ENNIS NA SHIA. 95 



kwith a young lady, who was expected to be 

 thankful for a bearded old ruffian, old 

 enough to be her father, I cannot tell ; but 

 the event was, that, some treaty of statesman- 

 like accommodation having been proposed 

 and accepted by the two potentates, one 

 article of which was the disposal of the fair 

 Bragelah to one or other of them, the lady 

 disappeared, and — curious coincidence — 

 the harper disappeared also. 



" Hot and immediate was the pursuit. The 

 O'Rourke summoned his horsemen from 

 Kinloch to guard the western passes ; the 

 lord of Enniskillen barred the whole east ; 

 to the north flowed the then bridgeless and 

 impassable Erne ; while to the south lay the 

 waters of Lough Melvin. It was impossible 

 that they could have escaped beyond the 

 guarded ring; within it the Yellow Bog 

 furnished the only hiding-place, and Mac- 

 guire's men were all well accustomed to its 

 dangers. For a whole day the search was 

 ineffectual, though a hundred pair of eyes 

 were on the look-out ; and the Macguires on 

 the one side and the O'Rourkes on the other, 

 searching every inch of ground before them, 

 were gradually narrowing the circle ; when, 



