Part 38 (2/2)
”'Come on ye Glad-stone ye, and Parnell, and Judas, and Koran--and Dathan--and Abiram,' says William.
”'Come on ye onnatural parasite ye, and Crumwell, and Shadrach--and Mesech--and Abednego,' says James.
”'Come on ye auld Puseyite, and no more about it,' says William. With that he joined to go forrard, and James he should have come forrard fornenst him, but Andy's mare, she just planted the fore-feet o' her and stud there the same as she was growed in the ground. With that there was two of the Aiden-scampses come on, and of all the pullin' and haulin'! But de'il a toe would she budge, and all the boys began larfin', so they did, and William says, says he:
”'Come on till I pull the neck out o' ye.... Come on, me brave boy....
Fetch her a clip on the lug. Hit her a skelp behint. Jab her with yer knee, man alive. Och, come on, ye Bap, ye.'
”Well, the skin o' a pig couldn't stand that, and Andy, he was middlin'
smart at a repartee, so 'Bap yersel',' says he, and with that he let a growl out o' him ye might have heared te Portadown. Ye never heared the like, nor what's more, Andy Wilson's mare, she never heared the like, and she just made the wan lep and landed in the strame fornenst William; then James he tuk a howlt o' William, and 'Bap yersel', says he; and with that he coped him off his gran' white horse, and he drooked him in the watter.
”Then there was the fine play, and the best divarsion ever ye seen. Some they were for William, and some they were for James, and every wan he up with his fut or his fist, or onny other weepon that come convenient, and the boys they were all bloodin' other, and murder and all sorts.”
”I thought you were all friends at Scarva?”
”And so we were--just friends fightin' through other.”
”Was any one hurt?”
”Was anyone hurted? Sure, they were just trailin' theirselves off the ground. Ye wud have died larfin'. There's Jimmy Hanlon was never his own man since, and I had me nose broke on me--I find it yet--and some says there was a wee girl from Tanderagee got herself killed.”
”What became of William?”
”He was clean drowned.”
”And King James?”
”He's in h.e.l.l with Johnny M'Adam.”
I tried to explain that I had not meant the King himself, but the actor in whom nature had been stronger than dramatic instinct, but Tummus either could not or would not dissociate the two. He really was not attending to me: I had perceived for some time that his thoughts were wandering far from our conversation. Suddenly a spasm convulsed his features. With one hand he raised his hoe in the air like a tomahawk, disregarding the weed of his afternoon's toil, which was left limp and helpless on the gravel; with the other he grasped his side. I feared the old man was going to have a fit, but it was only uncontrollable laughter at some joke as yet hidden from me.
”Well, do ye know what I'm goin' te tell ye? I wud just allow William was a middlin' polished boy, so he was. He subsidised the Pope o' Rome, did he? Man, oh! Do ye tell me that? That bates all, and him goin' to take just twiste what he let on.”
Old Tummus unquestionably was absolutely sober at the beginning of our interview, and had remained ”dry” during it, but he now became gradually intoxicated with what had appeared to him to be his hero's splendid cunning. The thought of a genius which could overreach someone else in a bargain rose to his brain like champagne. He swayed on his feet; he ran his words into each other; he a.s.sumed a gaiety of manner and expression quite unusual to him.
I watched him lurch down the walk, and then pause on the bridge. He supported himself by the wooden railing, which creaked as he swayed to and fro, and addressed the stream and the trees--
”Do ye know what I'm goin' to tell ye? I wud just allow he was a middlin' polished boy--so he was.”
The Game Leg.
_From ”The Furry Farm.”_
BY K. F. PURDON.
Heffernan's house at the Furry Farm stood very backwards from the roadside, hiding itself, you'd really think, from anyone that might be happening by. As if it need do that! Why, there was no more snug, well-looked-after place in the whole of Ardenoo than Heffernan's always was, with full and plenty in it for man and beast, though it wasn't to say too tasty-looking.
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