Come all ye fair cratures, an' stand by her side, Come all ye bould boys that in coortin' take pride, An' ye must make answer, there's not one ye see, So comely to look at, in any degree,

From Ballytoige Bay to the woods o' Shillely, As Kitty Delouchery, the pride ☎' the Slaney !”

CHAPTER II.

BILL NALE, after inspecting, through the window, the company in the lower room, and subsequently deciding, by his observations in the kitchen, that sufficient punch had been sent in to them to insure a late sitting, issued forth, and knocked cautiously at the horseshoe-stapled door of Shawn-a-Gow's smithy. Signals passed between him and those within, and he was soon admitted.

The forge flared up on high, sending sparks to the wattled roof, and roaring in concert with the blast of the large bellows, to heat to its proper temperament the bar of iron about to be manufactured, by Shawn's massive hand, into the rude weapons that afterwards wrought such cruel slaughter.

The red flame fiercely lit up, till they almost seemed ignited, half of the figures of a number

of men closely opposed to, and intercepting its farther illumination of the rough apartment. It died away as the iron was withdrawn to the anvil, and those figures faded into mysterious uncertainty; and when the glowing metal cooled and blackened, all became dense gloom, except a space immediately around the seeminglyexpiring fire. Again it flared up, and again seemed to call the figures into a supernatural visibility; half-defining, at the same time, the wattles overhead, the bench, with the vice, at one side, and other prominent objects: and during this second fitful glare, the forms of three or four additional men were imperfectly suggested to the mind, amid the vague shadow that wrapped the extreme end of the workshop. Altogether, the place was strongly characteristic of the fiery passions of the times, and of the accompanying mystery in which they were sought to be expressed and indulged.

"Hah!-you're at the work, Shawn!" said Bill Nale, when the door closed behind him.

"That's plain to be seen, without witchcraft," answered the smith, as he withdrew the iron from the fire; and then he pounded away, making sparks fly about at every vigorous

stroke of his hammer.

Bill took up a pike-head that lay on the forgehob. It was near a foot in length, and more than two inches in breadth; having a sharp crook low down at one side, and a little hatchet, or cleaver, at the other; the former adjunct intended to be used-as it subsequently was used -in cutting, during close action, the bridles of the cavalry horses. This was the most perfect pike manufactured; and it will be admitted, that when affixed to a handle sometimes measuring fourteen feet, and wielded by a strong arm seconded by an enraged heart, it must have been a formidable weapon. In general, however, the pike-head consisted of a blade, the length and breadth of that mentioned, carelessly pointed, and roughly bevelled towards the edges.

"That's the right sort," remarked Bill to one of the men who surrounded the fire; "through and through, by-" measuring it across his body.

"From the heart to the back-bone,” replied the man; "or, if the Sasenach was mannerly, from the back to the breast wid it."

"As I'll sarve a thousand iv 'em, afore long, on the green sod that they think to redden wid our own blood," resumed Bill.

"Never fear, boy,-we'll take our own

parts," was the reply; and at this moment the forge blazed up, to show to each of the speakers the grim smile that accompanied the words of the other.

"Tell me," continued Bill, did the boys you spoke about, come to-night?"

66

They're here to the fore.”

"Then we'll just stop a-bit, till Jack Delouchery has the tickler pounded out, an' then make thrue men o' them.”

Rattling Bill was far from carrying himself, before the domineering Gow, with the bullying air that was his usual habit; and on the present occasion he evinced a serious ardency, calculated to recommend him to Shawn's consideration, and generally to inspire the feelings he wished to create.

Jack Delouchery soon flung the new-finished weapon among a heap of others that had been fashioned during the evening; and was again about to thrust his iron into the fire, when Bill specially addressed him.

"Hould your hand, Shawn, till the boys kiss the primer."

"Make quick work then," growled Shawn; "the night's wearin', an' the things we're forgin' don't want to have the daylight shinin'