14 THE SILVER FOX 



and bought a bit of a hillside from old 

 Danny Quin at Cahirdreen. There was a 

 big patch of furze there, and the men said 

 that when the first blast went off a grey fox 

 ran out of it and away into the hills ; a sort 

 of fox that no one had ever seen before. 

 They say that there is an old prophecy 

 about the bad luck that is to come when 

 that hill is thrown into Tully Lake, and 

 that is just what is to be done where the 

 line crosses a corner of the lake. They 

 believe that the fox is a witch or a fairy, 

 and that it will bring the bad luck." 



" By Jove ! that's rather interesting," said 

 Hugh, steering Slaney into a chair and 

 subsiding into another beside her ; " we'll 

 have to kill that grey fox." 



" The men say he was more a silver 

 colour," pursued Slaney, "and Mike Driscoll 

 told me * he thought he'd never ate another 

 bit, afther he seen the way it legged it up 

 the hill, an' it lashin' the tail and makin' 

 snouts at them like a thing that'd be grinnin 

 and laughin'.' " Slaney was very successful 



