ndin' there; but do you
know what is suspected?"

"No."

"Why, that he has an eye on Bodagh Buie's daughter. Alick towld me that,
for a long time afther Connor O'Donovan was thransported, the father an'
son wor afeard of him. He hard it from his sister Biddy, an' it appears
that the Bodagh's daughter tould her family that he used to stare her
out of countenance at mass, an' several times struv to put the furraun
on her in hopes to get acquainted."

"He would do it; an' my hand to you, if he undhertakes it he'll not
fail; an' I'll tell you another thing, if he suspected that I knew
anything about the thraitherous thrick he put on my poor brother,
the divil a toe he'd let me join him; but you see I--was only a mere
gorsoon, a child I may say at the time.

"At all events let us keep an eye on him; an' in regard to Connor
O'Donovan's business, let him not be too sure that it's over wid him
yet. At any rate, by dad, my father has slipped out a name upon him an'
us that will do him no good. The other boys now call us the Stags of
Lisdhu, that bein' the place where his father lived, an' the nickname
you see rises out of his thrachery to poor Connor O'Donovan."

"Did he ever give any hint himself about carryin' away the Bodagh's
pretty daughter?"

"Is it him'? Oh, oh! catch him at it; he's a damn sight too close to do
any sich thing."

After some further conversation upon that and other topics, they arrived
at the place of appointment, which was a hedge school-house; one of
those where the master, generally an unmarried man, merely wields his
sceptre during school-hours, leaving it open and uninhabited for the
rest of the twenty-four.

The appearance of those who were here assembled was indeed singularly
striking. A large fire of the unconsumed peat brought by the scholars on
that morning, was kindled in the middle of the floor--it's usual site.
Around, upon stones, hobs, bosses, and seats of various descriptions,
sat the "boys"--some smoking and others drinking; for upon nights of
this kind, a shebeen-housekeeper, uniformly a member of such societies,
generally attends for the sale of his liquor, if he cannot succeed
in prevailing on them to hold their meetings in his own house--a
circumstance which for many reasons may not be in every case advisable.
As they had not all yet assembled, nor the business of the night
commenced, they were, of course, divided into several groups and engaged
in various amusements. In the