Lord Lieutenant's pardon for you
wavin' in the distance; and listen again, remember Willy Reilly;" and
with these words he launched him into eternity.

The uproar among his friends was immense, as was the cheering from the
general crowd, at the just fate of this bad man. The former rushed to
the gallows, in order to cut him down, with a hope that life might
still be in him, a process which the sheriff, after perusing his pardon,
permitted them to carry into effect. The body was accordingly taken
into the prison, and a surgeon procured to examine it; but altogether
in vain; his hour had gone by, life was extinct, and all the honor they
could now pay Sir Robert Whitecraft was to give him a pompous funeral,
and declare him a martyr to Popery both of which they did.

On the day previous to Reilly's departure his humble friend and
namesake, Fergus, at the earnest solicitation of Reilly himself, was
permitted to pay him a last melancholy visit. After his sentence,
as well as before it, every attention had been paid to him by
O'Shaughnessy, the jailer, who, although an avowed Protestant, and a
brand plucked from the burning, was, nevertheless, a lurking Catholic at
heart, and felt a corresponding sympathy with his prisoner. When
Fergus entered his cell he found him neither fettered nor manacled, but
perfectly in the enjoyment at least of bodily freedom. It is impossible,
indeed, to say how far the influence of money may have gone in securing
him the comforts which surrounded him, and the attentions which he
received. On entering his cell, Fergus was struck by the calm and
composed air with which he received him. His face, it is true, was paler
than usual, but a feeling of indignant pride, if not of fixed but stern
indignation, might be read under the composure into which he forced
himself, and which he endeavored to suppress. He approached Fergus,
and extending his hand with a peculiar smile, very difficult to be
described, said:

"Fergus, I am glad to see you; I hope you are safe--at least I have
heard so."

"I am safe, sir, and free," replied Fergus; "thanks to the Red Rapparee
and the sheriff for it."

"Well," proceeded Reilly, "you have one comfort--the Red Rapparee will
neither tempt you nor trouble you again; but is there no danger of his
gang taking up his quarrel and avenging him?"

"His gang, sir? Why, only for me he would a' betrayed every man of
them to Whitecraft and the Government, and had them hanged, dra