130 MARTIN RATTLER.

celebrated at a village about a league distant from
where they stood.

“I should like to see it above all things,” said
Martin eagerly ; “could we not go?”

The hermit frowned. “Yes, we can go, but it will
be to behold folly. Perhaps it will be a good lesson
from which much may be learned. We will go.”

“Tt’s not a step that I'll budge till I’ve finished me
pipe,” said Barney, pulling away at that bosom friend
with unexampled energy. “To smoke,” he continued,
winking gently with one eye, “is the first law of
nature ; jist give me ten minutes more, an’ I’m your
man for anything.”

Being a fine evening, they proceeded on foot. In
about an hour after setting out they approached the
village, which lay in a beautiful valley below them.
Sounds of mirth and music rose like a distant mur-
mur on the air, and mingled with the songs of birds
and insects. Then the sun went down, and in a few
minutes it grew dark, while the brilliant fire-flies
began their nocturnal gambols. Suddenly a bright
flame burst over the village, and a flight of magnifi-
cent rockets shot up into the sky, and burst in a
hundred bright and variously-coloured stars, which
paled for a few seconds the lights of nature. But

they vanished in a moment, and the clear stars shed