in the Atlantic. It was really a
spectacle full of grandeur and of awe, and we remained enjoying it till
the last ray of the sun ceased to glimmer on the distant waters.

At that hour, we were well assured, many a brain was busy, and many an
eye set to discover our retreat. By the side of the public
thoroughfares, on great bridges, and frequented cross-roads, detective
vigilance kept sleepless watch, and fancied in every approaching form,
the doomed victims, who were at once to satisfy the angry gallows and
its own excited avarice. Equally well assured were we that the most
inventive and hazardous scrutiny would never track our footsteps to the
dizzy height of Carn-Tuathail. One motive with us was to baffle all
calculation on the part of our pursuers. When we found we were tracked
and discovered, our first care was to consider how our enemies would be
likely to judge respecting our future movements. If we had reason to
suspect that we were recognised on a mountain, we sought shelter in or
near a town, and after we appeared in public places for a day or an
hour, we kept the mountain-side for a week following.

We had, too, another, and it must needs be confessed, a more powerful
motive. In either alternative which our fate presented, there was no
hope of ever beholding these scenes again, and we could not omit this
last opportunity of minutely examining and enjoying what was grandest
and loveliest in our native land. We resolved, therefore, to leave no
glorious spot unvisited, whatever toil it cost, or risk it exposed us
to. Mountains, indeed, never did involve a risk, but the Lakes of
Killarney, which were much frequented at the time, could not be seen
without imminent danger, unless by overcoming great physical
difficulties. After we descended from Carn-Tuathail, we were so utterly
exhausted as to be obliged to lie down in hay, within one field of the
cabin where we were to sleep, from which nothing could tempt us to stir
for the night; but we were assailed by swarms of small flies of the
mosquito species, that stung us to further exertion. Although the owners
of the cabin gave us their only bed, and provided the best supper for
us, we were so persecuted by these flies, that we were forced to quit
our bed before day dawned, and endeavour to shake off our tormentors by
rolling in the dew and shaking our shirts in the wind. We set out early,
finding the place utterly intolerable, owing to these terrible
tormentors, alt