e,
"after their kind," issued from within. Limping and disconsolate figures
were being assisted into the inn; and black eyes and smashed faces were
as rife as in a country fair.

I was not slow in appropriating the calamity to a good purpose. "See,
sir," I whispered to my companion, "you said, a while ago, that nobody
had such bad luck as yourself; think what might have happened you, now,
if you had n't missed the coach."

"True enough, Con," said he, "there is such a thing as being too late
for bad as well as for good fortune; and I experience it now. But the
next question is, how to get forward; for, of course, with a broken
axle, the mail cannot proceed further."

The difficulty was soon got over. The halt and the maimed passengers,
after loudly inveighing against all coach-proprietors,--the man that
made, and the man that horsed, he that drove, and he that greased the
wheels of all public conveyances,--demanded loudly to be forwarded to
the end of their journey by various chaises and other vehicles of the
town; I at the same time making use of my legal knowledge to suggest
that while doing so, they acted under protest; that it was "without
prejudice" to any future proceedings they might deem fit to adopt for
compensatory damages. If some laughed heartily at the source from
which the hint came, others said I was a "devilish shrewd chap," and
insinuated something about a joint-stock subscription of sixpences for
my benefit; but the motion was apparently unseconded, and so, like
many benefactors of my species, I had to apply to my conscience for my
reward; or, safer still, had to wait till I could pay myself.

My young companion, who now, in a few words, told me that he was a
student at Trinity College and a "reader for honors," pulled out his
purse to pay me. "Remember, my boy, the name of Henry Lyndsay; I 'm
easily found, if you chance to come to Dublin,--not that I can be of
much service to any one, but I shall not forget the service you rendered
me this day. Here, take this, pay for the mare's feeding, and when she
has rested--"

I would not suffer him to proceed further, but broke in:

"I'm not going back, sir! I'll never turn my footsteps that way again!
Leave the mare in the inn; Andy comes every Saturday here for the
market, and will find her safe. As for me, I must 'seek my fortune;'
and when one has to search for anything, there's nothing like beginning
early."

"You 're a strange fellow, Con," said