Redemption - Leon Uris [112]
Conor himself had come to within a hair of stopping the shipment in England, but once they got to Ireland, the Brotherhood had to get them unloaded. Until Duffy’s call Conor had a growing suspicion that only a miracle could deliver the guns, but he kept it to himself.
All the last night he lay awake holding Shelley, not thinking of Sixmilecross the next night, but trying to remember each time he had loved her and how the miracle of it always sent them to a new and different place.
It did not matter whether or not they had had enough time together, for a hundred years would not have been enough.
Shelley, Shelley, Shelley, don’t be foolish. I pray you don’t be foolish. I don’t want to come back from Sixmilecross if you aren’t alive. There are those in Belfast who hate our love so, your life would be taken if you stay.
It is unbearable enough to realize I may not hold you for five or ten years or maybe never again. But if you die…oh God…
Dawn, never come, dawn!
I cannot let myself believe, Shelley thought, I may never know him again. I must make a good show for him. Conor, my beloved, realize that I was born only for one thing…the moments I have had with you…and none of the rest matters tuppence. How can I have asked more? How could anyone?
Don’t you understand, Conor Larkin, your girl is filled and she is not afraid.
The power of their dawn was known implicitly and need not be spoken. A few instructions; take the pistol, use it if your life is in danger, go to Dublin immediately, stay there.
No use saying the rest of it now, was there?
IRISH REPUBLICAN BROTHERHOOD GUNRUNNING
OPERATION SMASHED BY AMBUSH AT SIXMILECROSS—
1 KILLED, 4 WOUNDED, 7 IN CUSTODY, 1,000 RIFLES
RECOVERED FROM PRIVATE TRAIN OF ULSTER INDUSTRIALIST SIR FREDERICK WEED. RINGLEADER
CAPTURED
DUBLIN, AUGUST 10, REUTERS—Acting on inside information, troops from the Londonderry Barracks rode aboard the Red Hand Express, the famous private train of Belfast shipbuilder and steel magnate, Sir Frederick Weed.
Destined for a rendezvous to unload smuggled rifles, the train was heading to the quiet lay-by of Sixmilecross, County Tyrone, in mid-Ulster.
Arriving at three minutes past midnight, they ambushed a waiting party of eight members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
The train was filled with sharpshooters from the 22nd West Anglicans. In addition, Ulster Militia and Constabulary forces had surrounded the entire area. Overwhelmed, there was only light resistance from the smugglers.
D. E. Dunkerlee, spokesman for His Majesty’s Press Office in Dublin Castle, issued the following statement:
“Additional arrests have been made in England of members of the ring. Taken into custody were Owen O’Sullivan and his sons Brian and Barry, proprietors of the O’Sullivan Bell and Foundry Works in Merseyside, Liverpool.
“Also arrested was Mr. Dudley Callaghan, a Bradford mortician and operator of a funeral home on Wild Boar Road. Callaghan is known to have run a business in shipping home Irish bodies for burial.”
Details of the gunrunning operation were slow in coming out of Dublin Castle but by all appearances the rifles, standard British Army issued Enfields, originated in England and probably were smuggled aboard the Red Hand Express for trans-shipment to Belfast.
“This is obviously the work of a highly organized and highly skilled unit of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and, from all appearances, has been in effect for several months,” Dunkerlee concluded.
DUBLIN CASTLE DENIES GUNRUNNERS WERE IRISH
REPUBLICAN BROTHERHOOD—RINGLEADER, CONOR
LARKIN, NOTED RUGBY HERO NAMED—SIR FREDERICK
WEED ENRAGED
DUBLIN, AUGUST 11, REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS—Dublin Castle today recanted yesterday’s release that the Sixmilecross Gang “was a highly organized and highly skilled unit of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.”
D. E. Dunkerlee, spokesman for His Majesty’s Press Office in Dublin Castle, briefed