214 EFFECTS OF POTEEN. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



Pancing kept up Effects of poteen on the company Ball ends Rainy 

 night Morning Pattigo A long swim Breakfast An incident 

 Fox-catcher bitten by a wild cat Ferocity of that animal Anecdotes 

 of them House-cats frequently run wild Destructive to rabbit- 

 warrens Cat-killing" extraordinary The deer-skin Snow fatal to the 

 red deer Anecdote of a hind and fawn Blistered foot Simple 

 remedy My descent by " the mother's side." 



FOR a considerable time after we had retired to our cots, 

 the ball was kept up with unabated spirit, upon a piece of 

 level sward beside the river. The whisky appeared to affect 

 the company differently, and individual propensities were 

 strikingly developed. Some of the boys were particularly 

 amative, and the rude love-making we overheard at times 

 amused us much ; others betrayed a pugnacity of spirit which 

 nothing but the master's propinquity repressed. By degrees 

 the company began to separate : the piper, whose notes for 

 the last half-hour had been exceedingly irregular, now evinced 

 unquestionable symptoms of his being " done up" Instead 

 of the lightsome and well-sustained jig, strange and dolorous 

 noises issued from the chanter,* and, as one of the fair sex 

 observed, who, by the way, in passing, tumbled over the tent 

 cords, "Martin was totally smothered with spirits, and a body 

 could no more dance to his music, than do the Patre o'pee to a 

 coronach at a wake." 



It was well that this failure in the orchestral department 

 brought the ball to a close, for at midnight the rain began 

 to fall, and towards morning it came down in torrents. We 

 were obliged to rise and slack the tent-cords ; but the marquee 

 was a double one, and perfectly water-tight, and, as the cots 

 were slung from upright posts at least a foot from the ground, 

 we suffered no inconvenience from the rain, except the noise it 

 made in rattling on the tense canvas. This, however, we 

 soon became accustomed to, and slept till eight o'clock, as 

 sound as watchmen. 



Long before we turned out, the Colonel and Priest were 

 afoot, and we heard a prayer and supplication from the com- 

 mander to old John, for a cup of strong coffee, while an idler 



* The principal or finger-pipe of the set. 



