ON THE CLIFFS 19 



" Sure what else would they be goin' for but to 

 buy cods' heads." 



" Why? " asked Miss French, who felt this 

 answer to be both bizarre and unsatisfactory. 



" I d'nno. I've never axed them." 



This brought the subject to a cul-de-sac and brick 

 wall. 



And if you will examine Moriarty's answers you 

 will find that he had constructed an impregnable 

 position, a glacis across which no child could get 

 a " why? " 



Miss French ruminated on this for a moment 

 whilst Moriarty, having finished his operations on 

 the stick, tapped the dottle out of his pipe, refilled 

 it and lit it. 



Then, leaning on his elbow, he lay watching the 

 ships going to Limerick and thinking about stable 

 matters, and Garryowen, the latest addition to 

 Mr French's stable, in particular. 



Moriarty had spotted Garryowen. It was by 

 his advice that Mr French had bought the colt, 

 and it was in his hands that the colt was turning 

 into one of the fleetest things that ever put hoof to 

 turf. 



Miss French watched her companion and they 

 sat hke this for a long, long time, whilst the wind 

 blew, and the sea boomed, and the gulls passed 

 overhead, honey-coloured where the sunUght 

 pierced the snow of their wings. 



" Moriarty," said the child at last, " how would 

 you like to have a governess? " 



