DOBEEN ENLIGHTENS US. 215 



the gamekeeper's nose, an' give the swatest howl of 

 warnin' whenever a bailiff came into them parts." 



Sachem suggested that these were rather remark- 

 able habits for a dog connected with the great house 

 of Dobeen. 



" But yez must know he was only a pup when my 

 fortunes went by," responded Shamus, "and he learnt 

 these tricks afterward. Ah, but he was a smart 

 chap! Couldn't he smell bailiffs afore ever they 

 came near, an' see all the witches and ghosts, too, by 

 second sight! He wouldn't never go near the O'Shea's 

 house, that had a haunted room, though pretty Mary, 

 the house-girl, often coaxed at him with the nicest 

 bits of meat." 



Sachem thought that perhaps the animal's second 

 sight might have shown him that stray shot from 

 pretty Mary's master, aimed at a vagabond, might 

 perhaps hit the vagabond's dog. 



"I wasn't a vagabond them times," retorted Sha- 

 mus, quickly, yet with entire good humor, " and sorry 

 for it I am that the name could ever belong to me 

 since. And please, Mr. Sachem, don't be after inter- 

 ruptin' again. Some people wonder why the dogs 

 bark at the new moon an' howl under the windows 

 afore a death. In the one matter, your honors, they 

 see the witches on a broomstick, ridin' roun' the sky, 

 an' gatherin' ripe moon-beams for their death-mix- 

 tures an' brain blights. Many a man in our grand- 

 fathers' time yes, an' now-a-days too sleepin' under 

 the full moon, has had his brains addled by the un- 

 wholesome powder falling from the witches' aprons. 

 Wise men call it comet dust. And why shouldn't a 



