THE O'FARRELLY FEUD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 May 1940, Page 10

THE O'FARRELLY FEUD

COPYRIGHT. PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

By

GEORGE A. BIRMINGHAM.

Author of “General John Regan,” “Up the Rebels,” etc., etc.

CHAPTER V. Mousie, far more civilised, the spirit of the savage huntress utterly dead in her, moved far more cautiously, trying the temperature of the water with outstretched foot. She would not have moved at all, if Daphne had not turned round from time to time to shout taunts or encouragement.

The tide had not yet ebbed far enough to leave the creek quite dry. The girls stood more than ankle deep when they reached the net. It was still very difficult to catch the fish which were darting about in the little water left them. Daphne, highly excited, plunged her net into the water and her arm with it, sometimes shoulder deep. Mousie, thoroughly frightened, stood helplessly holding the two baskets in her hands.

With a shout of triumph Daphne caught her first fish and held it aloft in the dripping landing net. Ronnie was like most Irishmen a sportsman at heart. The catching or killing of any living thing thrilled him. He was nearly as excited as Daphne, sc much excited tnat he forgot to keep watch for the coming of Peter O’Farrelly’s boat. It arrived unnoticed and the first knowledge Ronnie had of its coming was the sound of Peter O’Farrelly's voice.

“What's them ones doing there?”

Ronnie turned round and saw O’Farrelly with young Danny behind him. They were looking curiously, but so far without animosity, at the two girls.

“And who are they at all,” said O’Farrelly. “The one of them is her ladyship’s niece," said Ronnie, “and the other is a friend of hers staying at the Castle. As for what they are doing you can sec that for yourself. They're bathing.” It was unfortunate that at that very moment Daphne caught another fish. It was a particularly large one. With pride and joy she took it from the net and, thrusting her fingers into the gills, held it up for admiration before she dropped it into the basket which Mousie held out.

“It’s not bathing they are,” saic O’Farrelly. “It’s stealing my fish, and I’ll not have it. Do you hear now. I’ll not have it.”

Ronnie felt that the moment had arrived for a statement of ,what he hoped was the legal position. “Those aren't your fish," he said. "They're no more yours that they' are mine or anybody/else’s.

“They’re mine," said O’Farrelly, obstinately. “The fish in the sea,” said Ronnie, speaking, he hoped with judicial calm, “are the property of anyone who catches them. That’s what you’ve been saying to her ladyship for the last three months. You can't go back on it now.”

“Is that my not or is it not?" said O’Farrelly. “Tell me that.” "Its your net all right," said Ronnie. “If the young ladies were taking your net it would be a different matter. But they’re not. They're catching fish.” "My fish.,” said O’Farrelly.

You might say they were your fish if they were in your net,” said Ronnie. "But they’re not. Thai’s the whole point. You haven't a ghost of a legal claim on them. I might just as well say they're mine.”' The water was shallowing rapidly, and the fishing became easier. Daphne caught two more in quick succession, and dropped them into the baskets. Even Mousie seemed to be. enjoying herself. It was more than O’Farrelly could bear.

“Danny,” he said to his son, “let you step down into the water and take them fish from the young lady, and while you’re at it, you might as well take the landing net as well. I’ll put a stop to this work, so I will.” " As a rule Danny obeyed his father’s orders promptly for O’Farrelly was a father of an old-fashioned kind, a man who believed in the enforcement of discipline by means of physical pain. But this time he hesitated. “Get along with you now,” said O’Farrelly,. “Is it afraid of a slip of a girl you are?” It was an unjust taunt. Danny was not in the least afraid of any girl, and would have enjoyed taking the fish from Mousie. He had quite another reason for not obeying. It happened that owing to what is fair wear and tear, Danny’s everyday clothes were in bad need of mending. His mother had discovered this that very morning. She took the clothes, dressing the boy in his Sunday suit and sent him forth with his father charged to be very careful how he treated those garments. And Mrs O’Farrelly was as sound a disciplinarian as O’Farrelly himself. Her blows were as hard as his were, and she had a trick of finding particularly tender places when she struck. “Is it walk into Hie sea .villi my best clothes on me?" said Danny. Tom O’Farrelly hesitated. He too had been warned to be careful of the Sunday clothes, and his respect for his wife's tongue was nearly as great as Danny's for her arm. Daphne caught two more fish. This decided O’Farrelly If his wife's anger must be faced, he would face it. “You must take your clothes off or you may keep them on." he said. "Bui unless you're in the water and taking the fish from tliat young lady, in the inside of one minute, you'll be sorry for yourself afterwards." At this point Ronnie intervened. He cared nothing for Danny’s clothes, or the possible anger of Mrs O’Farrelly, but he thought he saw a way of frightening O’Farrelly. “It’s robbery with violence if you take those fish," he said, "and the penalty for (hat is— —" But Peter O’Farrelly was careless of penalties, and he believed that the fish were rightly his. “Are you going to do as you are bid, or are you not?’ lie said to Danny.

Danny's position was a difficult one

He was afraid of his father. He was also afraid of his mother. Into the water he must go. Spoil his clothes he dare not. And, like most boys he was physically modest.

Like many of the world's greatest men he solved his problem by a compromise. He took off his shoes and his socks, his coat and shirt. Then, still wearing ms trousers he entered the. water and waded out towards Daphne. Almost at once he stepped into an unusually deep pool and found himself waist deep in water. “The minimum penalty,” said Ronnie “mind I say the minimum, which means the very least a judge can give you—the minimum penalty for robbery with violence is five years hard labour without the option of a fine. And most judges nowadays throw a flogging in with the sentence, when the offence is committed against girls.” Ronnie hoped that he was right about this, but was not at all sure. It is a. very long time since anyone in Ireland has been prosecuted for this offence. And a lawyer might be forgiven for not knowing what the penalty is.

"Damn the penalty,' 1 said Peter O’Farrelly. "Get along with you, Danny. What are you waiting for?” Quinn, with his lifebuoy, had been slowly approaching the place where Rennie and O’Farrelly were talking. Like all good servants he was unwilling to push nimself forward or to take part in any discussion unless actually invited. But the sight of Danny taking off his clothes was too much for him. He came forward as fast as his rheumatic legs would carry him. "Mr O’Farrelly, Mr O’Farrelly,” he said. "I'm ashamed of you. It's sorry I am to say it to a man who's chairman of the District Council. But I'm ashamed of you. You with a wife of your own and a young family growing up. I'd never have thought you'd have been guilty of indecent conduct.”

“Indecent conduct!” Me!” cried O’Farrelly with surrpise. and indignation!

An accusation of indecency is almost unbearable to any Irishman. Peter O’Farrelly resented it hotly. Indeed it was almost the only accusation he would have resented at all. He did not in the least mind being told that he was guilty of robbery with violence. During the great days of the war against England he had. or said he had. shot two policemen and often boasted of his feat of arms. At the bottom ot his hatred of Lady Margaret lay the recollection that after taking the deputy lieutenant’s uniform from him she had compelled him to walk home in his shirt, a costume so inadequate as to be indecent.

“I’m not indecent and never was,” he said. “What do you mean by putting that on me. Wheres the indecency of taking the fish that belongs to me?” “It’s indecent,’ said Quinn, "to be standing on tne shore looking at two ladies and them bathing." In no other part of the British Isles is it considered anything but right and proper for a man to watch girls bathing; but civilisation comes slowly to the extreme west of Ireland and the people there have old-fashioned ideas on many subjects. They still think that girls, if they bathe at all, ought to do so in privacy unwatched by men. But Quinn had more to say and went on remorselessly. “And as if that wasn’t enough,” he said. “You’re sending a young lad into the water to speak to the young ladies and him mother naked.”

Here, O’Farrelly, feeling the injustice of the accusation, attempted a defence. “He’s not naked,” he said. “He has his trousers on. him.”

“He may nave or he may not," said Quinn. "I’ve only your word for that." Danny was still standing up to his waist in the water of the pool. It was impossible to tell by looking at him whether he had trousers on or not. "For all the young ladies can see,” said Quinn, “he might never have had a pair of trousers on him since he was born. If it gets about in Ballycon that you’re guilty of the like, it won’t be chairman of tne Council you'll be for very long."

"If you put it that way— —” said O’Farrelly doubtfully. Ronnie, ever quick to seize an opportunity, spoke calmly in support of Quinn.

"He does put it that way, and so do I, and so will any respectable man and woman in the country. And what’s more it’s the way your wife will put it, as you know very well.” This was too much for O’Farrelly. He might, though unwillingly have faced public opinion. The fear of the opinion at his own fireside overwhelmed him. "Danny," said O’Farrelly. "Come out of that .and put your clothes on you again.” Then he turned to Ronnie. '’You’ve got the better of me this time, lie said. "But. believe me, it won t be for long. The next time 1 set that net, I’ll get my own fish, the fish tliat belongs to me, and neither you nor your young ladies will be robbing me, the way you did today.” (To be Continued).