O'GEADY'S FOX 



J URE, Micky, the hounds 

 '11 meet at Hogan's Cross- 

 roads the morrow, an' 

 if ye come, ye'U see the 

 grandest bit iv sport 

 ye iver saw in all your 

 born days," said Denis 

 0' Grady, enthusiastic- 

 ally, to his boon 

 companion, Micky 

 McLoughlin, the Bally- 

 hilly cobbler, as they sat 

 together before the glowing peat fire in the kitchen of 

 0' Grady's Uttle homestead. 



" An it's sorra the fox they'll get nearer than that 

 ould white tagged one at Keownan's Hill, that they've 

 hunted a hundhred times, an' might as well av ben afther 

 a weasel in a rabbit warren, wid his twistin' an' doublin' 

 thricks," responded McLoughlin. 



" Devil the five miles they'll have to go for a fox," 

 grinned O'Grady, " when there's the gamest an' 

 sthraightest-necked pug in all Ireland hidin' himself for 

 the last six months undher the roots iv the big oak in 

 that bit iv covert iv mine in the hollow." 



" Thrust you for keeping a saycret, Denis, when 

 71 



