242 LOUGH DERG. 



for a local and natural phenomenon by 

 means of supernatural agency. It is a mu- 

 sical fact, that if you strike the third and 

 fifth at the same time in full holding notes, 

 they will produce, besides their own tones, 

 the octave also. Now the woods of Itchenor, 

 on the opposite side of the harbour, are so 

 disposed, by the natural sweep of the ground, 

 as to throw back a perfect echo to the bell- 

 hole ; and, consequently, whenever the true 

 tone of the third bell crosses the echoed 

 sound of the fifth, the octave, or lost bell, 

 sounds also, and, of course, it is heard 

 at the bell-hole, and nowhere else. Now 

 this legend, which I really consider a valu- 

 able one, is the key that has unlocked to me 

 the supernatural history of the Erne. I 

 told it to Pat one sunny day, when we were 

 obliged to give up fishing (of course, without 

 the philosophical explanation), and it opened 

 his heart at once. I was no longer the 

 sneering heretic, but a true believer. Then 

 and there I was presented at the court of 

 the Erne Fairy King, and from that time 

 forward have I been partaker in the inner- 

 most secrets of his cabinet." 



By this time there began to be a stir 



