"Yes, sir." And then they parted. It was a chancy business crawling through the grass and wondering whether the solitary figure had any accomplices, whether he was an outpost in a big scheme, or a dupe of Sinn Fein terrorism placed there as a spy, or merely-the least probable hypothesis, considering the circumstances-a harmless idiot.

great heavens, a spade, and then the singular motion they had noticed before, bowing himself to and fro. He was digging.

66

Who are you, and what are you doing?"

The man jumped as if he had been shot.

"Augh!" He looked wildly round him like a savage animal suddenly surprised in its lair. Then peering in the direction

thought, only one man approaching him

Augh!" said he, "it's the dread was fillin' me when I heerd yer voice so sudden like"; and then looking straight at the officer and with more assurance, "sure," he went on, "an' I'm afther diggin' a grave for Michael O'Flanigan, and if I'm annyway fortunate it's in it by midday to-morrow he'll be."

"And if we're anyway fortunate," said the sleuth, suddenly appearing out of the darkness, and acquiring in the excitement of the moment a spice of irony with which he had never before been credited, "it's in it by ten minutes from now ye'll be. There he stands, sir," he continued, becoming all at once an orator in spite of himself, "the blackguard! I know the appearance of 'im. He's one of the brutes that shoots our men on the roads by surprises, and always 'ave some plausible reason to account for themselves when they're caught. 'E's one of

the brutes what's responsible for keeping us poor fellows out of our beds till three in the morning. There 'e be," and the sleuth's voice, at first under control, grew louder and louder, "a traitor to 'is King and country, as sure as we're standing 'ere. And then we arrests 'im, and 'e goes up to a courtmartial; and they says they can't convict because they ain't got no evidence. And then, if they does convict, the Governmint lets 'im go agin. If I 'ad my way, there wouldn't be no Governmint. We'd 'ave nothing but military law. And what should a loyal subject be doing in this 'ere place digging a grave at midnight, when all loyal subjects except ourselves, sir, is in bed?"

And having hitherto glared steadily at the offender, now thoroughly alarmed, as well he might be, he turned at this point to the officer as if seeking confirmation for his sentiments.

The grave-digger, thoroughly startled by the apparition of a third party and this tremendous torrent of language, in which he realised only the naked truth, began to shiver all over.

"I'm an honest man, sir," he protested. "I'm as loyal a subject as ever lived; and who should he be but an infamous libeller, puttin' crime on a poor man that asks nothin' more than for to be allowed to work quietly and dacently for his livin'."

"Well, keep still," said the officer; "put down the spade and put up your hands. We shall have to search you."

The spade went down, the quivering hands went up, transforming this strange denizen of the night into the likeness of a frightened bird. They searched his clothes, his hat, his pockets, and the ground all round him; but they found no arms, only several papers which the officer carefully removed to his own pockets for future investigation. Then they marched him off between the two of them.

The grave-digger, seeing his chance directly silence was restored, began talking. It was quite impossible to hear most of what he said, but his two chief claims to consideration when every other argument proved useless were that his wife's cousin had been a sergeant in the Munsters, and he himself as a boy had been under-gardener to the Earl of Tipperary.

There was considerable difficulty in getting over the wall, the grave-digger complaining piteously of rheumatism; but here the sleuth's herculean strength stood them in good stead, and after he had heaved up the recalcitrant Hibernian into the branches of the stoutest of the rhododendrons, the arms of the remainder of the patrol, who had been waiting patiently during the course of these events, succeeded in completing what was necessary.

They passed through the

No," answered he who had been addressed as Sunshine, "only digging graves." "Digging graves, eh?"

The patrol party had halted a little in rear of the two speakers. Just above them a lamp was shining. The two formed a strange contrast-the one in his dress uniform, having only a few minutes earlier left the ballroom, and the other covered with mud and grass, his face almost hidden in a woolly cap-comforter which he wore in brazen defiance of standing regulations.

They took their prize into the inner precincts of the guardroom. There his huge floppy hat was removed, his hair brushed off his face.

"How old would you have taken this fellow to be?" said the Intelligence Officer, for it was none other than that eminent personage.

"Oh, about fifty, I suppose, or perhaps sixty."

"Unless I'm very seriously mistaken, he was twenty-seven last March," continued he of the Intelligence, "and I have his full description and antecedents very neatly indexed inside a couple of good strong Burmah locks. And very soon, I hope, I shall be able to con

me.

"Don't congratulate Sergeant of the guard! tell Fenwick to come here."

An enormous figure of savage aspect loomed in the doorway. A broad smile spread over the Intelligence Officer's face.

"What! that old ruffian. Why, it was only last week that he was up for a District Court-martial. And only the week before," and here he beamed on Fenwick as if welcoming a long-lost friend, "that he helped me out of one of the tightest corners I ever remember in the whole course of a long and checkered career."

They heard the rasping of a heavy bolt as one of the leading lights of the "inner circle" of Sinn Fein passed into a cell that was reserved for the special convenience of great offenders.

"Fenwick," said the patrol officer, "go off and get some hot cocoa and something to eat. Sergeant of the guard! send somebody for the cook, and if he's asleep, tell them to wake him up." Then, turning to Fenwick, "Many thanks,' said he, almost with feeling.

Directly Fenwick had gone, the Intelligence Officer turned to the weary man in the capcomforter.

"Come along with me, and I think we can put the cap on this little business."

"Come along with you! What for? I'm off to bed.

An old soldier, Fenwick by name, though more familiarly known to his comrades as "the bull-dog," or to officers as the sleuth," to whom this kind of thing was familiar, and who appeared delighted at the prospect of an adventure that reminded him of old times, was selected as eminently fitted for the purpose.

There were certain difficulties at the outset. The outlying region of the camp which bordered the cemetery was protected by a most inconvenient apron of barbed wire, and there appeared to be no exit through this into the ground beyond. The slightest mistake in getting through an obstacle of this kind is apt to be prejudicial to clothes, not to say hands and faces. The direct way into the cemetery, therefore, over the wire on the top of the wall and through the bushes, was abandoned in favour of a more circuitous route. This would avoid the wire and would lessen the possibility of discovery if the ground beyond the wall should be occupied.

All the members of the patrol crept through the wire six hundred yards higher up the hill, where it has only two strands instead of six, and is thus more easily negotiable, close to the great bastion which protects the inner precincts of the fort, and even then they had reason to curse the conscientious thoroughness with which the Engineers had done

showed himself to be no respecter of persons. He was outspoken with his advice, which was nearly always sound; and there was no question that the patrol leader had been wise in his choice.

After they had advanced some distance along the side of a hedge through a dripping cornfield, they reached the angle of the wall where an overhanging tree facilitated the descent.

They had now come back almost to the point from which they had started after their preliminary conference, with this advantage, that they were on the other side of the hedge with its powerful reinforcement of barbed wire. Through it they could exchange remarks with the sentries on the camp side.

It was decided that the main body of the patrol should stay here, and that only the officer and the bull-dog should go into the cemetery.

Strict orders were given to the sergeant in charge that they were not to stir from the spot or to talk in anything but the lowest tone; and that they were to be ready for action on the whistle sounding.

As is the case with so many of these walls built upon rapid slopes, the drop on the farther side was considerable from eighteen to twenty feet. Knowledge of this only dawned on them later after they had flopped down into a mass of ivy and rhododendron bushes,