hat we were bent upon. Them that had
to manage the business war more than half drunk; and, hard fortune to
me! but you would think it was to a wedding they went--some of them
singing songs against the law--some of them quite merry, and laughing
as if they had found a mare's nest. The big fellow, Collier, had a dark
lanthern wid a half-burned turf in it to light the bonfire, as they
said; others had guns and pistols--some of them charged and some of them
not; some had bagnets, and ould rusty swords, pitchforks, and go on.
Myself had nothing in my hand but the flail I was thrashing wid that
day; and to tell the thruth, the divil a step I would have gone with
them, only for fraid of my health; for, as I said awhile agone, if any
discovery was made afterwards, them that promised to go, and turned
tail, would be marked as the informers. Neither was I so blind, but
I could see that there war plenty there that would stay away if they
durst.

"Well, we went on till we came to a little dark corner below the house,
where we met and held a council of war upon what we should do. Collier
and the other strangers from behind the mountains war to go first, and
the rest were to stand round the house at a distance--he carried the
lanthern, a bagnet, and a horse-pistol; and half a dozen more war to
bring over bottles of straw from Vengeance's own haggard, to hould up
to the thatch. It's all past and gone now--but three of the Reillys were
desperate against Vesey that night, particularly one of them that he
had shot about a year and a half before--that is, peppered two of the
right-hand fingers of him, one night in a scuffle, as Vesey came home
from an Orange lodge. Well, all went on purty fair; we had got as far as
the out-houses,where we stopped, to see if we could hear any noise; but
all was quiet as you plase.

"'Now, Vengeance,' says Reilly, swearing a terrible oath out of
him--'you murdering Orange villain, you're going to get your pay,' says
he.

"'Ay,' says Grogan, 'what he often threatened to others he'll soon meet
himself, plase God--come, boys,' says he, 'bring the straw and light it,
and just lay it up, my darlings, nicely to the thatch here, and ye'll
see what a glorious bonfire we'll have of the black Orange villain's
blankets in less than no time.'

"Some of us could hardly stand this: 'Stop, boys,' cried one of Dan
Slevin's sons--'stop, Vengeance is bad enough, but his wife and children
never offinded us--we'll not bur