JOB SWEETY IN SUNSHINE' S STABLE. 109 



felt tliat to be a wretch, bent on wretched work, was to be most 

 wretched, then, indeed, that moment had arrived when he 

 noiselessly inserted the key into the lock of Sunshine's stable- 

 door. A slight grating sound, as he slowly turned it, brought 

 beads of perspiration upon his upper lip, and he stood on the 

 threshold with wavering resolution whether to advance a single 

 step or not. The thought, however, of what might be lost, and 

 must be won, determined the course. He stole through the 

 doorway like a shadow, and stood, as he conjectured — for the 

 darkness was thick and impenetrable — •within a few feet of the 

 whereabouts of Sunshine. 



Having been furnished by Cupid with a box of silent 

 matches — similar to those used by the patrons of '''Paddy's 

 Goose " when engaged in certain nocturnal excursions — he 

 struck a light, and, holding it above his head, glanced with 

 shrinking look around, as if apprehensive of detection from some 

 quarter, and seemed to experience much relief at discovering no 

 immediate cause for the rascal's prevailing fear — unmingied with 

 compunction — of being "found out." 



The silent match threw a nickering, uncertain light upon 

 the interior of Sunshine's stable ; but enough could be seen, 

 among the long fantastic shades and shadows cast around, to 

 reveal the form of " the best of his year " standing in his stall 

 prepared and "set" for the next day's struggle, the shrill crow 

 of a watchful cock giving evidence of its advent. 



Job Sweety struck a second silent match, upon which Sun- 

 shine turned his head, and, with pricked ears, watched the 

 approach of the stranger with glaring eyes and distended 

 nostrils. 



His hand shook as if stricken with the palsy ; but raising a 

 heavy wooden mallet, which he drew from some secret part of 

 his dress. Job Sweety struck the near hind leg of the horse 

 sharply below the hock, and, as may be seen when a jaded 

 bullock is hit in a similar way by a drover's goad, the limb was 



