1 62 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



" WELL, I like a man to keep his word," said my 

 relative ; " and I admire your friend Morden pro- 

 digiously for his punctual attendance on Mr. Bulger, 

 when he made his parting bow to an admiring multi- 

 tude, and, as the song goes, ' died with his face to the 

 city.' " 



" There is little danger, after all," said the Colonel, 

 "to be apprehended from ruffian force, if a man's 

 nerve and coolness desert him not at the pinch. In house 

 attacks, the odds are infinitely against the assailants. 

 The attempt is generally made in the dead of night ; 

 a robber-party are never sufficiently organised to combine 

 their efforts judiciously, and two men within, if properly 

 armed and plentifully supplied with ammunition, are, 

 in my opinion, an overmatch for a dozen outside the 

 doors." 



" Calm and steady courage does wonders, certainly ; 

 and, even when surprised and unprepared, a cool man will 

 rarely be left without some means of defence. The 

 Scotch proverb is a true saw ' A gleg (ready) hand 

 never wanted weapon.' " 



" There never was a better illustration of that truth 

 than the heroic resistance offered by an aged gentleman 

 in the south to a band of ruffians, under most discouraging 

 circumstances. I knew him intimately," continued the 

 Colonel ; " and I'll briefly give you the story. 



" Several years ago, when the south of Ireland was, 

 as it has ever been within my memory, in a disturbed 

 state, a gentleman, advanced in years, lived in a retired 



