But you don't know that there was an attempt made on my life this mornin'." On hearing this, they were all mute with astonishment.
"In the name of heaven how, John ?" they inquired with one voice.
[Illustration: PAGE 110-- He made a stab at my neck] "A red-haired man came to my aunt's," he continued, "early this mornin', an' said if I wanted to hear something for my good, I would follow him.
I did so, an' I observed that he eyed me closely as we went along.

We took the way that turns up the Quarry, an' afther gettin' into one of the little fir groves off the road, he made a stab at my neck, as I stooped to tie my shoe that happened to be loose.

As God would have it, he only tore the skin above my forehead.

I pursued the villain on the spot, but he disappeared among the trees, as if the earth had swallowed him.

I then went into Darby Kavanagh's, where I got my breakfast; an' as I was afraid that you might by pure force prevent me from meetin' the black, I didn't stir out of it till the proper time came." This startling incident occasioned much discussion among his friends, who of course were ignorant alike of the person who had attempted his assassination, and of the motives which could have impelled him to such a crime.