“An’ phatever was’t that ye gave me for whisky, last night? I’m half in the belafe that, to get out of sendin’ the men to do me biddin’, ye tried to poison me!”—adding: “I niver felt so quare in my head in all me life!” “Deil a bit of poison was there in it! The whisky was the very best! You must have mixed your drinks after comin’ to the Plane!” It was of no avail for the operative to be angry with Callaghan, as he would make nothing by it. Therefore, leaving word with the Bodymaster to send his men over when they were ready, McKenna proceeded to Shenandoah. There he found a great excitement prevailing over two fires that had occurred the previous night, one at Excelsior Colliery, already spoken of, the other being the burning of the railway signal tower at Mahanoy Plane. Not much was said about the Secretary’s failure to secure the two men from Callaghan, as Garvey had returned the night before, very much under the influence of liquor, reporting McKenna as on the road drunk, without the Mollies sent for, and as Gibbons had been no more successful, having failed entirely. Thus the Secretary was once more excused for being intoxicated when intrusted with urgent business. Hurley, Doyle, Monaghan, and Gibbons had lain in wait for Gomer James, however, the second morning, and he had not made his appearance as expected. The operative was more easy in his mind, as he knew that, through Capt. Linden, or some other person, James must surely have received warning to keep himself continually under protection, out of harm’s way. A few days later, Hurley related how he and the others had, on one occasion, gone out to fix Gomer James, and he, Hurley, was armed with a rifle. They lay out nearly all night, hoping to see and catch him, and had Monaghan done the right thing, they would have killed the Welshman, as he actually passed their ambush, the ex-constable failing to inform them who he was until too late. As it chanced, Doyle had his pistol leveled at him, but was prevented from shooting by Garvey, who said he might be hitting an innocent man. [Illustration: “_When ready, the lucky man was concealed from view._”] At another time, the young Welshman arrived when Gibbons, Hurley, Cooney, Garvey, Doyle, Monaghan, Finnell, and Thompson, all armed, were waiting for him. Still he traversed the road in safety. Hurley would have dropped him at a venture, only he was just loading the rifle at the time. When ready, the lucky man was concealed from view. “Well, what are you going to do now?” inquired the operative. “We are sure to get him yet!” answered Hurley. “But first let us go and see some cousins of the man, Cosgrove. If they will come down with more money, then we can return here, and if the rest all back out, I’ll do the job on my own private account! I suppose you’ll lend a hand?” This to McKenna. “Oh, yes! That’s all right!” responded the Secretary, approvingly. So money _was_ at the bottom of it.