and what will the poor mother do for his white head now that she
hasn't it to look at? No, he wouldn't waken, although I brought him the
cock.'

"'Of whom are you speaking now, Raymond?'

"'I'll tell you two things that's the same,' he replied; 'and I'll tell
you the man that has them both.'

"'Let me hear, Raymond.'

"'The devil's blessin' and God's curse;--sure they're the same--ha,
ha--there now--that's one. You didn't know that--no, no: you didn't.'

"'And who is it that has them, Raymond?'

"'M'Clutchy--Val the Vulture; sure 'twas he did that all, and is doin'
it still. Poor Mary!--Brian will never waken;--she'll never see his eyes
again, 'tany rate--nor his white head--oh! his white head! God ought to
kill Val, and I wondher he doesn't.'

"'Raymond, my good friend,' said I, 'if you travel at this rate, I must
give up the journey altogether.'

"The fact is, that when excited, as he was now by the topic in question,
he gets into what is termed a sling trot, which carries him on at
about six miles an hour, without ever feeling fatigued. He immediately
slackened his pace, and looked towards me, with a consciousness of
having forgotten himself and acted wrongly.

"'Well, no,' said he, 'I won't; but sure I hate him.'

"'Hate whom?'

"'M'Clutchy--and that was it; for I always do it; but I won't again, for
you couldn't keep up wid me if I spoke about him.'

"We then turned towards the mountains; and as we went along, the
desolate impresses of the evil agent began here and there to become
visible. On the road-side there were the humble traces of two or three
cabins, whose little hearths had been extinguished, and whose walls were
levelled to the earth. The black fungus, the burdock, the nettle, and
all those offensive weeds that follow in the train of oppression and
ruin were here; and as the dreary wind stirred them into sluggish
motion, and piped its melancholy wail through these desolate little
mounds, I could not help asking myself--if those who do these things
ever think that there is a reckoning in after life, where power, and
insolence, and wealth misapplied, and rancor, and pride, and rapacity,
and persecution, and revenge, and sensuality, and gluttony, will be
placed face to face with those humble beings, on whose rights and
privileges of simple existence they have trampled with such a selfish
and exterminating tread. A host of thoughts and reflections began to
crowd upon my mind; but the subject wa