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Show fTHE CORPSE AND THE IRISHMAN. By Charlotte O'Connor Eccles. E "Dan! Dan McCall!" cried a shrill, imperious, childish voice. "Oh, Dan, I'm so glad I've found you; 1 want you to tell me a story." "Be this an' that, Miss Mary, but ye're the great young lady for shtor-Ua shtor-Ua Intlrely. Did I lver tell ye o' the night I was tost In the bog, Miss?" "No, Dan," cried tho little girl, excitedly ex-citedly clapping her hands. "That's new; do go on." "Well, sure it's a long time ago," said Dan. "Twaa In th' ould coun-thry coun-thry and I was Just rlsln' twlnty. , An' whin I was young. Miss Mary, like many another, I always was terrible ter-rible wild, an' nothln' I liked bolter than sportln' an dtvartln' mcself, but, what I wlnt through wan night sobered so-bered me, so It did. My masther sent me over to Oarraduff. An' Qarradulf was a great house, Intlrely for the best ov atln' an' dbrlnkln', an' I got there mlddlln' late. "When I got to Oarraduff there was great atln' and dhrlnkln', an' tho sarvlnts had got In Tommy Murray, the blind piper that used to play at the cross roads, an' there was dancln' goln' on in the sarvlnts' hall, an' maybe If It wasn't near 12 o'clock before be-fore I thought o' tumln' homo. "And whin tboy saw. I was frightened fright-ened to find how late It was, they all began tellln' mo ov a short cut through the bog, an' told me I cudn't miss tbo way, not If I was blind o' wan eye, an' lame o' wan leg. So off I set, miss, an' rale lonesome It was, I whlstelln' to kape me courago up. An' begob, Miss Mary, I wasn't gone wan half hour when a mlsht began be-gan to be, an' before long I found 'twas lost ,1 was. "Well, Miss Mary, to make a long shtory short, If I didn't see, quite sud-dlnt sud-dlnt a light far, far away, for all the wurrld like a sbtar, an' sez I to me-sel', me-sel', 'wherever that light Is thero's people, an' whero's there's peoplo they won't lave a poor gossoon out all night to be starved wld the cowld.' "I'll Go,' Sex I." "So I up an' med for the light, feclln' me way careful, for I didn't want to fall Into no bog-holes, so I didn't. Well, that light was farther off even than It looked, an' it tuk me a dale o' tlmo to get to It, but at last sure I foun' meael' by a biggish cabin, right In the middle o' the bog. So I came up quite an' I looked In on the windy, an' I saw a woman slttln' all bo horsel' be the Ore, and the tears rowlln' down hor cheeks. An' sure 'twas always softhearted soft-hearted I was, so I was, an' begob I was rale sorry to see a womai cry, an' roun' I camo an' knocked at the door. " 'Who's there?' she sez from Inside. " ' 'TIs a poor boy, ma'am,' sez I, 'axln' yer pardon for dtsturbln' ye, but 'tis lost an' perlshln' I am this cowld night." " 'Qo away from here,' sez she, 'an' go quick. Thero's no place for ye.' " 'Oh, for th' lovo o' hlvcn. ma'am,' sez I, 'don't say that. Sure 'tis deshtroyod I'll bo Intlrely if ye don't tako mo in. Just open the duro an' Ink at mo, an' yo'll see 'tis a harmless harm-less craychuro I am, that wudn't touch a hair ov yer head, so I wouldn't.' " 'Aro ye sure yer alone?' says she. " 'I am, ma'am,' soz I. " 'An' did ye mato annywan as ye were comln' along?' sez she. "'Not a mortchal sowl, ma'am,' sez I, 'barrln' a (lock, o' wild geese.' "Well, Miss, afthor this she opens tho duro a llttlo way, vory timid, an' she peeps out an' sez: " 'I can't lot yo In, an' I warn ye that yer In danger hero.' sez she. 'Dut I'll glvo yo somethln' to ate,' says sho, 'an' then yo'll go.' "'Sure I don't want annythln' to ate,' sez I. 'A man can dlo but wanat, an' I may as well dlo inside as out.' "So sho half laughed, and sez sho, 'Ye don't know what yer saying, nor what yer doln' naythur, an' yer askln' me to do a thing that may bo me death. Dut come along, I'll take tho chanco and let ye shleop in the hay, but mind,' sez sho, 'yo're to Ho still, an' be off early In tho morning before annywan Is shtlrrln.' "Well, Miss Mary, she let me In to warrum meseP be the Are, an' sho glv' me somethln' to ate. "Then she led me Into the bayhouie that was nex' dure, an' just divided off from the kitchen by planks, an' I cud see a ray o' light through. Down I lay, Miss, on the bay, an' before ye could say snap I was fast ashleop, "Well, I thougbt I hadn't but tost cloBed my eyes when I hard th' awfull-est awfull-est row, Miss, that lver I hard in m life, going on In tho kltchon. "I put me eye to the crack, an' thtr I saw tho kitchen was full of men all llghtln' like mad, th' ugliest lot o' cusbtomers that lvlr I clapped me eyes on. It was somethln' about money mon-ey I made out, an' dlvldln' It fair, an' wnn sez to th' other, 'Sure, Mao, you killed htm,' tez he, an' whtn the mln waB rushlu' at altch other, the woman she catches hold o' two ov thlm, and, 'For love o' hlvln,' she sex, 'will yea ahtop llghtln'?' And then n man came forward an' he sez, 'The vanlthe Is right,' sez he; 'this flghtln' Is no rood at all.' "They shtopped flghtln', an' afther lot o' talk they blgan goln' off wan be wan till In th' end only the woman was left an' the two men she took hoult ov. Wan o' them, her husband belike, Was a big, Bhtrong, grizzled follow o' 60 or thereabouts, th' other wob a shllp o'a young fellow about 'as ould as mesel'. " "TIs a nice day's worn ye've made ov It,' sez tho woman to tho two mln, 'an' now maybe ye'll come to bed, for 'tis near mornln' It Is," says she. ' " 'Qo to bed yerBel' sez th' ould man. 'Sure we've work to do ylt,' sex he. " Then If ye have,' sez she, 'I'll shtay an' see yo do It " 'Be off,' sez he, threatenln' her like wld his arm. "So, begob, Miss Mary, she began to mount up tho laddher to tho loft, an' as she was goln', I saw hor turn an give such a frltcned look as never was In tho direction of whore I was lyln. Well, If the two murdherln' vll-lylns vll-lylns didn't go out, an' I began to braythe freer, an' was Just waltln' to let thlm git clear away before I was up an' off for me life, whin, 1 declare to you, Miss, be the plpor that played before Moses, me heart all but lepped out o' me body, for J hard thlm at the dure ov the hayhouse. "Well, I lay as shtlll as a mouse, so I did, an' In they camo an' fumbled about, an' tvlry mlnnlt mesel' thought they'd bo on top o' me. " 'Where is that corpse?' sex th' ould fellow after a mlnnlt. "'I have him,' sez the son, an' wld that he claps his hand down on me leg. '"Have, him along,' sez th' ould man; 'do ye take his shouldbers,' ses he, 'an' I'll take his feet.' "Well, Miss Mary, me darllnt, I shtlffened mesel' out as like a corpse as lvlr I cud, an' In me mind I began proparln' for death, an' Iviry sin that Ivir I done In me life kem into me mind, and I said acts ov conthrltlon as hard as ever I could. "An' out they carried me, an' if they didn't lay me on a wheel-barrow wld me legs shtlckln' out) I Just opened wan eye, an' I saw that the mlsht had lifted, an' tho night, or rather the mornln', though shtlll dark, was clare, but I closed It pretty quick when I hoard tho young chap say: 'He looks mortal tall, doesn't he? I didn't think he was so big.' "An' wld that off they wlnt through the bog, takln' turns In wheelln' me. 'Oh laws!' sez 1 to mesel', 'what's comln' now? What's comln' at all, at all?' An' iviry bog-hole we passed by I fairly peppered for fare they'd Just chuck me In, but they didn't An at last they stopped. 'Thls'll do,' sez the ould boy. That mlnnlt out poppod a hare that they'd disturbed, an' sho ran across his fut, an' he gavo wan yell, an' the young chap dhroppod the handles o' tho barrow that suddlnt that I nnroly rowled out ov It. "What Is It?' soz ho, all.thrlmblln. 'What Is It?' an' ho began thryln' to make tho Blgn o' the cross. " 'Sure, nothln' at all,' soz tho father whin ho saw what It was. ' 'TIs only a hare,' soz he, 'that frltened mo.' "'Good hlvensP sez tho son, 'sure I thought I saw this fellow movln', bo I did.' " 'Not a move did he move,' sez tho father, W don't bo makln' a bigger fool o' yerself than y'are. Whero's tho spado?' sez he. "Wars to the Quoen o' Spain!' sez the young chap, 'but we forgot the spado.' "'Why, ye thtck-skullbd young omadhoun,' sez the father, 'why didn't yo mind It? It'll be daylight boforo wo know where we are,' sez be, 'an' the job not done. I suppose I must go for It mesel', sez he. " 'I'll be hanged If I'm goln' to shtay hore wld It all alone,' sez the othor. 'Do you shtay an' I'll go.' " "I won't be loft wld hlra nayther,' soz tho father, an' on. thoy wlnt, argl-fyln', argl-fyln', for both of thlm was onalsy, havln' n bad conscience. At last it was gottln' hatod. " 'Well, If you won't go for the spade,' sez tho father, 'an' I won't go, who tho devil,' sez he savin' your prosonco, Miss 'who tho dovll Is to go?' Wld that, Miss Mary, I sat right up In tho harrow. 'I'll go,' soz I, quite suddlnt, an' I looked at thlm fierce, and stretched out me arrum. "Well, thoy stud wnn moment as If they woro Just turned Into shtone, so they did, an' then they let a scroetch out o' thlm that yo'd hear a mile off, an' away they cut, runnln' as If th' Ould Boy hlm3elf was at their heels; an' I laughed, so I did, faith, to see tne way they were In; but I didn't wait for thlm to come back, but Just ran tor me life In th' other direction an' hid behind a turf shtack. An Boon 'twas dawn, an' afthor wondher-ln' wondher-ln' a bit I got bark to tho right road. An' sure that's nil, Miss." 'Copyright, 1900, by Joseph U. Bowles.) |