The times., 1897-03-30

In the autumn of 1881 made horse
back tour through some OF the less fre-
quented parts of Ireland as d correspondent
OF London newspaper Beginning at the
north and working southward, l found
myself, about the end of October, at the
small village of Kilcrea, three hours ride
west orCork. Here was Hospitality enter
tanned by Father O'Hea, the local priest, a
man of education and intelligence. During
my two days stay with him, we became
great friends; w discussed politics, litera-
ture and society, and brewed poteen. AT
parting, he gave me as a keepsake an old
leather-bound volume, in manuscript. OF the
sixteenth century. From the first glance l
cast through it, before slipping it into my
pocket, | Judged it sort OF private family
chronicle, certain to be curious, and pos
sibly valuable. And O'Hca, with a nod OF
the head, and peculiar smile on his broad,
genial counte nance, said: Faith, me
don't ye he reading it afther dark I
recognized the value of this advice later
Meanwhile 1 bade him hearty good-by
and rode off
My objective point was Ballynean, to
bad and not easy to find. The country
was very desolate, though beautiful in
its own sad way-bare hills, empty val
leys, rolling naked pastures, destitute OF
cultivation cattle, or human beings Some
times l saw in the distance the roofless
ruin of cabin, with perhaps q tree
growing out of the midst of it, But no
Ballynean hove in sight. At 3 O'Clock
1 halted by stream, watered my horse,
and ate meal OF bread and cheese. Pc
fore had finished there was a threatening
mass of clouds in the west, and in a very
short time the storm was upon me.
1t was All Halloween-when, according
TO Irish superstition, fairies, ghosts, and
goblins are free to hold carnival l soon
began to think that the storm must be
OF their raising. The rain lashed the
ground fiercely; the wind hissed past me
in bewildering gusts; it grew darker and
darker; the weird noises and the electrical
phenomena confused the senses. | finally
allowed my horse to take what course
he would.
He forged doggedly ahead and after an
hour or two OF uphill and duwu-hilI work
saw on my left a CLEAN as OF the waters
OF a lake, while on the right rose an aC-
clivity, just visible against the sky, the
nuIkincss of which. covered as it was
with lowering clouds, was somewhat light
ened by the fncon; though the moon itself
was of course invisible. As | pecred Up
the height ! seemed to discern the rec
tangular outline OF Il building surmountiug
it. There were no lights in il: but the
occupants might have gone to bed, or it
might be deserted. At all events, | re-
solved to spend the night there, and, urg-
ing on my horse, soon came beneath the
walls of the edifice.
AT the same moment the wind died away, |
the rain ceased to fail, and through u
deep nft in the clouds the moon shone out.
The storm was over, just when il had be-
come indifferent TO me whether I con-
tinued or not another instance Of CON
sCious mischief on the part of the hob !
gobblins. The house was huilt of stone |
and seemed to be large and rambling; il !
was neither a castle nor an ordinary dwell |
ing; it belonged to the type of country |
seats often met with in England; was evil |
IDENTIFY very ancient and had long since |
ceased to be Inhabited I found my way |
to the entrance, and, riding through it, got |
into a courtyard, the stone pavement of |
which was overgrOwn with vegetation.
II was surrounded on all four sides 10y the
walls of the building, with numerous I'M
glazed windows revealed duskily in the |
Stabling my horse in one Of the open
rooms on the ground floor, took out my
match safe, which luckily was filled with
wax matches, and set out on journey of |
exploration.
What a grim and strange old Iabyrinth
1t wasl Room opened into room inter
and tTregularly; the floors We're
rotten, the plaster had fallen from the