THE DOG FROM DOONE 59 



uttered the classic screech of " Gone Away ! " and, 

 in response, the cook came into action armed with 

 the tongs, and accompanied by Lally, who was 

 armed simply but plentifully with his own vocabu- 

 lary. The least of his desires was that he might 

 give the thief the full of the poker, the most pious 

 of his wishes that the divil might blister and roast 

 him, and the cook sandwiched between these efforts 

 the long tale of the depredations, the supernatural 

 cunning, and the mysterious omnipresence of the 

 Dog from Doone. 



Dinner was late, and there was an aching void 

 where the whipped cream should have been; a holy 

 war was proclaimed by the head of the house against 

 the buccaneer, and a cartridge was vowed to him on 

 his next manifestation. But his tactics were not 

 perfectly understood; it was duly recognised that 

 after a raid followed a lull, so that the invaluable 

 element of the unexpected was maintained. His 

 paternal home in the village of Doone knew him not ; 

 his owner was instant in promises of his execution 

 without benefit of clergy when next visited. He had, 

 he said, a month ago, put him in a sack and thrown 

 him in the lake, " and the same evening what'd be 

 shaking himself afther me up the road only me lad ! 

 It must be he ate his way out o' the sack. But afther 

 that he wouldn't let one in the counthry put a hand 

 on him." 



It seemed to me that a certain distrust was perhaps 

 justifiable, in the circumstances. It was reported 

 later that he had been seen following a cart of turf 

 into Galway, and it was assumed that he had passed 

 into other spheres of activity. 



The bad weather that began with Christmas did 

 not cease during Christmas week. The rain blew in 

 from the north-west in spiky showers, and from the 



