But mind
you don't do that till you 're alone with him; 't is a token between
ourselves."

"I wish you were coming with me, Darby; I'd rather not leave you!"

"'Tis myself mislikes it, too," said Darby, with a sigh. "But I daren't
miss going to Athlone; the major would soon ferret me out; and it's
worse it would be for me."

"And what am I to do if Mr. Basset comes after me?"

"If he has n't a throop of horse at his back, you may laugh at him in
Ned Malone's, And now good-by, acushla; and don't let your heart be
low,--you 'll be a man soon, you know."

The words of encouragement could not have been more happily chosen to
raise my drooping spirits. The sense of opening manhood was already
stirring within me, and waited but for some direct occasion to elicit it
in full vigor.

I shook Darby's hand with a firm grasp, and assuming the easiest smile I
could accomplish, I set out on the path before me with all the alacrity
in my power.

The first thought that shot across my mind when I parted with my
companion was the utter loneliness of my condition; the next--and
it followed immediately on the other--was the bold consciousness of
personal freedom. I enjoyed at the moment the untrammelled liberty to
wander without let or control. All memory of Tony Basset was forgotten,
and I only remembered the restraint of school and the tyranny of my
master. My plan--and already I had formed a plan--was to become a
farmer's servant, to work as a daily laborer. Ned Malone would probably
accept of me, young as I was, in that capacity; and I had no other
ambition than such as secured my independence.

As I travelled along I wove within my mind a whole web of imaginary
circumstances: of days of peaceful toil; of nights of happy and
contented rest; of friendship formed with those of my own age and
condition; of the long summer evenings when I should ramble alone to
commune with myself on my humble but happy lot; on the red hearth in
winter, around which the merry faces of the cottagers were beaming, as
some pleasant tale was told;--and as I asked myself, would I exchange a
life like this for all the advantages of fortune my brother's position
afforded him, my heart replied, No! Even then the words of the piper
had worked upon me, and already had I connected the possession of wealth
with oppression and tyranny, and the lowly fortunes of the poor man as
alone securing high-souled liberty of thought and freedom of speech and
action.