Like Sorrow's monument; and the trees about her Let them be dry and leafless. Let the rocks Groan with continual surges; and behind her Old Play "FLASH away, boys! Neck or nothing!" was the exulting shout of the Mail-Guard, who, with the reins in his own hands, stood up balancing himself, as he lashed the four spirited young animals which flew on before him, the vehicle, meanwhile, rocking and reeling, till it steadied like a vigorously whipped top, by its own rapidity of motion. And still the shout was, "Flash away!" as the echo of the farewell cheer of the group from the yard of St. Peter's Keys died in distance; men and horses appearing to sympathize in one brave and reckless impulse, as they swept onwards like spirits careering on the night-breeze. "They must be bold fellows would dare but look at us," said Grahame, as they swept forward; and, during a short pause which they made, he looked round with martial pride on the "bold dragoons," and their pawing and snorting horses.— The men flourished their sabres, the horses pranced and tossed their manes; and again the cavalcade swept on. The road lying along the seashore was flat, and, for some time, bordered by hedge-rows, studded here and there with single trees. The night, which was stilly calm, was also uncommonly dark; and, tinted by the glare of the carriage lamps as the cavalcade hurried forward, the leafless trees, in dizzying succession, danced ever back, back, into the thick gloom, like a linked and endless array of spectres. Distinct from the roll of the carriage and the measured tramp of the cavalry, Wolfe now heard the continuous booming of the waves as they broke on the beach, uttering, in the calm ear of night, the most deep and solemn breathings of nature's pauseless voice. "We have reached the shore; this surely is not the point of danger ?" inquired Wolfe, as they emerged from among the enclosures upon open sandy downs, and the rays of the lamps danced in ripples on the waters, now lying in broad lines of silvery gloom, or in massive blackness, beneath the star-light sky, or under the gathered heavy clouds. "Is the point of danger past ?" said Grahame, again. "We have left the Devil behind, and now plunge into the Deep sea," replied the guard, as they wheeled from those open downs, by an ascent back into the country. The road beyond this point lay through a gentleman's demesne, and was enclosed on each side by high walls. Here a pause was made, and a consultation held between the guard and the noncommissioned officer commanding the escort, on the propriety of extinguishing the carriage lamps, and putting the horses to the gallop through what was called The Pass. No, curse it, that might be constred flying !" said the English sergeant; " and the lamps we'll keep a-lit to see how we lay over their snouts, if the cowardly Irish raps dare but look at us." 66 Cowardly raps wont look at you, Master Sergeant," replied the guard, who, if loyal, was also national. "But you are master and commander on the road, and may do your pleasure. "Tis my duty, however, to warn you, that I don't above half like yon same fires along the mountain's face and round the bay-as if this blessed All-Saints' Eve were Midsummer St. John's!-Look ye! yonder is another breaking out a-top of the Black Castle!-Whose corpse light is yon, boys? "Tis thought we have O'Toole on board, I know." A sudden blaze, as if from dry brush-wood, or very resinous splintered bog-wood, streamed suddenly upon the darkness like a meteor, throwing a gleam on the sloping plantations of the demesne, and shewing the sweep of the bay to the left, and the fretted rocks of the low narrow ridge which bore the Black Castle on its horn, far out into the waters. The building seemed in this brilliant yet dubious light, not above a half mile distant, bare and lonely, and washed by the tide, which at high water, Grahame was told, completely surrounded it. 66 They have lit their beacon in Brian's cradle," said the Guard; "a purty phoenix he was, and a black bird he is hatching this same night!" and the man went on to tell, that the Black Castle was an old residence of the O'Connors of the West though now abandoned; and that it had been left them on the singular tenure of Brian's Cradle remaining on the summit of the tower which bore the same hero's name; for that there the whimsical donor had ordered his remains to be laid; and there accordingly they still mouldered in a leaden coffin cased in another of Kilkenny marble. Considerable pains were therefore taken to keep this architectural monument of family antiquity in good repair, though the other parts of the building were all allowed to go into decay. The Tower overlooked a great part of the fair and fertile Province, and a wide expanse of ocean. Altogether it had been a place of note, while the O'Connors continued to make it an occasional residence; and it was still an object of interest to the antiquarian, the painter, or the tasteful traveller. "They are all gone to the devil," said the guard; “which is a kind of pity too; for the old unmixed blood gets both scarcer and colder among us. "There is neither courage nor wisdom, however, in our loitering here studying their fire-works," said Wolfe. "Our route lies onward! If they |