Priscilla. "I wish you wouldn't."

"No," said Miss Rutherford, "I didn't Honour bright! They'd gone before
I got there. The people on the island said they packed up early this
morning and when they saw Flanagan passing in his new boat they hailed
him and got him to take them off."

"Wasn't that the boat we saw just now?" said Frank.

"Yes," said Priscilla. "Frightfully annoying, isn't it?"

"Never mind," said Miss Rutherford. "I know where they're gone. The
people on the island told me. To Inishminna. Wasn't Inishminna the name,
Jimmy?"

"It was, Miss."

"Climb on board," said Priscilla. "That is to say if you want to come.
We must be after them at once. We'll follow Flanagan. Jimmy can row
through Craggeen passage and pick you up afterwards."

Miss Rutherford tumbled from her own boat into the _Tortoise_.

"Thanks awfully," she said. "I want to see you arrest those spies more
than anything."

"They're not spies," said Priscilla.

"We never really thought they were," said Frank.

"The truth is----" said Priscilla.

She stopped abruptly and looked round. Jimmy Kinsella was some distance
astern heading for Craggeen. He appeared to be quite out of earshot.
Nevertheless Priscilla lowered her voice to a whisper.

"We're on an errand of mercy," she said.

"Oh," said Miss Rutherford, "not vengeance. I'm disappointed."

"Mercy is a much nicer thing," said Priscilla, "besides being more
Christian."

"All the same," said Miss Rutherford, "I'm disappointed. Vengeance is
far more exciting."

"To a certain extent," said Priscilla, "we're taking vengeance too.
At least Frank is, on account of his ankle you know. So you needn't be
disappointed."

"That cheers me up a little," said Miss Rutherford, "but do explain."

"It's quite simple really," said Priscilla. "Though it may seem a little
complicated. You explain, Cousin Frank, and be sure to begin at the
beginning or she won't understand."

"Lord Torrington," said Frank, "is Secretary of State for War, and his
daughter, Lady Isabel--but perhaps I'd better tell you first that as I
was coming over to Ireland I met----"

"'Now who be ye would cross Lochgyle," said Priscilla, waving her hands
towards the sea, "'this dark and stormy water?'"

"'Oh I'm the chief of Ulva's Isle, and this Lord Ullin's daughter.' You
know that poem, I suppose."

"I've known it for years," said Miss Rutherford.

"Well, thats it," said Priscilla. "You have the whole thing now."