OF CORK IASC 
THE HERON 
I 
MEN came to Ballongarry in the autumn and 
hall-marked the woods from Ruthcorrig to 
Dwerning with axe and saw. By January the 
hillside was littered with stripped trunks, 
which looked like corpses on a stricken field ; 
and the cart wheels ploughed rutty tracks into 
the heart of thickets which had belonged to 
the wild people since the year of Vinegar Hill. 
Three people watched this clearing of the 
hillside. The first was Cornelius Geoghegan, 
of that well-known firm of linen manufacturers, 
Geoghegan, Macfarlane & Co. 
" Worthless timber ! " said Cornelius Geo- 
ghegan, " cut it down." 
The second was Andy Hogan, in his cottage 
in Dwerning Glen. He leaned against" his 
door, smoking his pipe of an evening, and 
said : "The dirthy blackguard above has half 
the wood cut down." And he kicked the 
door-post savagely. 
206 
