164 Walks in Ireland. [FKB. 



Ireland. This feat accomplished, away he stalked to his own apart- 

 ment jackboots, silver- headed riding- whip, cloak and all followed 

 close by a terrier dog, who had been lying at the kitchen fire when he 

 came in, but who now kept sniffing and smelling at his heels every 

 step of the way up stairs. 



When he had reached his room, and had disencumbered himself of 

 his heavy riding gear, the dog at once leaped upon him with a cry of 

 joy ; and he immediately recognized an old favourite, whom he had lost 

 in Dublin a year or two before j wondering, at the same time, how he 

 had got so far into the country, and why he had not known him before. 

 When the landlord entered the room with supper, the traveller claimed 

 his dog, and expressed his determination to bring him on with him to 

 Cork, whither he was bound. The host made not the slightest objection, 

 merely observing, that he had bought him from a Dublin carrier, who, 

 he supposed, had found him in the streets. That point settled, the tra- 

 veller dismissed his landlord for the night, with directions to cause him 

 to be called betimes in the morning : the man smiled darkly, and 

 withdrew. 



The traveller made himself as comfortable as he could, with the aid 

 of a good supper and a cheerful fire, not forgetting his lost-and-found 

 companion, until, after some time, finding that the wine ran low, and 

 that a certain disposition to trace castles and abbeys in the glowing 

 recesses of the burning turf,* was creeping over him that is to say, in 

 plain English, catching himself nodding over the fire he thought it best 

 to transfer his somnolency to a well-curtained bed that stood invitingly 

 in a recess of the room. 



As he proceeded to undress, the anxiety and agitation of his dog 

 attracted his attention, and at last fairly aroused him, sleepy as he was, 

 though he could in no way account for it. The animal ran backward and 

 forward from him to the bed, and as he laid aside each article of cloth* 

 ing, fetched it to him again, with the most intelligent and beseeching 

 gestures ; and when, to satisfy the poor creature, as well as to discover 

 if possible, what he wanted and meant, he resumed some portion of his 

 dress, nothing could equal his joy. Strange suspicions began to flash 

 across the traveller's mind ; he ran over every circumstance, even the 

 minutest, which had occurred since he entered the inn ; and now that 

 his attention was excited, it did strike him that, after making every 

 allowance for boorishness, and rusticity, and sullenness of temper, there 

 was more of the gaoler than of the innkeeper in the bearing and deport- 

 ment of his silent host : he remembered, too, how heavily the miserable- 

 looking, haggard wife had sighed, while she looked at his own burly 

 figure as he stood by the fire, as though she sorrowed over a victim whom 

 she could not save ; and, lastly, and above all, he pondered on the 

 ominous smile with which the innkeeper received his directions to be 

 awakened early in the morning. 



Meanwhile the indefatigable dog was busied in pulling off the bed- 

 clothes as well as his strength would permit ; and when his master went 

 to his assistance, what was his horror at seeing, beneath clean sheets and 

 well-arranged Blankets, a bed and mattress literally dyed with dark-red 

 stains of blood ! Though a man of peaceful habits, he knew as little of 

 fear as most people, and the exigency of the moment roused every energy 



* In most parts of Ireland, peat, or as we call it, turf, is used for fuel. 



