, news reached me, that a celebrated thief-taker from Dublin
had arrived in the neighbourhood, to assist in the search.

"There was no time to be lost now. Discovery would not only have
perilled my own life, but also have involved those of my kind
protectors. How to leave the village was, however, the difficulty,
Revenue and man-of-war boats, abounded on the Shannon, since the day
of the wreck; the Ennis road was beset by police, who scrutinized every
traveller that passed on the west coast. The alarm was sounded, and
no chance of escape presented itself in that quarter. In this dilemma,
fortune, which so often stood my friend, did not desert me. It chanced
that a strolling company of actors, who had been performing for some
weeks past in Kilrush, were about to set of to Ennistymon, where they
were to give several representations. Nothing could be easier than to
avoid detection in such company; and I soon managed to be included in
the corps, by accepting an engagement as a 'walking gentleman,' at a low
salary, and on the next morning found myself seated on the 'van,' among
a very motley crew of associates, in whose ways and habits I very soon
contrived to familiarize myself, becoming, before we had gone many
miles, somewhat of a favourite in the party.

"I will not weary you with any account of my strolling life. Every one
knows something of the difficulties which beset the humble drama; and
ours was of the humblest. Joe Hume himself could not have questioned one
solitary item in our budget: and I defy the veriest quibbler on a grand
jury to 'traverse,' a spangle on a pair of our theatrical smallclothes.

"Our scenes were two in number: one represented a cottage
interior--pots, kettles, a dresser, and a large fire, being depicted in
smoke-coloured traits thereon--this, with two chairs and a table,
was convertible into a parlour in a private house; and again, by a
red-covered arm-chair, and an old banner, became a baronial hall, or the
saloon in a palace: the second, represented two houses on the flat, with
an open country between them, a mill, a mountain, a stream, and a rustic
bridge inclusive. This, then, was either a Street in a town, a wood,
a garden, or any other out-of-door place of resort, for light comedy
people, lovers, passionate fathers, waiting-maids, robbers, or chorus
singers.

"The chiefs of our corps were Mr. and Mrs. M'Elwain, who, as their names
bespoke, came from the north of Ireland, somewhere nea