THE SILJ'AIi FOX 35 



turned, breathless, with the grand dog slink- 

 ing at his bare heels. The yellow cur was 

 withdrawn by the tail from the lower end 

 of the drain, and the terrier was rammed in 

 like a charge into a gun, its owner, a very 

 respectable elderly man, lying flat on his 

 face in the mud, with his head in the drain, 

 bellowing encouragement. Faint squeaks 

 from the bow^els of the earth soon testified 

 that the combat had begun, and the owner 

 redoubled his bawls of '' Good boy ! good 

 lad ! " At this moment a shout arose from 

 the road above that '' the flood was loosed," 

 in other words, that the artificers of the 

 dam had lost patience, and had turned the 

 pent-up waters of the stream once more into 

 the drain. Dinny Hegarty arose from the 

 lower end to protest, but he was too late. 

 There was a chorus of shouts, " The dog'll 

 be shoked"— '*The two o' thim'il be shoked" 

 — "There isn't as much wather as'd shoke 

 them "—" Faith, the divil himself d be 

 shoked in it ! " 



What were the experiences of the sub- 



