d hag, as the sounds
died away, and all became silent in the street without.

"Who or what are they?" said I, my curiosity being stimulated by fear.

"Them 's the 'Tapageers '! The chaps that never spared man or woman
in their rounds. 'T is bad enough, the place is; but they make it far
worse!"

"Can we stop here for the night?" said Joe, growing impatient at the
colloquy.

"And what for wud ye stop here?" asked the crone, as she held up the
lantern the better to see him who made the demand.

"We want our supper, and a place to sleep," said the old man; "and we
're able and willin' to pay for both."

"'T is a nice place ye kem for either!" said she; and she leaned back
against the wall and laughed with a fiend-like malice that made my blood
chill.

"Then I suppose we must go somewhere else," said Joe. "Come, boys; 't is
no use losing our time here!"

"God speed you!" said she, preparing to undo the chain that fastened the
door. "Ye have bould hearts, any way! There they go! d' ye hear them?"
This was said in a half-whisper, as the wild yells of the "Tapageers"
arose without; and soon after, the noise and tumult of a scuffle,--at
least we could hear the crashing of sticks, and the shouting of a fray;
from which, too, piercing cries for help burst forth.

"What are ye doin'? Are ye mad? Are ye out of your sinses?" cried the
hag, as Joe endeavored to wrest open the chain, the secret of which he
did not understand.

"They're murdering some one without there!" said he. "Let me free, or
I'll kick down your old door this minute!"

"Kick away, honey!" said the hag; "as strong men as yourself tried that
a'ready; and--d'ye hear?--it's done now; it 's _over!_" These terrible
words were in allusion to a low kind of sobbing sound, which grew
fainter and fainter, and then ceased altogether.

"They 're taking the body away," whispered she, after a pause of
death-like stillness.

"Where to?" said I, half breathless with terror.

"To the river! the stream runs fast, and the corpse will be down below
Goose Island,--ay, in the Gulf, 'fore morning!"

The two young girls, unable longer to control their feelings, here burst
out a crying; and the old man, pulling out a rosary, turned to the wall
and began his prayers.

"'Tis a bloody place; glory be to God!" said Joe, at last, with a sigh,
and clasped his hands before him, like one unable to decide on what
course to follow.

I saw, now, that all were so paralyzed by fea