“'I can't say much for my performance; but I'm passionately fond of it.”
'“Well,” added I, “I believe I can answer for it, you 'll have a good day here.”
'So chatting, we rolled along, the darkness gradually thickening round us, and the way becoming more gloomy and deserted.
'“It's strange,” says Mr. Green, after a while; “it's strange, how very dark it grows before sunrise; for I perceive it's much blacker now than when we set out.”
'“Every climate has its peculiarities,” said I; “and now that we 're used to this, we like it better than any other. But see there, yonder, where you observe the light in the valley—that's Carrick. My friend's house is a little at the side of the town. I hope you 've a good appetite for breakfast.”
'“Trust me, I never felt so hungry in my life.”
'“Ah, here they come!” said Oakley, as he stood with a lantern in his hand at the barrack-gate; “here they are! Good-morning, Mr. Green. Bob, how goes it? Heavenly morning!”
'“Delightful indeed,” said poor Green, though evidently not knowing why.
'“Come along, boys, now,” said Oakley; “we've a great deal before us; though I am afraid, Mr. Green, you will think little of our Irish sporting after your English preserves. However, I have kept a few brace of pheasants, very much at your service, in a snug clover-field near the house. So now to breakfast.”
'There were about half a dozen of the Fifth at that time in the barrack, who all entered heart and hand into the scheme, and with them we sat down to a capital meal, which, if it was not for a big tea-pot and an urn that figured in the middle of the table, might very well have been called dinner. Poor Mr. Green, who for old prejudice' sake began with his congo and a muffin, soon afterwards, and by an easy transition, glided into soup and fish, and went the pace with the rest of us. The claret began to circulate briskly, and after a couple of hours the whisky made its appearance. The Englishman, whose attention was never suffered to flag with singular anecdotes of a country, whose eccentricities he already began to appreciate, enjoyed himself to the utmost. He laughed, he drank, he even proposed to sing; and with one hand on Oakley's shoulder, and the other on mine, he registered a vow to purchase an estate and spend the rest of his days in Ireland. It was now about eleven o'clock, when I proposed that we should have a couple of hours at the woodcocks before luncheon.