skipper could find no mention of it in the manifest and thought the
Customs House gentlemen must have been dreaming; they, on the other
hand, threatened to seize the ship if the box did not materialise, and
were told to do so at their peril. But exactly off Ballycastle, which
had been passed while the officials were poorly, there was a float in
the sea attached to a line, which in due course led to the recovery of a
case of valuable property that was none the worse for a few hours' rest
on the bottom of the Moyle.

Qualities of a different sort were called into play in negotiating the
purchase of machine-guns from Messrs. Vickers & Co., at Woolwich. Here a
strong American accent, combined with the providential circumstance that
Mexico happened to be in the grip of revolutionary civil war, overcame
all difficulties, and Mr. John Washington Graham, U.S.A. (otherwise Fred
H. Crawford of Belfast) played his part so effectively that he did not
fail to finish the deal by extracting a handsome commission for himself,
which found its way subsequently to the coffers of the Ulster Unionist
Council. But he compensated the Company by making a suggestion for
improving the mechanism of the Maxim-gun which the great ordnance
manufacturers permanently adopted without having to pay for any patent
rights.

Major Crawford was, however, by no means the only person who was at this
time bringing arms and ammunition into Ulster, which, as already
explained, although not illegal, could not be safely done openly on a
large scale. Ammunition in small quantities dribbled into Belfast pretty
constantly, many amateur importers deriving pleasurable excitement from
feeling themselves conspirators, and affording amusement to others by
the tales told of the ingenious expedients resorted to by the smugglers.