I was staying with Father Dan Kelly, Senior, at Menlo Park, when a cable reached me from Ireland asking me to return at once. This message was the outcome of an agreement made between the rival sections in Limerick, an agreement which averted a conflict. Within two days of the receipt of this cablegram I had left California for Chicago. There I again stayed for a few days with my relatives and friends. From Chicago I went to Philadelphia where I got the same warm greeting from Joe McGarrity, Luke Dillon and the O’Dohertys. We had decided that New York would be the best place from which to attempt a passage to Ireland, for of course Hogan and I were still confronted with the same difficulties regarding money and passports as we had experienced on our outward journey. We could easily have got passports from the British Consulate if we had asked them as British subjects, but we would rather have rotted in America. While in New York we visited the Carmelite Fathers’ place in 39th Street, and also the Irish Offices in 5th Avenue, where I met Liam Pedlar. At last, through the help of some Irish friends, both of us got taken on a vessel that was sailing for Cobh. We were working our way as stokers. Sean and I set to our work with a will, and had done four hours at a task which was novel to us. The vessel was to sail within an hour, when somebody got suspicious of Hogan. He was questioned as to his nationality, his experience on other vessels, and the result was that he was ordered to leave the ship on the spot. Now this was a nice dilemma for me. I saw our four hours’ hard work and all our efforts to secure the jobs gone for nothing; but I could not think of leaving Hogan alone in New York without a cent, in his pocket. I made up my mind that I would not sail without him. But it was no easy matter to escape from the ship. The crew were marshalled for the voyage, and to attempt to return to land was a serious offence, for which I might find myself in irons. The risk had to be taken. I made a bold bid. I walked straight to the gangway, but was held up by an officer. I explained to him that I had important business to do on shore but would not be detained longer than a few minutes. He must have taken me to be a simple harmless poor worker, for he accepted my word and allowed me to land. I never saw him or his ship afterwards. The loss was not all on his side. All the money we had the night before we intended to sail had been invested in guns, and these were on the ship. It would be madness to try to bring them with me, so I had to suffer the loss. My comrade was more to me than Krupp’s factory. We had a few more bitter disappointments before we could again get on a liner. Finally we found ourselves on the high seas once more, sailing for Cobh. We landed in Ireland early in April. A friend to whom my wife had wired to meet me at Cobh brought me the happy news that not only my wife but a son was waiting my arrival in Dublin. CHAPTER XXVII.