THE BALLYHILLY STEEPLECHASE 161 



" Sure, bad luck to it, that's the thirty-foot brook 

 I'm comin' to tell ye about afther," exclaimed Denis 

 somewhat impatiently, for with the mouthpiece of the 

 borrowed pipe, he was at that moment illustrating how 

 Kitty had negotiated the " double " like " a coortin' 

 tom-cat." " An' ye see, Micky, we left the lane behind, 

 an' came thundherin' across the lucerne bottom like the 

 Dublin express. The bould Kitty flew over the cow- 

 palin's " (post and rail) " all as wan as a rocketin' 

 pheasant. Then we wheeled round to the right — take 

 your big brogue off the coorse, Micky — then we wheeled 

 round to the right, an' hell for leather homewards, an' 

 young Daly whippin' and spurrin' to get on terms wid 

 us. 'Twould 'av' done your heart good, Micky, to see 

 the way the ould mare took over the fences in her 

 sthride, wid niver a peck nor a stumble, an' me sittin' as 

 tight an' grand as it might 'av' been Joe Widger on Wild 

 Man iv Borneo at the Grand National." 



" 'Twas the grand figure ye cut entoirely wid you arms 

 round her neck like Johnnie Giltpin, the man the curate 

 recited about at the school the other night, an' young 

 Daly sphttin' his sides at ye, an' houldin' ould Donovan 

 in to get a good look at ye, when he could 'av' passed ye 

 like the shot iv a gun at any minit," again put in one 

 of the " clattherin' blackguards," who, tired of the game 

 of shove-halfpenny, once more gathered round to draw 

 the old beagler. 



" An' it's back ye are again, ye disthressin' set iv 

 ignorant, good-for-nothin' divils. Give them tuppence, 



