Produced by David Widger THE NORTHERN IRON By George A. Birmingham Dublin: Maunsel & Co., Limited 1907 TO FRANCIS JOSEPH BIGGER, ARDRIGH, BELFAST. _My Dear Bigger,_ _This story, as you have already guessed, is the fruit of a recent holiday spent in County Antrim. The writing of it has been a great pleasure, for almost every place mentioned in it recalls the goodness of the friends who received me and made my holiday a happy one. I think of kind people when I write of Dunseveric and Ballintoy--of hours spent in their company among the Runkerry cliffs, the sandhills, the Skerries, and of the morning on which I swam, like Neal and Una, into the Rock Pigeons’ Cave, I remember a time--full of interest and delight--spent with you when I mention Donegore, Antrim, and Temple-Patrick. My mind dwells on an older, a very dear friend and relative, when I tell of Neal’s visit to Belfast. And the book is more than the recollection of a summer holiday. I go back in it to my own country--to places familiar to me in boyhood as the mountains and bays of Mayo are now; to days very long ago, when I caught cuddings and lithe off the Black Rock or Rackle Roy and learned to swim in the Blue Pool at Port Ballintrae. Yet I know that I could not, for all that I remembered of my boyhood or learned during my holiday, have written this story without your help. You told me what I wanted to know, you corrected, patiently, my manuscript, and you have helped me to enter into the spirit of the time. For all this I owe you many thanks, and if I have succeeded in writing a story which interests my readers they, too, will owe you thanks._ _I have tried to be faithful to the facts of history and to represent the thoughts and feelings of the men who took part in the_ “Out, unhappy far off things And battles long ago,” _of which I chose to write. Most of my characters are purely imaginary. Of the men who really lived and acted in 1798 only one--James Hope--appears prominently in my story. In his case I have taken pains to understand what manner of man he was before I wrote of him, and I believe that, feeble though my presentation of his character may be, you will not find it actually untruthful._ _I am your friend,_ _GEORGE A. BIRMINGHAM._ THE NORTHERN IRON CHAPTER I