"Will no one help me to secure a thief and robber? Ha! Mr. Hasset!"

"Lewy-Oh! Lewy-darling, must it be this way with

us?"

"Let go your hold!"

"Help! help! for justice"

Before another instant Aylmer lay senseless on the earth; and in the same space a well directed blow from behind had done the same rough office for Lewy.

"Shasthone! Sandy Culhane, stick by the master!" "Aisy, av you plaze!" cried Sandy, after he had fixed a similar gripe on the sheep-stealer's throat to that which his young master had been so unceremoniously compelled to relinquish: "Wasn't it in high time I come?—Mr. Hasset, here's your prisoner".

"What has he done?

"Pon my life that's more than I can tell-only it's something, no doubt, and the master to seize him : stand a one side, some o' ye, and let us rise him a little-therepooh! it's nothen. What is it the villian's done to you, Master Will, darling? Mr. Hasset wants to know

"Better ask questions within-keep both these men in custody-and remove the young gentleman into the house; he does not appear conscious yet".

"He isn't himself rightly, sure enough; for the eye do be shutting and opening upon me as if it was blind-mark. Indeed I'm but a poor hand at a kippen in a fight, and to say that born rogue is able to walk already", as he observed the younger prisoner led off without much assistance, together with his companion, toward the house.

The orders of the magistrate were put in execution, and Aylmer, still half stupefied from the effects of his hurt, though not seriously injured, was assisted to the house by two of the domestics.

It was long before Aylmer had sufficiently recovered himself to identify the mountain marauder, and to explain

to the wondering administrator of petty justice the cause and manner of the extraordinary scene which had passed before him.

"And it was by Mr. Fitzmaurice's good will that you came to lodge informations this way again' me, was it?" said the sheep-stealer, when Aylmer had concluded.

"He certainly will not be sorry to hear that a thief has been brought to justice".

"Justice, inagh? O it's justice Cahill is looking after, is it? Why, then, the Vergin speed him,-and tell him from me that he'll come by more of it than he's bargaining for, may be ".

"What do you mean, ruffian ?"

"Is it asking me what I mane you are? Aisy. Tell Cahill-cruv-darug, that Lewy Histin, Vauria Histin's first cousin, that is rearing her this way, said it 'll be a sore day for him the day that Lewy enters Tralee gaol, barring he doesn't enter it at all, on his informations ".

"You may be very well satisfied that insolence like this will do you no good with my friend".

"May be not, then. Only you asked me fot I meant, you see, and I told you plain out. Tell Cahill I said, fot hurt was it to draw the blood of a little wether, in comparishun of an old friend's?—And see if Cahill will ask you what I mane, do".

As Aylmer was turning away with an expression of disgust, the prisoner seemed suddenly to call something to mind, and plunging his rough hand into the pocket of his frieze, drew from it a dingy piece of paper, folded and wafered like a letter, which, after sundry efforts to rub it white again with the sleeve of his coat, a process which by no means improved its appearance, he handed to the gentleman. Notwithstanding its piteous condition, Aylmer was able to recognize the letter which he had received from the unknown stranger in the mountains, and the re

cognition became immediately manifest on his countenance. It did not escape the observation of the prisoner.

"Aye-it's the very same, indeed. You left it in the old Caroline as it was drying before the fire, and you see how honest and safe I kep it, although 'tis unknown to me whether there baint a halter for meself within in it ".

The magistrate, who had been, during the above conversation, buried alive in a digest, now broke in upon it, to declare his conviction of the sufficiency of the evidence to warrant a committal. This was made out accordingly, and Aylmer, declining a handsome invitation to stay the evening, returned the often neglected letter to his pocket, without even looking at its superscription, and prepared to depart. "You'll not forget to take my words to Mr. Fitzmaurice, sir?" said the sheep-stealer.

"I shall tell him what you have said, as you seem to desire it, although I think it would be better for yourself that I should be silent on the subject".

"Not at all, indeed!—O, no. Do you mark my words for it, Cahill will say 'yes' to my bidding; and a wise man he'll be when he says that. If he won't say it, come to me again, and I'll tell you a story that it concerns your father's child to hear".

The few sentences which had been dropt in the mountain-hut by the prisoner and his female companion, now recurred to Aylmer's mind; and as he proceeded along, on his way homeward (accompanied by Sandy Culhane), the uncertain and uneasy feeling of mingled anger, fear, and curiosity, excited as it had since been by the scene of the evening before, pressed itself upon him with an almost irresistible force. Fully convinced as he was that the threats and insinuations of the man originated in mere malice, he could not yet restrain the ardent, and, to himself, unaccountable longing which he felt to search the matter to the very heart, and pluck the plain truth from its hiding-place. Although he had not yet

thought long enough upon the subject to encourage even a shadow of momentary suspicion, the misty and uncertain doubts which he had flung from him with indignation on their first occurrence, now crowded back upon his mind, and tortured his imagination with vague and cloudy apprehensions of some approaching horror, while his excited fancy wasted itself in idle efforts to discover what that horror could be.

As he approached the house, the appearance of a muff and bonnet at a little distance directed his meditations into another channel. He dismounted, gave his horse to Sandy, who looked a volume of wit and prophecy, as he saw his young master vault over the stile, and run along the walk towards his mistress. He leaned with his arm across the saddle for a few moments, and continued with mouth expanded, and smiling, gazing in the direction of the youthful couple, whom he had already paired together by anticipation in "the incommunicable tie". Aylmer ran for some time before he overtook Miss Fitzmaurice; she had the coquetry to quicken her pace as he approached, and at last feigned a fair flight, which gave opportunity to a world of laughing, romping, and adjusting of pelerine and tresses, when she was overtaken. Then there was a pretty battle about accepting his arm; she drew her little white hand from the muff, and with a sweet shrinking of the frame, as she felt the cold air, plunged it again into its warm nestling-place, from which, however, she was finally induced to withdraw it, and submit to her fate with the air of a martyr. None of these manœuvres, delicate and fine-drawn as the sentiment was in which they originated, were lost on Sandy.

"Isn't it 'cute she is, then, for all?" he muttered in soliloquy, as the lovers, arm in arm, glided off and disappeared in a turning of the walk. "E'then, do, look

away", he continued, addressing the horse, whose eyes happened to be turned in the same direction, and pat

ting the animal on the face, "indeed it's no use for you to be throwing the eye after them. 'Tis to Bally-Aylmer she'll be going before long, mistress of yourself, and meself, and all belongen to us, my hand and word to you, ma copuleen beg". And flinging himself lazily over the back of the animal, he turned off in the direction of the avenue, quickening his pace a little as the lengthening shadows, cast by the hedge-rows across the plain, gave intimation of the approaching nightfall, for Sandy had no wish to be overtaken by darkness on his way, in a country so haunted as his was with smugglers, peep-o'-day boys, fairies, ghosts, headless equipages, and revenue officers. This excessive precaution may not appear to coincide with the account given of Sandy's prowess in the forenoon; but the fact was, that as there are many men who endeavour to conceal conscious timidity beneath the affectation of nonchalance and braggadocio, so Sandy, on the contrary, was gifted with a much hardier temperament than he himself believed, or was willing to allow. His general anxiety to avoid danger was not merely assumed, but it was never suffered to be evident except in circumstances where no real peril existed. He was naturally nervous, and fond of quiet; but when once convinced that promptitude and exertion were absolutely necessary to his personal safety, or to that of any other individual in whom he was interested, he seemed by a sudden impulse to start into a totally different being, and many instances were recorded of his heroic prowess, while under the influence of these chronic affections of valour, which would not have been unworthy the most daring spirit in the neighbourhood. Sandy, however, was by no means vain-glorious, and dreading above all things a reputation for valour, on account of the many troubles he feared it might induce, he invariably disclaimed in his cooler moments all merit for that which he had performed, as he believed under the impulse of some supernatural agencv.