uniformly attended such schoolmasters as settled there; and when this
came to the ears of the Findramore folk, it was once more resolved that
the advertisement should be again put up, with a clause containing an
explanation on that point. The clause ran as follows:

"N.B.--The two last masthers that was hanged out of Findramore, that
is, Mickey Corrigan, who was hanged for killing the Aagent, and Jem
Garraghty, that died of a declension--Jem died in consequence of
ill-health, and Mickey was hanged contrary to his own wishes; so that it
wasn't either of their faults--as witness our hands this 207th of July.

"Dick Dolan, his (X) mark."


This explanation, however, was as fruitless as the original
advertisement; and week after week passed over without an offer from
a single candidate. The "vicinity" of Findramore and its "naborhood"
seemed devoted to ignorance; and nothing remained, except another effort
at procuring a master by some more ingenious contrivance.

Debate after debate was consequently held in Barney Brady's; and, until
a fresh suggestion was made by Delany, the prospect seemed as bad as
ever. Delany, at length fell upon a new plan; and it must be confessed,
that it was marked in a peculiar manner by a spirit of great originality
and enterprise, it being nothing less than a proposal to carry off,
by force or stratagem, Mat Kavanagh, who was at that time fixed in the
throne of literature among the Ballyscanlan boys, quite unconscious of
the honorable translation to the neighborhood of Findramore which was
intended for him. The project, when broached, was certainly a startling
one, and drove most of them to a pause, before they were sufficiently