y miles, and we had to cross a plain several
miles wide. We swept over this plain with a rapidity that taxed severely
our exhausted energies, and lay down to sleep on the first patch of
heath we gained on the Bantry mountains.

We bathed our feet in a mountain stream, and having partaken of a slight
meal, resumed our weary journey. Night fell on us in the midst of a
desolate bog on a mountain top. We travelled several miles in search of
shelter, first in cabins and next in haycocks. It was a dark, gloomy and
threatening night. After lying for some time on the roadside, where
alone a dry spot was to be found, I forced Stephens to consent to make a
trial of the town of Bantry, then a mile distant. The darkness and gloom
were favourable to the experiment. We entered the town, and traversed
one or two streets, we knew not in what direction. On inquiring for a
lodging-house, we were directed to the house of Mrs. Barry, who kept a
large grocery establishment. We found accommodation and comfort. Next
day, having made some small purchases through the agency of the servant,
and posted some letters, we deliberately walked out of Bantry, by the
road which seemed to lead the most directly to the country. The day was
miserable, and we found our journey through the mountains, which
overhang the beautiful bay, very unpleasant. We determined to reach a
place called the Priest's Leap, which is consecrated by a holy tradition
in the estimation of the people. They tell that in the times of
persecution a priest was set and sold in these fastnesses. Having
discovered that he was betrayed, he effected his escape through a circle
of enclosing pursuers, which it was deemed impossible to break through;
the country people believed that he floated invisibly through the air,
and alighted on the deck of a Spanish frigate then coasting these
shores.

An impenetrable fog descended the mountain, and the rain deepened into a
torrent. Moored in the bay were two war-steamers, with screw propellers;
but they had all their sails unfurled, and swung uneasily to and fro.
We, who were ignorant of their character, frequently paused to regard
them, utterly unable to account for their extraordinary movements.
Believing them American packets, which had put in through stress of
weather, we would have given worlds even for an opportunity of swimming
to them through the waters of the bay. But the coast was strictly
guarded by police and revenue officers. Notwithsta