"But wait till I tell you how it was, sure;" and then Andy began an
account of the condition in which the voters lay at the inn but between
the impatience of those who heard, and the confused manner of Andy's
recital, it was some time before matters were explained; and then Andy was
desired to ride back to the inn again, to tell the electors shoes should
be forwarded after him in a post-chaise, and requesting their utmost
exertions in hastening over to the town, for that the election was going
against them. Andy returned to the inn; and this time, under orders from
head quarters, galloped in good earnest, and brought in his horse smoking
hot, and indicating lameness. The day was wearing apace, and it was so
late when the electors were enabled to start that the polling-booths were
closed before they could leave the town; and in many of these booths the
requisite number of electors had not been polled that day to keep them
open; so that the next day nearly all those outlying electors, about whom
there had been so much trouble and expense, would be of no avail. Thus,
Murphy's trick was quite successful, and the poor pickled electors were
driven back to their inn in dudgeon.

Andy, when he went to the stable to saddle his steed, for a return to
Neck-or-Nothing Hall, found him dead lame, so that to ride him better than
twelve miles home was impossible. Andy was obliged to leave him where he
was, and trudge it to the hall; for all the horses in Kelly's stables were
knocked up with their day's work.

As it was shorter by four miles across the country than by the road, Andy
pursued the former course; and as he knew the country well, the shades of
evening, which were now closing round, did not deter him in the least.
Andy was not very fresh for the journey to be sure, for he had ridden
upwards of thirty miles that day, so the merry whistle, which is so