THE HERON 
his coat wet with mist ; but he did not feel cold, 
for choirs of devils went with him and talked 
to him, pointing to the lights of Ballongarry. 
Then his great idea was born when he saw the 
Corr iasc fly screaming westwards from the 
morning star, when the vigil, and the glamour 
of the "false dawn," and the devil talk had 
made him a little light-headed. 
" As long as there was a Corr iasc's nest within 
the bawl of an ass o' the place, there should be 
a Geoghegan in Ballongarry." On the slope of 
the mountain he saw five. They stood in a 
wide circle, gravely, without sound or move- 
ment, like ghosts of birds. Only when he 
crawled from his lair among the gorse did they 
take wing and flap silently to another knoll 
further away. They alighted independently 
and stood silent and hunched as before; but 
before Andy had reached his cabin, he saw that 
their circle was closing up again. Then he 
knew what it meant, for the fox on the hill had 
been barking all night, and a ewe on Slieve Gar 
had dropped her lamb. It was the new year, 
and the herons were pairing. 
A sitting hen upon his bed clucked softly as he 
threw himself down beside her. He was so tired 
that he slept without the soothing of the black 
bottle, and at last he began to dream. He 
dreamed that he saw Cornelius Geoghegan 
2 37 
