VI. THE RELIEF OF MR. BOYCOTT 120 VII. MR. RICHARD STACPOOLE 153 VIII. PATRIOTS 160 IX. ON THE FERGUS 166 X. PALLAS AND THE PALLADIANS 191 XI. GOMBEEN 207 XII. THE RETAINER 215 XIII. CROPPED 225 XIV. IN KERRY 232 XV. THE "BOYCOTTING" OF MR. BENCE JONES 262 XVI. A CRUISE IN A GROWLER 279 XVII. "BOYCOTTED" AT CHRISTMASTIDE 307 XVIII. CHRISTMAS IN COUNTY CLARE 328 * * * * * [Illustration: (foldout Map of Ireland, showing author's route.)] [Illustration: (foldout detail map of western Ireland, showing author's route.)] * * * * * DISTURBED IRELAND. I. AT LOUGH MASK. WESTPORT, CO. MAYO, _Oct. 24._ The result of several days' incessant travelling in county Mayo is a very considerable modification of the opinion formed at the first glance at this, the most disaffected part of Ireland. On reaching Claremorris, in the heart of the most disturbed district, I certainly felt, and not for the first time, that as one approaches a spot in which law and order are supposed to be suspended the sense of alarm and insecurity diminishes, to put it mathematically, "as the square of the distances." Even after a rapid survey of this part of the West I cannot help contrasting the state of public opinion here with that prevailing in Dublin. In the capital--outside of "the Castle," where moderate counsels prevail--the alarmists appear to have it all their own way. I was told gravely that there was no longer any security for life or property in the West; that county Mayo was like Tipperary in the old time, "only more so;" and that if I would go lurking about Lough Mask and Lough Corrib it was impossible to prevent me; but that the chances of return were, to say the least, remote. It was in vain that I pointed out that every stone wall did not hide an assassin, and that strangers and others not connected either directly or indirectly with the land were probably as safe, if not safer, on a high road in Mayo than in Sackville-street, Dublin. It was admitted that, theoretically, I was quite in the right; but that like many other theorists I might find my theory break down in practice. I was entertained with a full account of the way in which assassinations are conducted in the livelier counties of Ireland, and great stress was laid upon the fact that the assassins were always well primed with "the wine of the country," that is to say whisky, of similar quality