AN EVENING AT BELLEEK. 41 



when he saw, in the Danish fort to the left, 

 the soft, pale light of the burning white 

 thorn, and heard the joyous sounds of elfin 

 merriment. 



" ' I'd like to know whether your spirits 

 have paid the duty,' said the gauger, putting 

 his head over the low, broken wall. 



" Whirr ! bang ! slap ! thump ! came the 

 fairy clubs on the shoulders of the man and 

 the ribs of the horse ; and the next morning 

 Dobbin was found at his own stable door at 

 Ballyshannon with two broken knees and a 

 cut head, and his master lay under a wall by 

 the road-side half a mile off, in a state of in- 

 sensibility, and covered with bruises from top 

 to toe. It's a true story, I do assure you, 

 and the man's still alive, and will swear to the 

 truth of every word of it for a glass of whisky." 



" Come, my worthy young friend," said 

 the Squire, as the Captain finished his story, 

 and the Scholar looked at him with a ludi- 

 crous expression of disbelieving wonderment, 

 " I think it is high time to turn in now ; the 

 Parson has been yawning this half-hour. 

 Come along ; never mind the fairies, and 

 don't go dreaming of gaugers and clubs." 



" And do not be afraid of an Irish Yehme 

 gerichte," said the Captain ; " at least not 



