CHAPTER XII.
THE JOURNEY TO THE COUNTRY The two friends were deposited at the Moate station at a few minutes after midnight, and their available resources amounting to something short of two shillings, and the fare of a car and horse to Kilgobbin being more than three times that amount, they decided to devote their small balance to purposes of refreshment, and then set out for the castle on foot.
'It is a fine moonlight; I know all the short cuts, and I want a bit of walking besides,' said Kearney; and though Joe was of a self-indulgent temperament, and would like to have gone to bed after his supper and trusted to the chapter of accidents to reach Kilgobbin by a conveyance some time, any time, he had to yield his consent and set out on the road.
'The fellow who comes with the letter-bag will fetch over our portmanteau,' said Dick, as they started.
'I wish you'd give him directions to take charge of me, too,' said Joe, who felt very indisposed to a long walk.
'I like _you_,' said Dick sneeringly; 'you are always telling me that you are the sort of fellow for a new colony, life in the bush, and the rest of it, and when it conies to a question of a few miles' tramp on a bright night in June, you try to skulk it in every possible way.

You're a great humbug, Master Joe.' 'And you a very small humbug, and there lies the difference between us.
The combinations in your mind are so few, that, as in a game of only three cards, there is no skill in the playing; while in my nature, as in that game called tarocco, there are half-a-dozen packs mixed up together, and the address required to play them is considerable.' 'You have a very satisfactory estimate of your own abilities, Joe.' 'And why not?
If a clever fellow didn't know he was clever, the opinion of the world on his superiority would probably turn his brain.' 'And what do you say if his own vanity should do it ?' 'There is really no way of explaining to a fellow like you--' 'What do you mean by a fellow like me ?' broke in Dick, somewhat angrily.
'I mean this, that I'd as soon set to work to explain the theory of exchequer bonds to an Eskimo, as to make an unimaginative man understand something purely speculative.

What you, and scores of fellows like you, denominate vanity, is only another form of hopefulness.

You and your brethren--for you are a large family--do you know what it is to Hope! that is, you have no idea of what it is to build on the foundation of certain qualities you recognise in yourself, and to say that "if I can go so far with such a gift, such another will help me on so much farther."' 'I tell you one thing I do hope, which is, that the next time I set out a twelve miles' walk, I'll have a companion less imbued with self-admiration.' 'And you might and might not find him pleasanter company.

Cannot you see, old fellow, that the very things you object to in me are what are wanting in you?
they are, so to say, the compliments of your own temperament.' 'Have you a cigar ?' 'Two--take them both.