to Mr. Stacpoole I
quickly discover that the real reason why he is now alive is that
ninety-nine out of a hundred of his enemies are as afraid of him as
the Glenveagh folk up in Donegal are of Mr. J.G. Adair. Brave and
resolute to a fault, he has openly declared his dislike for what is
called "protection." "But," he observes, quietly and simply, "I always
carry my large-bore revolver, and I never walk alone, even across the
path to look down at the lake. Whenever I go out, and wherever I go, I
have a trustworthy man with me carrying a double-barrelled gun. His
orders are distinct. If anybody fires at me he is not to look at me,
but let me lie, and kill the man who fired the shot. And I am not sure
that if he saw an armed man near me in a suspicious attitude that he
wouldn't shoot first. I most certainly will myself. If I catch any of
them armed and lurking about here near my house, I will kill them, and
they know it."

There was no appearance of emotion in the speaker, whose collection of
threatening letters is large and curious. His position was clearly
defined. There was no longer any law in Clare. It was everybody for
himself, and he would take care of himself in his own way. Mr.
Stacpoole's situation is certainly extraordinary. He is not an
"exterminator," but perhaps he is a "tyrant," for everybody is
considered one who tries to exact obedience from any created being in
the west of Ireland. He has incurred the ill-will of the popular
party, mainly through his debate with one Welsh, or Walsh, a small
farmer.

So far as it is possible to understand the matter, this Welsh and two
other persons held a farm of about fifty acres among them as
co-tenants, paying each one-third of the rent. Whether Welsh had
reclaimed bog and increased his store is not clear, but it is certain
that when the lease fell in he had about half of the farm and the
other two tenants the other half between them.

Moreover, the land was not "striped" in blocks, but remained in
awkward patches, so that each man was obliged to cross the other's
land, and perpetual squabbling occurred. So when the question of a new
lease arose, Mr. Stacpoole sent a surveyor to divide the holding into
three equal shares as justly and conveniently as might be with
reference to the tenants' houses. This was done, the land was
re-valued at 12s. 6d. per acre, the tenants preferring to hold it
without a lease. Thus two were pleased and one displeased by the new
arrange