nt to make hay to advantage, I'll
send for you," said Owny, laughing, as he entered his house, and
nodding at Andy, who returned a capacious grin to Owny's shrewd smile,
like the exaggerated reflection of a concave mirror. But the grin soon
subsided, for men seldom prolong the laugh that is raised at their own
expense; and the corners of Andy's mouth turned down as his hand turned
up to the back of his head, which he rubbed, as he sauntered down the
street from Owny Doyle's.

It was some miles to Andy's home, and night over-took him on the way.
As he trudged along in the middle of the road he was looking up at a
waning moon and some few stars twinkling through the gloom, absorbed in
many sublime thoughts as to their existence, and wondering what they
were made of, when his cogitations were cut short by tumbling over
something which lay in the middle of the highway; and on scrambling to
his legs again, and seeking to investigate the cause of his fall, he
was rather surprised to find a man lying in such a state of insensibility
that all Andy's efforts could not rouse him. While he was standing over
him, undecided as to what he should do, the sound of approaching
wheels, and the rapid steps of galloping horses, attracted his
attention; and it became evident that unless the chaise and pair which
he now saw in advance were brought to pull up, the cares of the man in
the middle of the road would be very soon over. Andy shouted lustily,
but to his every "Halloo there!" the crack of the whip replied, and
accelerated speed instead of a halt was the consequence; at last, in
desperation, Andy planted himself in the middle of the road, and with
out-spread arms before the horses, succeeded in arresting their
progress, while he shouted "Stop!" at the top of his voice.

A pistol-shot from the chaise was the consequence of Andy's summons,
for a certain Mr. Furlong, a foppish young gentleman, travelling from
the castle of Dublin, never dreamed that a humane purpose could produce
the cry of "Stop," on a _horrid Irish_ road; and as he was reared
in the ridiculous belief that every man ran a great risk of his life
who ventured outside the city of Dublin, he travelled with a brace of
loaded pistols beside him; and as he had been anticipating murder and
robbery ever since nightfall, he did not await the demand for his
"money or his life" to defend both, but fired away the instant he heard
the word "Stop!" and fortunate it was for Andy that