end of it,
they passed into a short car track, which they were barely able to
follow.

The night, considering that it was the month of November, was close and
foggy--such as frequently follows a calm day of incessant rain. The
bottoms were plashing, the drams all full, and the small rivulets and
streams about the country were above their hanks, whilst the larger
rivers swept along with the hoarse continuous murmurs of an unusual
flood. The sky was one sheet of blackness--for not a cloud could be
seen, or anything, except the passing gleam of a cottage taper, lessened
by the haziness of the night into a mere point of faint light, and
thrown by the same cause into a distance which appeared to the eye much
more remote than that of reality.

After having threaded their way for nearly a mile, the water spouting
almost at every step up to their knees, they at length came to an old
bridle--way, deeply shaded with hedges on each side. They had not spoken
much since the close of their last dialogue; for, the truth is, each had
enough to do, independently of dialogue, to keep himself out of drains
and quagmires. An occasional "hanamondioul, I'm into the hinches;" "holy
St. Peter, I'm stuck;" "tun--dher an' turf, where are you at all?" or,
"by this an' by that, I dunno where I am," were the only words that
passed between them, until they reached the little road we are speaking,
of, which, in fact, was one unbroken rut, and on such a night almost
impassable.

"Now," said M'Cormick, "we musn't keep this devil's gut, for conshumin'
to the shoe or stockin' ever we'd bring out of it; however, do you folly
me, Dandy, and there's no danger."

"I can do nothing else," replied the other, "for I know no more where I
am than the man of the moon, who, if all's thrue that's sed of him, is
the biggest blockhead alive."

M'Cormick, who knew the path well, turned off the road into a pathway
that ran inside the hedge and along the fields, but parallel with the
muddy boreen in question. They now found themselves upon comparatively
clear ground, and, with the exception of an occasional slip or two, in
consequence of the heavy rain, they had little difficulty in advancing.
At this stage of their journey not a light was to be seen nor a sound
of life heard, and it was evident that the whole population of the
neighborhood had sunk to rest.

"Where will this bring us to, Ned?" asked the Dandy--"I hope we'll soon
be at the Bodagh's."

M'Cormick