mpatience. The performance was begun by the usual
dirty white horse, that was brought out and set to gallop round,
with a gaudy horse-woman on his back, who jumped through a hoop and
did the ordinary feats, the horse's hoofs splashing and possing all
the time in the green slush of the ring. An old door-mat was laid
down near the entrance for the performers, and as they came out in
turn they wiped the mud from their feet before they got up on their
horses. A little later the clown came out, to the great delight of
the people. He was followed by some gymnasts, and then the
horse-people came out again in different dress and make-up, and went
through their old turns once more. After that there was prolonged
fooling between the clown and the chief horseman, who made many
mediaeval jokes, that reminded me of little circuses on the outer
boulevards of Paris, and at last the horseman sang a song which won
great applause:

Here's to the man who kisses his wife,
And kisses his wife alone;
For there's many a man kissed another man's wife
When he thought he kissed his own.
Here's to the man who rocks his child,
And rocks his child alone;
For there's many a man rocked another man's child
When he thought he rocked his own.

About ten o'clock there seemed to be a lull in the storm, so I went
out into the open air with two young men who were going the road I
had to travel. The rain had stopped for a moment, but a high wind
was blowing as we made our way to a public-house to get a few
biscuits and a glass of beer before we started. A sleepy barmaid,
who was lolling behind the counter with a novel, pricked up her ears
when she heard us talking of our journey.

'Surely you are not going to Ballydavid,' she said, 'at such an hour
of a night like this.'

We told her we were going to a place which was further away.

'Well,' she said, 'I wouldn't go to that place to-night if you had a
coach-and-four to drive me in, and gave me twenty pounds into the
bargain! How at all will you get on in the darkness when the roads
will be running with water, and you'll be likely to slip down every
place into some drain or ditch?'

When we went out, and began to make our way down the steep hill
through the town, the night seemed darker than ever after the glare
of the bar. Before we had gone many yards a woman's voice called out
sharply from under the wall: 'Mind the horse.' I looked up and saw
the black outline of a horse's head st