbed of 
 late by advocates of the Military Govern- 
 ment, and the old agitator now saw that if 
 he wished to go with the times, he would 
 have not to agitate for a peace policy, but 
 to outbid Cumbermore, and go in for up- 
 holding what the military element through-
 
 OUR RADICALS. 195 
 
 out the kingdom were pleased to call the 
 honour of Old England. 
 
 Lord Cromer had been very active in 
 arousing his fellow-countrymen from their 
 lethargy to denounce the principles upheld 
 by Mr. Cumbermore, and also the de- 
 grading tenets of Mr. Bullneck's policy. 
 Many who before had been antagonistic to 
 these ideas were now won over to their 
 opponents by the stagnation of trade. 
 Factories were lying idle, and men thrown 
 out of work. Whole towns had become 
 depopulated, and thousands of men and 
 women, who formerly had earned an 
 honest livelihood, were now obliged to 
 leave their native country and emigrate 
 v/ith their children to foreign lands. 
 
 The result had been a complete revul- 
 sion of feeling in many of the constituencies. 
 The Scotch alone were still somewhat 
 Radical, but through the reverses of British
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 troops, and the knowledge that their own 
 country might even be invaded by a mixed 
 force of Celts and Americans, they were be- 
 coming reconciled to the idea that perhaps 
 a military dictatorship for the time would 
 be the best form of Government. 
 
 Stringent orders had been sent from the 
 War Office to Lord Cromer, to the effect 
 that he must desist from delivering public 
 speeches against the Government. The 
 Volunteers had been warned that unless 
 they put an end to their unlawful meetings 
 they would be disbanded. But Lord 
 Cromer, whose name had some years 
 previously been erased from the * Army 
 List ' at the instigation of Mr. Cumber- 
 more, treated these mandates with con- 
 tempt ; and the Volunteers, instead of being 
 awed by the communications they had re- 
 ceived, showed their indifference to the 
 threats by increasing the number of their
 
 OUR RADICALS. 197 
 
 gatherings. Lord Cromer was in con- 
 fidential correspondence with officers com- 
 manding other Volunteer corps throughout 
 the kingdom. He was known as a good 
 general, and a determined, high-minded 
 man. Many officers had agreed to obey 
 him implicitly whenever he gave the order 
 for an outbreak, and the Metropolitan 
 Volunteers to a man were believed to be 
 on his side. Information as to the pro- 
 bable extent of this conspiracy had been 
 already forwarded by Metrale to the Prime 
 Minister. Indeed, the Cabinet Council to 
 be held in Downing Street related to that 
 very subject. Members of Parliament, 
 who had voted at unsettled times for the 
 surrender by England of her various 
 colonies, had been hissed on their way to 
 Westminster by a mob representing not 
 only the lower, but all classes of society ; 
 and Mr. Bullneck, the leader of the ex-
 
 198 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 treme party, had been stoned on two 
 occasions, and his life placed in peril. 
 
 Under the circumstances, It seemed 
 strange that Mr. Cumbermore did not 
 meet the threatening storm by an appeal 
 to the country. But he was a determined 
 man, and an able though unscrupulous 
 statesman. His love of power and office 
 was unbridled. His good opinion of him- 
 self at all times made him overbearing 
 and despotic, and to see his foes, the 
 Imperialists — whom he had contemp- 
 tuously denounced as Jingoes — in office 
 would have been too much for him to 
 endure. 
 
 He had sent almost every available 
 soldier belonging to the regular army to 
 Ireland, and was In hopes that the next 
 telegram would bring him news of the 
 suppression of the insurrection. Should 
 this have taken place he could then appeal
 
 OUR RADICALS. 199 
 
 to the country ; but not under existing cir- 
 cumstances, as a dissolution would be fatal 
 to the Radical Party, of which he had 
 been so long the leader. He was now 
 with the Sovereign at Windsor, having 
 been summoned there on account of the 
 alarming reports which had reached the 
 Court as to the reverses experienced by 
 British troops in Ireland, and the unsettled 
 state of the country owing to the Fenian 
 outrages. It had been publicly stated in 
 Parliament by the Secretary of State for 
 War that the reports had been much 
 exaggerated, but the fact remained that 
 the telegraph wires had been cut, and that 
 there was no communication with Dublin 
 for the time being. The Court had been 
 further alarmed by a report that the 
 Household Troops and the Foot Guards, 
 upon whom the Sovereign could rely im- 
 plicitly, had been disbanded owing to their
 
 200 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 monarchical tendencies, and that their bar- 
 racks had been filled by the Metropolitan 
 Police. 
 
 The news from India, too, was of an 
 alarming nature. The Commander-in- 
 Chief of the Forces in Hindostan had 
 telegraphed that without reinforcements it 
 would be Impossible to subdue the insur- 
 gents ; that the Afghans had crossed the 
 Indus ; and that, bad as had been the state 
 of things in India at the time of the 
 Sepoy rebellion, it was now a great deal 
 worse. The fact was that Mr. Cumber- 
 more's policy had been to educate the 
 natives of Hindostan, under the im- 
 pression that if they were well instructed 
 they would see how much more beneficial 
 it would be for them to be under British 
 rule than under the dominion of Russia. 
 He had not taken Into his consideration 
 that on learning their own strength they
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 might wish to govern themselves. Since 
 the Indians had been taught to read 
 EngHsh in the native schools, the sale of 
 newspapers published in Ireland had in- 
 creased enormously in the large towns 
 throughout Hindostan. It was known 
 that Irishmen had obtained Home Rule 
 by means of outrages and murders, and 
 this knowledge had induced the natives of 
 Hindostan to try the same argument with 
 a like object in their own case. 
 
 The Sovereign's hand was extended to 
 Mr. Cumbermore as he entered the private 
 apartments. The Prime Minister kissed 
 it, but with a somewhat contemptuous air, 
 as if in his opinion it was time that such a 
 ceremony should be dispensed with. 
 
 'Any fresh news from Ireland, Mr. 
 Cumbermore ?' 
 
 * No, your Majesty ; but I am hourly 
 expecting to hear that the insurrection has
 
 202 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 been suppressed, and that the rebel leaders 
 are prisoners in the hands of the authori- 
 ties.' 
 
 ' And from Hindostan what tidings have 
 you ?' 
 
 'Alas! nothing of an encouraging nature/ 
 replied Mr. Cumbermore. ' The Com- 
 mander-in-Chief telegraphs that he re- 
 quires more troops, and we have none 
 to send.' 
 
 ' But the reserves ; surely they might be 
 employed. They were called out some 
 weeks ago, if my memory serves me.' 
 
 ' Impossible for us to let them leave 
 England, your Majesty. We are daily in 
 dread of a rising against your Majesty's 
 Government. The Volunteers and Militia 
 are quite prepared to make a movement 
 under Lord Cromer.' 
 
 ' The country is in a very disturbed con- 
 dition,' observed the Sovereign. ' The
 
 OVR RADICALS. 203 
 
 feeling against my advisers seems to be 
 very strong.' 
 
 As the Monarch spoke, a page entered 
 the room with a despatch. It was directed 
 to the Prime Minister, and on it w^as written 
 ' Urgent.' 
 
 ' By your Majesty's permission ?' said 
 Mr. Cumbermore inquiringly. 
 
 On reading the first few lines, Mr. 
 Cumbermore's countenance betrayed con- 
 siderable agitation of mind. The letter 
 was from Lord O'Hagan Harton. It ran 
 as follows : 
 
 ' Metrale's information from private 
 sources leads me to believe that the rebels 
 have taken Dublin. The news is not yet 
 public, and I have given orders that it be 
 suppressed. This, however, can only last 
 a day or two, as the people must learn the 
 truth in time. Our military advisers say
 
 204 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 the tunnel ought to be destroyed as soon 
 as the troops have returned. Cromer has 
 made another revolutionary speech to-day. 
 Don't fail to be at the Cabinet meeting 
 this evening/ 
 
 Mr. Cumbermore was obliged to Inform 
 the Sovereiofn of the contents of the 
 despatch, and he remained another half- 
 hour In the Monarch's presence, after which 
 he was conducted In one of the Royal 
 carriages to the station. 
 
 How different was his reception by the 
 spectators on that occasion to that which 
 in former times he had received ! There 
 was no demonstration, although It was 
 known that the Prime Minister would leave 
 Windsor at a certain hour. 
 
 Mr. Ryder happened to be returning to 
 London by the same train, with the inten- 
 tion of gleaning sufficient information for a
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 paragraph in the Sci'awler, but he found 
 the Prime Minister gloomy and uncom- 
 municative. 
 
 Half an hour after their departure the 
 train steamed into Paddington Station, and 
 Lord O'Hagan Harton was anxiously 
 awaitinof the arrival of his colleaofue. 
 
 * The Duke of Preston will meet you 
 to-night,' said the Lord Chancellor, as they 
 drove off in his carriage. ' He is an 
 authority on Indian matters.' 
 
 ' It will be interesting to hear his views,' 
 said the Prime Minister. ' I should like to 
 see him before the meeting to-night.' 
 
 ' Cromer is getting a dangerous foe,' 
 said Lord O'Hagan Harton. 
 
 ' Yes ; the matter must come before the 
 council to-night. He is a man of action, 
 not words only. He remembers that I 
 was the means of having his name erased 
 from the "Army List/' and if the opportunity
 
 2o6 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Avere afforded him, he would strike deeply. 
 We must arrest Lord Cromer for high 
 treason. The difficulty will be to take 
 him. Metrale can depend thoroughly on 
 some of the men in his force. They will 
 go to Cromer's residence at night, dressed 
 in Volunteer uniform. A special train will 
 be in waiting to convey him to London. 
 If it is properly carried out, his men will be 
 ignorant of the capture.' 
 
 ' It would go hard with the policemen if 
 they were discovered/ answ^ered his col- 
 league. ' The papers say he has 40,000 
 men at his back, with the pretence of 
 manceuvrlnof under his command. What 
 terrible days we live in ! Who would have 
 thought that under a free and enlightened 
 Radical Government England would be on 
 the eve of a revolution ?' 
 
 ' Yes,' replied the Prime Minister ; ' and 
 what perplexes me is that the movement is
 
 OUR RADICALS. 207 
 
 not against the Crown — I wish it were — 
 but against ourselves; against us, who have 
 enfranchised the lower classes because we 
 thought it would keep us in office — who 
 have given up the colonies because we 
 thought it would be economical to do so — 
 who sold Gibraltar to the Spaniards, and 
 were able in consequence to abolish the in- 
 come tax ; against us, who strive daily to do 
 away with that costly appendage Royalty — 
 who have abolished the Household Troops, 
 nominally on the ground of expense — who 
 gave the people caucuses to save them the 
 trouble of even thinking for themselves : 
 and it is against us that the popular feeling 
 is directed. Truly, ingratitude so great is 
 unparalleled in history.' 
 
 ' But we must dine now,' said the Lord 
 Chancellor, ^ and drown our woes in a good 
 glass of wine, and then go at once to the 
 Cabinet meeting.'
 
 2o8 
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' There to decide on the fall of Lord 
 Cromer,' added the Prime Minister 
 for the subject was uppermost in his 
 mind.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 T was a pleasant afternoon in the 
 middle of the month of June, 
 and the large town of Melting- 
 borough presented an unusually animated 
 appearance. On the following day it had 
 been arranged that the great Volunteer 
 review should take place. From all parts of 
 the Midland counties, and in some instances 
 from the North of the Tweed, Volunteers 
 had arrived in their thousands and tens of 
 thousands to be present on the occasion. 
 
 The country round Meltingborough was 
 admirably suited for a military spectacle — 
 large tracks of moorland spreading for 
 
 VOL. I. 14
 
 2IO OUR RADICALS. 
 
 miles in every direction, surrounded by a 
 broken chain of hills — and afforded space 
 for 200,000 men to march past if required 
 to do so, and at the same time allowed the 
 spectators to view the military movements 
 from the adjoining hills, without hampering 
 the manoeuvres of the soldiers. 
 
 The rifle-butts of the Meltingborough 
 Volunteers were celebrated throughout the 
 kingdom, there being a sufficient range 
 even for the manipulation of the new 
 machine guns, which from their accuracy 
 and rapidity of fire were revolutionizing the 
 system of armament in the British army. 
 
 Lord Cromer's castle, a magnificent 
 mansion, was in the vicinity of Melting- 
 borough. The park had been thrown open 
 to the Volunteers during their encampment, 
 and long lines of tall tents studded the 
 glades where a few days previous antlered 
 monarchs had held undivided sway.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 211 
 
 Lord Cromer had greatly distinguished 
 himself in India, and could show the trace 
 of many a wound received In a hard-won 
 fight. On returning to England he be- 
 came a legislator, and joined the Con- 
 servative Party, his powers of organization 
 being of the greatest service to his leaders. 
 
 There was, perhaps, no man in England 
 who was such a thorn in the side of 
 the revolutionary party as Lord Cromer. 
 Whenever the Radicals formed caucuses 
 he would start rival caucuses ; not that he 
 approved of the mode of warfare, but 
 because he thought It necessary to fight 
 the revolutionists with their own weapons. 
 When Mr. Cumbermore organized meet- 
 ings where ten thousand people were 
 brought together to listen to his eloquence 
 — and he could talk — Lord Cromer would 
 organize rival meetings where a still greatei 
 number of people were brought together to 
 
 14 — 2
 
 212 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 listen to himself. When Mr. Cumbermore's 
 organ, the Rattlesnake, announced that 
 gigantic meetings had been held in twenty 
 large towns throughout the kingdom, Lord 
 Cromer's organ, the Sovereign and Peo- 
 ple, declared that in forty centres of in- 
 dustry meetings had been held to express 
 their sympathy with the policy of his 
 party, and their disgust at the unpatriotic 
 and degrading conduct of Mr. Cumbermore 
 and his followers. Mr. Cumbermore, to 
 secure a larger circulation of the Rattle- 
 snake, reduced his paper from twopence to 
 a penny, slightly diminishing the size of 
 that journal ; whereupon Lord Cromer in- 
 creased the amount of matter in the 
 Sovereign and People and sold it for a 
 halfpenny. It was a case of diamond cut 
 diamond, and war to the knife, between 
 the two statesmen ; and Lord Cromer 
 waited calmly but hopefully for an oppor-
 
 OUR RADICALS. 213 
 
 tunlty to avenge himself upon the Prime 
 Minister for having struck his name from 
 the * Army List ' for what the Prime 
 Minister chose to describe as * a grave 
 breach of discipHne,' but which was really 
 the result of Lord Cromer speaking his 
 mind too freely against the Premier's 
 method of promoting those only who 
 swore political allegiance to him, and also 
 on account of his writing to the press 
 letters condemning this form of bribery, 
 and branding it as unconstitutional and 
 degrading. 
 
 Lord Cromer was now engaged in 
 visiting the encampment of the Volun- 
 teers. The rumour of his arrival had 
 spread rapidly along the lines of tents, 
 and on all sides he was greeted with every 
 show of affection and loyalty. He was a 
 born leader of men, and his followers in- 
 tuitively felt it, and would have followed
 
 214 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 him even in a forlorn hope. Several 
 officers came forward and besought him to 
 address the men. 
 
 ' It is against orders,' said his lordship, 
 with a faint smile. * Do you think we 
 are powerful enough with this army at our 
 backs to make our own regulations ?' 
 
 At that moment a murmur arose from 
 all sides — a faint but perceptible murmur 
 that sounded like an approaching storm. 
 
 ' Speak, speak !' said the officers ; ' the 
 men will hear you.' 
 
 Lord Cromer turned his horse's head 
 round towards the Castle, and, riding to a 
 convenient elevation, held up his right 
 hand. 
 
 By this time some 20,000 men had 
 gathered round him, and a dead silence 
 reigned as the popular General raised his 
 hand. In a voice that would have en- 
 couraged the faintest heart amongst them,
 
 OUR RADICALS. 215 
 
 he addressed these words to the assembled 
 multitude of armed men : 
 
 'Volunteers of England, you are as- 
 sembled to-day nominally for the pur- 
 pose of drill ; in reality, you are here as 
 representatives of public opinion — that 
 voice so powerful that it has been called 
 the voice of God. The members of the 
 Revolutionary Government have tried to 
 stifle it, but in vain. Each day that these 
 men are in power brings more humiliation 
 upon England. Everywhere our arms are 
 reversed, and our flag is trodden in the 
 mire. The Prime Minister, who has been 
 called upon to dissolve Parliament, refuses 
 to do it, so lustful is he of office and power. 
 He once said that force is no remedy. 
 Are you prepared. Volunteers of England, 
 to show him that it is a very powerful 
 remedy ? If so, speak as one man, and 
 to-morrow I will lead you to London.
 
 2i6 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Strike, Volunteers, for Old England and 
 our Sovereign !' 
 
 A tremendous cheer arose from the 
 assembled multitude as Lord Cromer 
 finished speaking ; and, from the wild 
 enthusiasm, it v/as evident that a spirit of 
 determination had been communicated 
 from the General to his men. 
 
 * The die is cast,' said Lord Cromer to 
 himself, as he rode back from the camp, 
 escorted by the commanding officers of the 
 various battalions. ' The die is cast. Now, 
 Cumbermore, look to yourself ! One of us 
 must fall.'
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 )T was night in the old Castle of 
 Meltingborough. A dinner had 
 been given by its owner to the 
 Volunteer officers, and over four hundred 
 had assembled in the great hall of the 
 Castle. It was a grand spectacle, and 
 did honour even to the place which for 
 generations had fostered sons whose lives 
 had been ever at the service of their 
 country. On this occasion a number of 
 loyal toasts had been proposed. The Sove- 
 reign's health had been drunk with great 
 enthusiasm. It was clear, from the applause 
 with which Lord Cromer's remarks were
 
 2i8 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 received, that the Volunteers of England 
 were united in their devotion to the Crown ; 
 and, by the observations that fell from the 
 lips of some of the more influential, it was 
 manifest that they were animated with a 
 common feeling of bitter hatred towards 
 the Government. It was whispered that, 
 if Mr. Cumbermore only had their leaders 
 in his power, their lives would be the forfeit 
 of their present action. The rumour 
 reached Lord Cromer's ears, and he took 
 advantage of the opportunity afforded him 
 to speak. 
 
 ^ Gentlemen,' he said, ' it may not have 
 struck you as very remarkable that on this 
 occasion the health of the Cabinet Ministers 
 has been omitted on the list of toasts. I 
 look upon them as traitors to their country, 
 and I now ask you to drink with me to the 
 dire punishment that awaits them.' 
 
 The remarks of Lord Cromer were re-
 
 OUR RADICALS. 219 
 
 ceived on every occasion with great en- 
 thusiasm ; and, after arranging for an early 
 parade of the whole force in the camp, 
 Lord Cromer retired from the room, ac- 
 companied by two of his most trusted 
 officers. They proceeded to his lordship's 
 library, where arrangements were made 
 for the movement of the soldiers to the 
 INIetropolis. Lord Cromer was well aware 
 that Mr. Cumber more by that time had 
 received a report of his speech, and that in 
 all probability an order would be issued for 
 his arrest. Indeed, so concerned was one 
 of his officers. Sir Edward Righton, at 
 the risk his leader ran of being made a 
 prisoner, that on his own responsibility he 
 had thrown out a line of outposts around 
 the Casde, with orders to detain anyone 
 not in uniform approaching the walls of 
 the building. 
 
 * There will be some difficulty in railway
 
 220 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 transport,' observed Sir Edward Righton, 
 ' although the stationmasters and the other 
 officials are with us to a man ; but I have 
 carried out your orders, and sent two com- 
 panies, under Colonel Trent, to the stations, 
 with orders to detain all trains and secure 
 as many carriages as possible. At the same 
 time, I have sent some men to cut the 
 wires that connect us with London. It 
 will not do for Cumbermore to be ap- 
 prised sooner than need be of our inten- 
 tions.' 
 
 * Unfortunately we have no artillery/ 
 said Lord Cromer ; ' but it has its advant- 
 age, for we should have experienced great 
 difficulty in transporting the guns. I pro- 
 pose that we move by rail to within 
 about fifteen miles of London, and then 
 dividing into several corps, at a given 
 signal each commander will march from 
 four different points of the compass on the
 
 OUR RADICALS. 221 
 
 City. The Metropolitan Volunteers are 
 with us to a man ; and all the men Cumber- 
 more can rely upon are the police — even 
 they are wavering. As to the regular 
 army, what regiments there are in London 
 may be compelled to make an ineffectual 
 stand ; but it will be of short duration, and 
 they will willingly surrender. Once the 
 blow is struck, they will hail with equal 
 delight the downfall of the Radical 
 tyrants.' 
 
 A servant entered the room, with a card 
 for Lord Cromer. 
 
 ' The gentleman has been detained by 
 Sir Horace Holcroft, my lord, awaiting 
 your orders.' 
 
 ' Just see who it is, Righton,' said Lord 
 Cromer, who was too occupied with a map 
 that was spread before him to look up. 
 
 • Sir Richard Digby.' 
 
 ' Digby !' exclaimed his lordship. ' Digby,
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 my own nephew ! Oh ! this is fortunate 
 indeed. Bring him here yourself, Righton. 
 You remember the man who was in the 
 2 1 St Dragoon Guards. He will be a use- 
 ful man if we can enlist his sympathies. 
 He knows his work well, and is a capital 
 staff officer. Perhaps, on consideration, it 
 would be better for me to meet him alone. 
 Take him to the east room in the long 
 gallery.' 
 
 Sir Edward Righton went upon his 
 mission, and Lord Cromer turned to his 
 other officer. 
 
 ' Are we well supplied with ammuni- 
 tion ?' 
 
 ' Fully.' 
 
 ' Remember, once we leave Melting- 
 borough, where we can procure everything 
 we want, it will be difficult to find the 
 means of supplying cartridges for our 
 machine guns and repeating rifles.'
 
 OUR RADICALS. 223 
 
 'All this has been attended to,* said the 
 officer. 
 
 ' Then we move to London to-morrow/ 
 And, saying good-night to his friend, 
 Lord Cromer proceeded to the east room 
 to meet his nephew. 
 
 ' How altered you are, Dick !' said Lord 
 Cromer, after a warm and hearty greeting. 
 ' Let me see, how long is it since we last 
 met ? It must be ten years, if it is a day.' 
 
 * Yes, uncle ; time does not make us any 
 younger in appearance, if it cannot steal 
 our boyish spirits.' 
 
 ' But how did you come here ?' 
 
 * I arrived at Meltingborough on my way 
 to town this afternoon. In the railway 
 station I heard of your speech to the 
 Volunteers ; and, as It appeared to me you 
 meant business, I determined to offer my 
 services/ 
 
 ' What, against the Government ?'
 
 224 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' Yes, heartily ; they are going from bad 
 to worse, and I shall be glad to assist in 
 bringing them to their knees.' 
 
 They sat some time by the old oak fire- 
 place, talking over old times and old cam- 
 paigns ; and Lord Cromer felt the old 
 attachment for his nephew stronger than 
 ever when they parted for a few hours' 
 rest. 
 
 Rest, though, was out of the question 
 for Lord Cromer. He sat himself down 
 to study his maps, and to finish his plan 
 for provisioning his army on the march. 
 If Lord Cromer, as he sat in the old- 
 fashioned library, had not been so engrossed 
 in his occupation, he might have heard a 
 slight noise as of something being placed 
 against the wall outside his room. At tb.e 
 sound, several birds flew away from the 
 ivy which clung to the walls. Two men, 
 dressed in Volunteer uniform, were placing
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 a short ladder against the masonry. Pre- 
 sently one of them ascended, and, looking 
 carefully through the window of the room 
 where his lordship was writing, made a 
 sign to his companion, and then descended. 
 For some time they both remained con- 
 cealed in the shadows cast by the massive 
 buttresses of the building. An hour 
 passed, and again the man ascended the 
 ladder, only to return to his companion 
 again. Another hour passed, and once 
 more the same man mounted the rungs of 
 the ladder, and repeated the operation. 
 This time Lord Cromer was no longer at 
 work. Worn out by his mental and bodily 
 exertions, he had fallen asleep on a couch. 
 By the faint light of the lamp, the intruder 
 could see the pallid countenance of the 
 sleeper. Making a sign to his comrade 
 below, the latter climbed to within a few 
 feet of the window. Meantime his com- 
 VOL. I. 15
 
 226 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 panlon, taking out of his pocket a glazier's 
 diamond, pressed it against one of the large 
 panes of glass, at the same moment making 
 a circular movement with his wrist. Then, 
 taking a large piece of brown paper, he 
 smeared it with some sticky substance, and 
 placed it over the entire glass. Waiting 
 patiently for a quarter of an hour, he then 
 removed the paper, and found the piece of 
 glass excised by the diamond adhering to 
 the paper. All this had been effected 
 without any noise, and even if Lord 
 Cromer had been awake, his attention 
 would hardly have been aroused by the 
 proceedings. Putting his hand carefully 
 through the hole in the glass, the man drew 
 back the bolt that fastened the casement, 
 pouring at the same time some oil into 
 the chinks of the woodwork. The window 
 opened without much effort, and with very 
 little noise. Telling his companion to
 
 OUR RADICALS. 227 
 
 follow him, he stepped across the sill into 
 the room. Not a sound could be heard 
 save the deep breathing of Lord Cromer, 
 who, with his face turned to the wall, and 
 resting on his arm, lay buried in a profound 
 sleep. The flickering lamp gave a ghastly- 
 appearance to the two men, as they crept 
 stealthily to the table. The first one to 
 enter the room whispered to his companion 
 in a low tone, and by the gesticulations 
 which accompanied his remarks, it was 
 evident that it was a mooted point in the 
 speaker's mind as to whether it would not 
 be the wisest thing to kill the sleeper, and 
 then to escape as fast as possible. 
 
 The other, however, dissuaded his com- 
 panion from this course of action. 
 
 * The chief does not want him to be 
 killed,' said the man. 
 
 A look of incredulity passed over the 
 first speaker's face. 
 
 15—2
 
 228 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 * Perhaps not. He wants him to be a 
 prisoner in his hands ; but if he wakes, we 
 have no other course.' 
 
 Turning the wick of the lamp a Httle 
 higher, the speaker took from his pocket a 
 small bottle, and, after extracting the cork, 
 poured the contents on some wool. A 
 powerful and sickly odour pervaded the 
 atmosphere as the wool was saturated by 
 the liquid ; and having placed it on the 
 pillow, the man retreated behind a curtain, 
 whither his companion had already secreted 
 himself, to wait for the poisoned air to take 
 effect on the sleeper. In a few minutes 
 the sound of heavy breathing, which before 
 had filled the room, died gradually awa)', 
 each moment becoming more intermittent 
 and less audible, and ceasing altogether 
 at last. 
 
 ' So far we are successful,' said the man 
 who had administered the anaesthetic, ' but
 
 OUR RADICALS. 229 
 
 we cannot administer chloroform to him 
 all the way up to town ; a little of the 
 extract of morphia will do our business 
 better.' 
 
 With these words, he took from a small 
 leather case a little instrument, and insert- 
 ing it into the sleeper's arm, injected some- 
 thing beneath his skin. 
 
 * He will be quiet now for at least forty- 
 eight hours/ said the operator ; ' indeed, if 
 he is not a strong man, he will sleep till 
 Doomsday.' 
 
 * Now let us put on his uniform,' said 
 the other. 
 
 Raising the body of the peer, with the 
 assistance of his accomplice, he slowly 
 dressed his victim, buckling on the sword- 
 belt, and putting the cocked-hat on the 
 General's head. 
 
 * He looks quite life-like,' said the man, 
 with a smile of satisfaction.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' Yes ; if it were daytime, we should have 
 all the Guards turning out to salute his 
 lordship,' said the other, with a grin. 
 
 ' As it is/ continued the other, ' he will 
 not be recognised ; and even if that were 
 to happen, they will think he is going to in- 
 spect the pickets. The special train is wait- 
 ing at a little station seven miles distant, 
 and if we can once clear the lines, there will 
 be little difficulty in finishing our work.' 
 
 Raising Lord Cromer in their arms, 
 they carried him to the window, and, 
 strapping a broad leather belt around his 
 waist, they attached it to a long cord with 
 knots at intervals of one or two feet to 
 prevent its slipping. Placing their victim 
 on the top of the ladder, they allowed him 
 to slide quietly down the incline. 
 
 A few minutes afterwards they might 
 have been seen driving down the park 
 avenue which led to the main road.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 T was about two hours before 
 dawn, just the time that a 
 general with his wits about 
 him generally selects to attack the camp of 
 the enemy. Sir Richard Digby, some- 
 what unsettled by the exciting events that 
 had occurred during the previous fortnight, 
 had not slept as soundly as might have 
 been expected after all his exertions. Now 
 he dreamt of the shipwreck, then of his 
 uncle's revolutionary movement. At times 
 a woman's face appeared to him, a sad and 
 melancholy face, with large and solemn 
 eyes that looked reproachfully at the
 
 232 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 dreamer. Sir Richard Digby started 
 several times, and would have addressed 
 the apparition, holding out his hand as if to 
 welcome it ; but the phantom disappeared, 
 and was immediately followed by visions 
 of the jungle and by incidents of the wars 
 in Africa. Now he was risking his life 
 to save a hard-pressed comrade ; and it 
 seemed to him that what he had done had 
 been performed less from a motive of 
 gallantry than from a recklessness of his 
 life, which had ceased to have any parti- 
 cular attraction for him. 
 
 Sir Richard moved uneasily on his couch, 
 and presently awoke with racking pains in 
 his head. 
 
 Going to the window, he threw open the 
 casement, and admitted the fresh morning 
 air, which cooled his temples. As he did 
 so, the old clock in the turret struck three. 
 
 There were still two hours before dawn,
 
 OUR RADICALS. 235 
 
 and he, remembering that as a boy he had 
 often enjoyed capital trout-fishing in a 
 stream that ran through the park, deter- 
 mined to take a rod, If one was to be found 
 in the old place, and try his hand with the 
 fly. 
 
 Having dressed, he proceeded to the 
 river, and attaching his fly, commenced to 
 whip the waters. By the pale light of the 
 moon and stars, he could see In the distance 
 the long lines of white tents that formed 
 the camp of the soldiers. The massive old 
 Castle stood out In the background, Its 
 turrets and towers cut clear and cold 
 against the cloudless sky. That venerable 
 pile had seen some startling episodes in 
 the history of his country. It had been 
 a haven of refuge to Charles I., on 
 the eve of one of his encounters with 
 Cromwell ; and the very stream which 
 ran before him, so white and clear that It
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 reflected the moon upon its surface, had 
 run red in the days gone by with the 
 blood of Royalist and Republican. 
 
 On the very bed on which his weary 
 limbs had found a fitful repose had rested 
 the kingly head which fell beneath the 
 stroke of the bloody axe. 
 
 The fish did not rise well, and Sir 
 Richard, after whipping the water for 
 about half an hour, put his rod down upon 
 the ground, and resting himself against a 
 great oak-tree, lit a pipe of tobacco. As 
 he leaned forward to shield himself from 
 the wind, a medallion fell from his pocket 
 on the grass. He picked it up with an 
 almost reverential touch, and opening it, 
 gazed upon the picture it contained. The 
 miniature which he held in his hand was 
 that of a lady attired in Andalusian 
 costume, such as even now may be seen at 
 the balls in the Casino de Seville, after the
 
 OUR RADICALS. 235 
 
 Holy Week, and during the celebrated fair. 
 The portrait was painted, and the beautiful 
 face before him, with its large clear eyes 
 and olive skin, betokened her Spanish 
 blood. The fan in her hand was so 
 exquisitely designed that it seemed to 
 shake as Sir Richard remembered he had 
 seen it, when its owner had beckoned him 
 towards her. What happy months they 
 had spent together in the fair city on the 
 Guadalquivir ! Oh, those happy days, 
 the days of their secret betrothal ! — the 
 rage of Ursula's father, the old marquis, 
 when he discovered that his only child 
 had secretly married a heretic — the night 
 attack upon him near the arches of the 
 great cathedral — how he had been left 
 for dead by his assailants, and his fruitless 
 search for his w^Ife — all these memories 
 flashed through his mind as he reclined 
 against the tree, whilst the smoke from his
 
 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 pipe slowly curled upwards, caressed by 
 the wanton wind. 
 
 Whilst thus dreaming, his attention was 
 suddenly aroused by the sound of wheels. 
 A carriage was ascending the road slowly, 
 on account of the ground being very steep. 
 The occupants, ignorant that they were 
 observed, were talking freely to each 
 other. 
 
 ' Some Volunteers going to the encamp- 
 ment from the Castle, no doubt,' thought 
 the Baronet, as he glanced through the 
 trees that stood between his position and 
 theirs. 
 
 ' How heavy the old fellow's body is !' 
 said one of the Volunteers ; ' it is almost 
 impossible to keep him upright.' 
 
 This observation reached Sir Richard's 
 ears, and it excited his curiosity. 
 
 Peering round a tree, he saw a gig 
 approaching, and two men inside it dressed
 
 OUR RADICALS. 2^7 
 
 as Volunteers, supporting a third, attired 
 as a General. In another moment they 
 passed by a bend in the road, within a few 
 feet of the Baronet, when to his astonish- 
 ment he recognised in the apparently 
 inanimate figure his uncle, Lord Cromer. 
 He at once realized that some treachery 
 was at work, and his first impulse was to 
 rush to the horse's head and arrest the 
 carriage ; but on second thoughts he re- 
 membered that he was single-handed, and 
 without any means of defence. Moreover, 
 he knew a short cut across the trout stream 
 by which he could gain more than half a 
 mile on the gig, and have the men arrested 
 by the first patrol of Volunteers he fell in 
 with. Allowing the carriage to pursue its 
 course uninterrupted, he hastened down 
 the bank of the stream, and springing 
 from rock to rock, gained the opposite 
 bank. Then, tightening his belt, he ran
 
 238 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 down the slope, keeping his body as near 
 to the ground as possible, to avoid detec- 
 tion. Now he found himself in a morass 
 up to his knees, then he had to penetrate a 
 thick gorse cover ; but regardless of diffi- 
 culties he hurried on, until, on emerging 
 from a plantation, he found himself on the 
 high-road. 
 
 ' The Volunteers' picket should be here,' 
 he said to himself, ' if the man in charge 
 has any knowledge of the country ; for 
 from this place there are five cross-paths, 
 and the hollow below the plantation affords 
 an admirable place for concealment.' 
 
 Digby looked around for the picket, but 
 in vain ; that which was so apparent to 
 his practised eye had escaped the notice 
 of the officer in charge of the outpost. 
 
 ' Damn the fellow !' muttered Sir 
 Richard ; ' a nice sort of watch he keeps. 
 I shall have to face it out with the
 
 OUR RADICALS. 239 
 
 scoundrels, for I can hear their wheels 
 now.' 
 
 The place was not at all favourable for 
 a single man to stop an enemy in the way. 
 The Baronet felt sure that if he were to 
 place himself in the middle of the road 
 the driver would gallop his horse at him, 
 and thus get the better of him in a 
 moment. 
 
 He had nothing in his hand save the 
 fishing-rod, which he had carried in the 
 hope of its becoming useful. An idea 
 occurred to him, which he put instantly 
 into practice. He had been an enthusiastic 
 fisherman, and could throw a fly with the 
 greatest accuracy. Arranging his line and 
 rod, and concealing himself behind the 
 trunk of an old oak, he waited till the 
 carriage arrived. 
 
 The horse was tired, from the uphill 
 work he had been doing a greater part of
 
 240 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 the way, and was trotting slowly up the 
 incline. As it reached the spot where Sir 
 Richard was concealed, the Baronet threw 
 his fly, which struck deep into the face of 
 the driver, who, terrified and in great pain, 
 instantly dropped the reins. Without 
 wasting the tenth part of a second, Sir 
 Richard rushed forward, and clubbing his 
 fishing-rod, broke it upon the head of the 
 other occupant of the carriage, at the same 
 time calling out, as if he had some men 
 behind him, ' Shoot the scoundrels — take 
 good aim !' 
 
 The driver, who was maddened with 
 pain and fear, tried to run away, followed 
 by his companion, w^ho escaped ; but Sir 
 Richard refused to relax his hold upon the 
 line, and resolving to make a prisoner of 
 one, wound the silk round his wrists, and 
 threw him upon the ground. Finding 
 some cord in the gig, he bound his man to
 
 OUR RADICALS. 241 
 
 a tree, and then, taking the reins, he jumped 
 into the carriage and drove back to the 
 Castle with all speed, supporting the pros- 
 trate form of his uncle with one arm. 
 
 On the road he met the officer in charge 
 of the picket, and briefly relating what had 
 occurred, ordered him to take a surgeon 
 and release the prisoner from the tree, but 
 to keep him in custody. He further charged 
 the officer to send mounted men in pursuit 
 of the other fugitive. 
 
 It was six o'clock by the time Sir Richard 
 DIgby reached the Castle. On the steps 
 stood Sir Edward Righton in full uniform, 
 surrounded by his staff They were ex- 
 pecting Lord Cromer, and were expressing 
 their surprise that he had not appeared. 
 In a few words Digby explained what had 
 occurred, and on investigating the matter, 
 the ladder was found by which the men 
 had entered the room. 
 
 VOL. I. 16
 
 242 OUR RADICALS, 
 
 The ablest surgeon in the camp was 
 summoned, and on examining Lord Cromer 
 he at once understood what had occurred. 
 Indeed, the odour of the anaesthetic was 
 still strong in the room, and the wound on 
 Lord Cromer's arm showed where the drug 
 had been injected. The surgeon, who had 
 had great experience in the use of narcotics, 
 used every possible means to restore his 
 lordship. So successful was the treatment 
 that in a few hours Lord Cromer opened 
 his eyes, and was soon able to converse 
 with those around his bed. 
 
 While Sir Richard Digby was standing 
 in the room, an orderly brought him a 
 despatch to the effect that the runaway 
 had been secured, and placed in custody 
 with the man whom Sir Richard had 
 fastened to the tree. ' The men are so 
 furious at the attempt made to capture 
 Lord Cromer that I had great difficulty
 
 OUR RADICALS. 243 
 
 in preventing them from shooting the 
 prisoners.' 
 
 ' And it would have been what they well 
 deserved/ thought Sir Richard Digby as he 
 looked down the long lines of tents, and 
 wondered how the campaign would end 
 which had opened so inauspiciously. 
 
 16 — 2
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 LARGE party had assembled 
 at the house of Mr. Sandford* 
 the energetic Chief of the Lon- 
 don Fire Brigade. Mr. Sandford was one 
 of the most popular men in town. Respected 
 by the lower classes, who admired such 
 manly qualities as pluck and total abnega- 
 tion of self, he was equally admired by the 
 members of every club in Pall Mall. The 
 result was that Mr. and Mrs. Sandford's 
 ' at homes ' were invariably well-attended, 
 and fashionable dowagers with marriage- 
 able daughters would flock to his doors. 
 On this occasion there was something
 
 OUR RADICALS. 245 
 
 decidedly original in the appearance of 
 Mr. Sandford's house. The ground-floor, 
 instead of consisting of a dining-room, 
 library and smoking-room, as one usually 
 finds in such houses, was entirely given up 
 to the accommodation of model fire-engines. 
 The brass fittings were brilliantly polished, 
 and beneath the boilers prepared fuel was 
 so arranged that it could be lit at a 
 moment's notice. Gas-jets were always 
 burning under the boilers, so that should a 
 fire occur, by the time the horses were put- 
 to the firemen would have no delay in 
 getting up steam. 
 
 On the occasion of Mr. Sandford's 
 evening parties these fire-engines were 
 prettily decorated, and the hospitable Chief 
 of the Fire Brigade spent much time in ex- 
 plaining the mechanism of the various 
 engines to those who were interested in 
 them. These little reunions had a peculiar
 
 246 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 charm of their own. There was no stiff- 
 ness, and no one seemed bored. Although 
 there was no lack of titled personages, the 
 guests were not invited merely for their 
 social position, but because they were 
 representative people in the various walks 
 of science, literature, and art. No man in 
 London had a larger circle of acquaintance 
 than the Chief of the London Fire Brigade. 
 In one room a number of telephones 
 were placed, which communicated with 
 every quarter of the Metropolis. Should 
 a fire break out in any part of London, a 
 bell would ring in this apartment, and in- 
 formation at once be communicated as to 
 the nature of the conflagration. Orders 
 would be immediately issued to the various 
 inspectors under Mr. Sandford's command; 
 and if the case was of sufficient urgency to 
 need his immediate presence, he would at 
 once proceed to the scene of the disaster.
 
 OUR RADICALS. 247 
 
 Amongst Mr. and Mrs. Sandford's 
 visitors on this occasion were Lady Try- 
 ington and her nieces, accompanied by 
 Arthur Belper, who, although still weak, 
 was gaining strength rapidly. 
 
 Lady Tryington had been obliged to go 
 to town for a few days, after the arrival of 
 the yacht at Holyhead, and Belper had 
 accompanied them, to make his report of 
 the shipwreck to the authorities. Mr. 
 Metrale was also present, with Monsieur 
 le Capitaine Victor Delange, the French 
 Military Attache, and even Ricardius was 
 among the number of guests. Belper 
 used frequently to be a visitor at the Sand- 
 fords', and on many occasions he had en- 
 joyed the excitement of accompanying his 
 friend at full speed to the scenes of some 
 famous conflagrations, and had frequently 
 exposed his life to danger in carrying out 
 the commands of his friend.
 
 248 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' How elegantly Mr. Sandford has ar- 
 rayed them,' said Blanche, to whom, much 
 to Laura's annoyance, Arthur was explain- 
 ing the mechanism of the fire-engines. ' It 
 is a noble but a dangerous profession,' 
 she continued ; ' only second to that of a 
 soldier.' 
 
 ' Well, perhaps it is ; but the men have 
 been mostly sailors at some time, and are 
 used to the climbing. Sandford, who is 
 always the first to risk his own life when 
 necessary, expects the same courage from 
 his men, and secures it.' 
 
 * What splendid fellows sailors can be !' 
 she observed. ' How nobly they behaved 
 at the shipwreck, when, with your soldiers, 
 the poor fellows perished !' She shuddered 
 as she remembered how nearly Arthur 
 Belper had shared their fate. 
 
 In the meantime, the French Attache 
 was conducting Lady Tryington and Laura
 
 OUR RADICALS. 249 
 
 to the room where the telephones were 
 placed. 
 
 ' It Is so different in France,' he was 
 saying to his companions. ' There, when 
 a fire breaks out, soldiers march from both 
 ends of the street, and force the people 
 they meet to work in putting out the 
 conflagration ; whilst In this country 
 there is no need of such pressure, and 
 everyone seems eager to volunteer assist- 
 ance.' 
 
 ' Yes,' said Sandford, who had overheard 
 the Attache's last remark, ' they are so 
 eager that they are often In the way. But 
 we cannot afford to despise volunteers. 
 Look at those helmets on the wall — they 
 all belong to volunteers. That one, by 
 the way,' he continued, ' belongs to a friend 
 of yours. Captain Belper. He is one of 
 the best men I have, and more particularly 
 if there Is any danger, for then he sets a
 
 250 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 Splendid example to the less energetic and 
 courageous.' 
 
 Blanche, who had entered the room as 
 the chief was speaking of Belper, blushed 
 with conscious pride as she heard him 
 praised. At the same time she realized 
 with fear how often he placed his life in 
 peril ; and then she knew how precious 
 that life was to her. 
 
 At that moment one of the electric bells 
 rang out clear and incessant, and the Chief 
 of the Fire Brigade applied his ear to the 
 telephone. He then signalled to his men 
 in the engine-room, and without any fuss 
 or commotion the horses were put to the 
 engines. In less than five minutes he was 
 in uniform, and, springing on to the foremost 
 engine, was immediately followed by Arthur 
 Belper and Victor Delange. For an instant 
 Ricardius had imagined that he would like 
 to be of the party ; but considering that his
 
 OUR RADICALS. 251 
 
 pumps might get very wet, he sat down 
 behind Blanche, who, pale and trembling 
 at what had occurred, was listening to 
 Lady Tryington's remarks. 
 
 Lady Tryington, who was a little angry 
 at the sudden departure of her nieces' cava- 
 liers, was telling Mrs. Sandford of the 
 shipwreck, and of the marvellous escape of 
 her nephew and Captain Belper. 
 
 ' I hoped to have seen Sir Richard Digby 
 here this evening,' said Mrs. Sandford ; 
 ' but men have always so many engage- 
 ments/ 
 
 ' He is not in London,' said Lady Try- 
 ington. ' He started for Meltingborough 
 a few days ago, to visit some property he 
 has in the neighbourhood.' 
 
 * Meltingborough!' said Ricardius ; 'that 
 dreadful place from which reports come 
 that Lord Cromer intends to march on 
 London 1'
 
 252 OUR RADICALS. 
 
 ' I should not be surprised if Sir Richard 
 joins his uncle,' said Lady Tryington. 
 
 ' Sir Richard is too wise in his genera- 
 tion to commit himself in that way,' said 
 Mr. Metrale. ' The Government is too 
 strong to be so overturned. I have 15,000 
 men at my command, and we shall make 
 an effectual resistance.' 
 
 ^ And while you are thus engaged,' re- 
 marked Mrs. Sandford, smiling, ^ we shall 
 be at the mercy of thieves and burglars.' 
 
 The party soon broke up after the de- 
 parture of Mr. Sandford. 
 
 As Ricardius was stepping into his 
 brougham, it occurred to him that he would 
 like to see a little of the fire from a dis- 
 tance. 
 
 ' Where is the fire ?' said Ricardius to 
 his coachman. 
 
 'At the Foreign Office, sir, Downing 
 Street.'
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 OLD tight; said Mr. Sandford 
 to his friend the moment they 
 reached the street. 
 The advice was not out of place, for the 
 moment that the horses felt the reins 
 slackened, they started forward at a gallop. 
 Two firemen were standing behind, and 
 shouting at the top of their voices, to warn 
 people that the fire-engine was approaching. 
 ' C'est magnifique!' said Victor Delange, 
 as they darted through the streets at racing 
 speed. * How well the fellow drives!' 
 
 ' He would not be here if he didn't do 
 so,' said Sandford.
 
 :54 OUR FADICALS. 
 
 ' Look, look !' exclaimed Victor Delange ; 
 ' the sky seems to be on fire.' 
 
 As they approached the scene of the 
 conflagration, the sparks were shooting up 
 through the clouds of smoke from the roof 
 of the Foreign Office and the adjoining 
 public buildings. A crash was heard, and 
 there rosea vast crimson lake of fire to the 
 heavens above, lighting up the faces of the 
 crowds In the streets with a lurid glare. 
 
 ' Great God !' exclaimed Sandford. ' It 
 Is serious. The Indian Office has caught 
 as well.' 
 
 'The Prim.e Minister's residence, too,' 
 said the driver. 
 
 ' Look to your business,' called out the 
 chief 
 
 The mounted police were drawn up across 
 the street, and were endeavouring to keep 
 the crowd In order, and preventing them 
 from passing the cord. The black helmets
 
 OUR RADICALS. 255 
 
 of the mounted police glowed beneath the 
 light from the reflected flames, and their 
 horses, from the excitement of the scene, 
 became restive and unmanageable. 
 
 A cheer arose from the assembled crowds 
 as the fire-engines came tearing down the 
 street, and the crowd gave way to admit 
 them to the front of the burning buildings. 
 
 END. OF VOL. I. 
 
 BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORU.
 
 K