The noon eight-bells had just been struck when the engine-room telegraph rang for 'full speed ahead,' and the _Aud_ pointed her nose for Tralee Bay. The next two hours were occupied with the final preparations for the landing. There was still a mass of things to get done. Steam-winches and unloading tackle were made ready, the hatches uncovered, and in every hold the top cases were placed in the slings ready for immediate landing. I had a supply of pocket electric-lamps and tools for opening the cases put in small bags, so that they could be passed ashore at once, for, from the moment we got alongside, the unloading must go with a rush, in order to be finished before the English got wind of it. If all went without a hitch, I hoped to have the ship emptied in seven to eight hours. If--that was the crux. It was, of course, quite possible that it might come to bloody hand-to-hand fighting before all was done. There could be no doubt that the harbour authorities and perhaps also the military authorities, would come on board, as soon as we got in, to examine the ship and her papers. Their questions as to where we came from, and so forth, must be answered in such a way that they should have no desire to ask any more--that is to say, they must be rendered harmless; in case the Irish had not already provided for that. It was clear that, even with the greatest caution, something might leak out about our sudden arrival, and suspicious nocturnal operations. Casement himself had told me that even in Tralee there were a good many people of English sympathies. The town of Tralee lies about three miles from the harbour pier. The harbour proper, which is in a kind of outlying suburb, is called Fenit. Fenit is a small, insignificant harbour, which is connected with Tralee by a railway. This railway might be very awkward for us, for if an alarm was given in Fenit we should have to reckon on the arrival of the military within half an hour. For our main protection against them we should have to trust to the machine-guns which formed a portion of our cargo, packed in cases, ready for use. These must therefore be landed first of all. The men to serve the machine-guns ought to be standing ready on the quay. I made sure once more that the explosives and incendiary bombs were ready, and the German naval ensign was at hand. To make assurance doubly sure, I had two additional masses of explosive placed in the forward part of the ship, so that, if need be, nothing of my ship should be left. I then ordered, 'Hands wash and clean into No. 2's,' that is, to clean up, and put on uniform. Only our caps, which for the moment we could not put on, we hid where we could get at them easily. Over our uniform we pulled on our old Norwegian kit. Each man wore a dirk and pistol in his belt under his jacket.