240 LOUGH DERG. 



up in the absence of their lamented tenor. 

 The ship had already set sail, and, under 

 the influence of a favourable breeze, had 

 already proceeded about a mile down the 

 harbour, when the melancholy peal struck 

 up. Strange to relate, the tenor bell began 

 to sink and sink through the decks ; and 

 when the frightened heathens ran below, 

 they found it sinking through the very floor- 

 ing itself, though the floor-planks and tim- 

 bers closed in of themselves as it passed 

 through them, and did not suffer a drop of 

 water to enter. Down sank the bell, and 

 down and down to the bottom of the great 

 bell-hole, which remains to this day perfectly 

 round and distinct, — a constant memorial, 

 even to our own times, that St. Nicholas, 

 though for his own good reasons he saw fit 

 to punish his neglectful servants, yet would 

 never suffer a baptized bell to fall into the 

 hands of the heathen. 



" The most wonderful part of the story 

 remains to be told. Ever since that fatal 

 dav, even down to our own times, whenever 

 a peal is rung from Bosh am tower, the lost 

 tenor chimes in with her sister-bells ; and 

 any one standing at the brink of the bell- 



