TIM O'LEARY'S HARE 59 



leave of Timothy and his companions, he expressed his 

 warm appreciation of the sport they had shown him, and 

 as a token of the same he handed Timothy the where- 

 withal for him, and the rest of the followers of the 

 Longbally Beagles, to christen the green coat. Right well 

 did the jolly beaglers keep up the ceremony. 



The bells of the picturesque old parish church of Long- 

 bally were calling the good folk to their morning devo- 

 tions when Tim O'Leary, accompanied by a few other 

 members of the hunt, and followed by several couples 

 of jaded-looking hounds, made his way up the village 

 street. The worthy huntsman's coat had lost much of 

 its pristine splendour, and in spite of the fact that he had 

 pulled the peak of his somewhat rusty velvet cap well 

 over the left eye, he was unable to hide the dark halo 

 which encircled that organ of sight. In short, Timothy 

 and his friends had made " a night of it," while their 

 good dames at home nursed their wrath, and on the 

 arrival of their worthy spouses, they used their power 

 of speech to some effect. The Sunday home-coming of 

 the beaglers furnished scandal to the village gossips for 

 days, to the detriment of the fair fame of the members 

 of the hunt generally. 



Some of the wiser heads amongst them, therefore, took 

 counsel together, and used their influence that the next 

 Saturday's meet should be well within the bounds of 

 their own parish, not on the same grounds as before, as 

 had been previously arranged. The younger members 

 remonstrated : " There wasn't a single hare in the parish 

 to hunt." But the babblers were speedily silenced and 

 overawed by their elders. 



