56 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



gentlemen who were blind drunk, and fast asleep in all 

 security before the smouldering embers of the still- 

 fire, were captured and conveyed to my loving cousin, 

 to undergo the pains and penalties of their crime. He, 

 as a matter of course, committed them to gaol ; and the 

 next going judge, as another matter of course, will 

 discharge them. Meanwhile they are taken from their 

 families, and supported at the expense of the county ; 

 their utility is lost when it is most requisite, and they are, 

 during the term of incarceration, a useless burden upon 

 the community. I cannot see the moral and legal 

 expediency of all this ; but the men who framed the 

 revenue laws were probably more clear-sighted than I 

 am. 



When I first observed a score of banditti in blue 

 jackets and white cross-belts arranged before the Lodge, 

 I felt particularly nervous ; and old John, my refuge 

 in perplexity, was immediately consulted. " John," 

 said I, in a masonic whisper, ** are we safe ? " — " Safe : 

 from what, Sir ? "— " The gauger."— " Lord, Sir, 

 he dines with us." — " But — but is there any stuff about 

 the house ? " — " Any ! God alone can tell how much 

 there is above and under." " If any body told the 

 ganger, John — ! " '* They would only tell him what he 

 knows already. The ganger : — ^Lord bless you, Sir, 

 he never comes or goes without leaving a keg or two 

 behind him. If the master and he did not pull together 

 what the devil business would he have here } Don't 

 mind. Sir ; we know what we are about : Tiggum 

 Tigue Thigien .' "* 



Midnight. I hope the weather has settled : the moon 

 looks well, and, as John avers, the sun set favourably 



* An Irish proverb, literally meaning "Tim miderstauds Teady." 



