TALES OF THE R.I.C. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TALES OF THE R.I.C. William Blackwood and Sons Edinburgh and London 1921 _ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS PAGE I. THE INFORMER 1 II. ON THE RUN 20 III. THE LANDING OF ARMS 37 IV. THE RED CROSS 54 V. THE R.M. 69 VI. AN OUTLAW 79 VII. THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES 97 VIII. MR BRIGGS’ ISLAND 108 IX. THE REWARD OF LOYALTY 120 X. POTEEN 137 XI. THE MAYOR’S CONSCIENCE 152 XII. A BRUTAL MURDER 166 XIII. SEAL ISLAND 176 XIV. A FAMILY AFFAIR 191 XV. THE AMERICAN NURSE 208 XVI. FATHER JOHN 223 XVII. THE BOG CEMETERY 236 XVIII. A JEW IN GAELIC CLOTHING 253 XIX. MOUNTAIN WARFARE 262 XX. THE GREAT ROUND UP 281 XXI. THE TRUCE 300 TALES OF THE R.I.C. [Illustration] I. THE INFORMER. In many parts of the west of Ireland one finds small mountain farms of from five to twenty acres, generally consisting of twenty-five per cent rock, twenty-five per cent heather, and the remainder of indifferent grass-land. On such a farm a peasant will rear a large family, and how it is done is one of the mysteries of Ireland; but done it is, and often. Patsey Mulligan was one of a family of ten, brought up on one of these farms until he was seventeen, when his father told him that it was time he thought of keeping himself, and, incidentally, of earning some money for his mother. Patsey quite agreed with his father, but soon found that it was much easier to talk of getting work in such a poor district as Cloonalla than to get it.