In another far-distant and remote field of operations, the German protectorate of the Cameroons, West Africa, a scion of the same stock of Irish gentry likewise achieves glory, leading blacks against blacks led by Germans. There the hero is Captain John Fitzharding Paul Butler, of the famous Butlers of Ormond, Tipperary, attached to the Pioneer Company, Gold Coast Regiment, West African Frontier Force. "On November 17th, 1914," says the record, "with a party of thirteen men, he went into the thick brush and attacked the enemy, in strength about one hundred, including several Europeans, defeated them and captured their machine-guns, and many loads of ammunition. On December 27th, 1914, when on patrol duty with a few men, he swam the Ekan River, which was held by the enemy, completed his reconnaissance on the further bank, and returned in safety. Two of his men were wounded while he was actually in the water." Bald as the story is, thus officially told, it kindles the imagination, and we can picture the wild and hazardous life led by this adventurous Irishman in that mysterious land of mountain and forest. The Brookes of Colebrooke have been settled in Fermanagh since the time of Queen Elizabeth. If you look through Burke's "Peerage and Baronetage" you will see that in every generation the family have given sons to the Army and Navy. Lieutenant J.A.O. Brooke (grandson of the late Sir Arthur Brinsley Brooke of Colebrooke, baronet), 2nd Gordon Highlanders, has crowned the martial reputation of the family by winning the Victoria Cross. Near Gheluvelt, on October 29th, 1914, he led two attacks on the German trenches under heavy rifle and machine-gun fire, and regained a lost trench at a very critical time. He was killed at the moment of success. "By his marked coolness and promptitude on this occasion," says the official record, "Lieutenant Brooke prevented the enemy from breaking through our line at a time when a general counter-attack could not have been organised." Two Victoria Crosses have thus been won for the Gordon Highlanders by Irishmen--Drummer Kenny and Lieutenant Brooke. CHAPTER XII "FOR VALOUR" STORIES OF OTHER V.C.'S, INCLUDING MICHAEL O'LEARY, WHO UPHELD IRELAND'S TRADITION OF GALLANTRY In order to be able rightly to appreciate the honour and glory of the Victoria Cross, it is necessary to know the conditions regulating its bestowal. A tradition has been established in the Services, though there is nothing in the institution of the Victoria Cross really to warrant it, that the decoration is to be given only for a deed not done under orders. The deed must be a signal one in every respect--exceptionally daring, and difficult, of the highest military value, particularly in the saving of life, and, with all this, absolutely voluntary.