with whom he had a conversation on the telephone from Dublin, met him at the railway station in Belfast and told him that he had a motor waiting to take him to Craigavon, where the Council was expecting him, and that he would see Mr. Sam Kelly, the owner of the Balmerino, there also.  This news made Crawford very angry.  He accused his friend of breach of confidence in letting anyone know that he was coming to Belfast; he declared he would have nothing to do with the Council after the unsigned orders he had received at Lundy; and he besought his friend to take his car to Craigavon and bring back Kelly, repeating his determination to bring in his cargo, even if he had to run his ship ashore to do so.  Mr. Cowser replied that this would be very disappointing to Sir Edward Carson, who was waiting for Crawford at Craigavon, having come from London on purpose for this Council Meeting.  “What!” exclaimed Crawford, “is Sir Edward there?  Why did you not say so at once?  Where is your car?  Let us waste no time till I see the Chief and report to him.”

That evening of the 14th of April, at Craigavon, was a memorable one for all who were present at the meeting.  Carson invited Crawford to relate all he had done, and to explain how he proposed to proceed.  The latter did not mince matters in saying what he thought of the Lundy instructions, which he again declared angrily he intended to disobey.  When he had finished his narrative and his protestations against what he considered a cowardly policy—­a policy that would deprive Ulster of succour as sorely needed as Derry needed the Mountjoy to break the boom—­Carson put a few questions to him in regard to the feasibility of his plans.  Crawford explained the advantage it would be to transfer the cargo from the Fanny to a local steamer, which he felt confident he could bring into Larne, and after the transhipment he would send the Fanny straight back to the Baltic, where she could settle her account with the Danish authorities and recover her papers.

Some members of the Council were sceptical about the possibility of transhipping the cargo at sea, but Crawford, who had fully discussed it with Agnew, believed that if favoured by calm weather it could be done.  When Carson, after hearing all that was to be said on both sides in the long debate between Fabius and Hotspur, finally supported the latter, the question was decided.  There was no split—­there never was in these deliberations in Ulster; those whose judgment was overruled always supported loyally the policy decided upon.

Immediate measures were then taken to give effect to the decision.  Kelly knew of a suitable craft, the s.s. Clydevalley, for sale at that moment in Glasgow, which would be in Belfast next morning with a cargo of coal.  This was providential.  A collier familiar to every longshoreman in Belfast Lough, carrying on her usual trade this week, could hardly be suspected of carrying rifles when she returned