rm swept over it, without discomposing the peaceful little
nook of cabins that stood below. About a furlong farther down were
two or three farm-houses, inhabited by a family named Cassidy, men
of simple, inoffensive manners, and considerable wealth. They were,
however, acute and wise in their generation; intelligent cattle-dealers,
on whom it would have been a matter of some difficulty to impose an
unsound horse, or a cow older than was intimated by her horn-rings, even
when conscientiously dressed up for sale by the ingenious aid of the
file or burning-iron. Between their houses and the hamlet rose a conical
pile of rocks, loosely leaped together, from which the place took its
name of Carnmore.

About three years before the time of this story, there came two men with
their families to reside in the upper village, and the house which they
chose as a residence was one at some distance from those which composed
the little group we have just been describing. They said their name was
Meehan, although the general report went, that this was not true; that
the name was an assumed one, and that some dark mystery, which none
could penetrate, shrouded their history and character. They were
certainly remarkable men. The elder, named Anthony, was a dark,
black-browed person, stern in his manner, and atrociously cruel in his
disposition. His form was Herculean, his bones strong and hard as iron,
and his sinews stood out in undeniable evidence of a life hitherto spent
in severe toil and exertion, to bear which he appeared to an amazing
degree capable. His brother Denis was a small man, less savage and
daring in his character, and consequently more vacillating and cautious
than Anthony; for the points in which he resembled him were superinduced
upon his natural disposition by the close connection that subsisted
between them, and by the identity of their former pursuits in life,
which, beyond doubt, had been such as could not bear investigation.

The old proverb of "birds of a feather flock together," is certainly a
true one, and in this case it was once more verified. Before the arrival
of these men in the village, there had been two or three bad characters
in the neighborhood, whose delinquencies were pretty well known. With
these persons the strangers, by that sympathy which assimilates with
congenial good or evil, soon became acquainted; and although their
intimacy was as secret and cautious as possible, still it had been
observed