at the fiddle; sure what would the counthry do then?"

"Sure enough you may say that," said Houligan; "and then my bread would
be gone as well as my mate. But think o' the unnatharal vagabone that
towld me the dogs was quite; sure he came back while I was there, and I
ups and I towld him what a shame it was to tell me the dogs was quite.
So they are quite, says he; sure there's nine o' them, and only seven
o' them bites. Thank you, says I."

There was something irresistibly comic in the quiet manner that
Houligan said, "Thank you, says I;" and the account of his canine
adventure altogether excited much mirth amongst his auditors. As they
pursued their journey many a joke was passed and repartee returned, and
the laugh rang loudly and often from the merry little group as they
trudged along. In the course of the next mile's march their numbers
were increased by some half dozen, that, one by one, suddenly appeared,
by leaping over the hedge on the road, or crossing a stile from some
neighbouring path. All these new comers pursued the same route, and
each gave the same answer when asked where he was going. It was
universally this--

"Why, then, where would I be goin' but to the berrin'?"

At a neighbouring confluence of roads straggling parties of from four
to five were seen in advance, and approaching in the rear, and the
highway soon began to wear the appearance it is wont to do on the
occasion of a patron, a fair, or a market day. Larry Lanigan was in
evident enjoyment at this increase of numbers; and as the crowd
thickened his exultation increased, and he often repeated his
ejaculation, aiready noticed in Larry's opening soliloquy, "Why, then,
an' isn't it a grate day intirely for Ireland!!!"

And now, horsemen were more frequently appearing, and their numbers
soon amounted to almost a cavalcade; and sometimes a car, that is to
say, the car, common to the country for agricultural purposes, might be
seen, bearing a cargo of women; videlicet, "the good woman" herself,
and her rosy-cheeked daughters, and maybe a cousin or two, with an aide
de camp aunt to assist in looking after the young ladies. The
roughness of the motion of this primitive vehicle was rendered as
accommodating as possible to the gentler sex, by a plentiful shake down
of clean straw on the car, over which a feather bed was laid, and the
best quilt in the house over that, to make all smart, possibly a piece
of hexagon patchwork of "the misthri