“Athlone is down beyond that low mountain. Now, Ned Malone's is only six short miles from this. You keep this byroad till you reach the smith's forge; then turn off to the lift, across the fields, till you come to an ould ruin; lave that to your right hand, and follow the boreen straight; 'twill bring you to Ned's doore.” “But I don't know him,” said I. “What signifies that? Sure 'tis no need you have. Tell him you 'll stop there till Darby the Blast comes for you. And see, now, here 's all you have to do: put your right thumb in the palm of your lift hand,--this way,--and then kiss the other thumb, and then you have it. But mind you don't do that till you 're alone with him; 't is a token between ourselves.” “I wish you were coming with me, Darby; I'd rather not leave you!” “'Tis myself mislikes it, too,” said Darby, with a sigh. “But I daren't miss going to Athlone; the major would soon ferret me out; and it's worse it would be for me.” “And what am I to do if Mr. Basset comes after me?” “If he has n't a throop of horse at his back, you may laugh at him in Ned Malone's, And now good-by, acushla; and don't let your heart be low,--you 'll be a man soon, you know.” The words of encouragement could not have been more happily chosen to raise my drooping spirits. The sense of opening manhood was already stirring within me, and waited but for some direct occasion to elicit it in full vigor. I shook Darby's hand with a firm grasp, and assuming the easiest smile I could accomplish, I set out on the path before me with all the alacrity in my power. The first thought that shot across my mind when I parted with my companion was the utter loneliness of my condition; the next--and it followed immediately on the other--was the bold consciousness of personal freedom. I enjoyed at the moment the untrammelled liberty to wander without let or control. All memory of Tony Basset was forgotten, and I only remembered the restraint of school and the tyranny of my master. My plan--and already I had formed a plan--was to become a farmer's servant, to work as a daily laborer. Ned Malone would probably accept of me, young as I was, in that capacity; and I had no other ambition than such as secured my independence.