Irish words to the
following effect:--

"O little the foolish words I heed
O Oisin's son, from thy lips which come;
No strength were in Finn for valorous deed,
Unless to the gristle he suck'd his thumb."

"Enough is as good as a feast, Murtagh, I am no longer in the cue for
Finn. I would rather hear your own history. Now tell us, man, all that
has happened to ye since Dungarvon times of old?"

"Och, Shorsha, it would be merely bringing all my sorrows back upon me!"

"Well, if I know all your sorrows, perhaps I shall be able to find a help
for them. I owe you much, Murtagh; you taught me Irish, and I will do
all I can to help you."

"Why, then, Shorsha, I'll tell ye my history. Here goes!"

CHAPTER XLV

Murtagh's Tale.

"Well, Shorsha, about a year and a half after you left us--and a
sorrowful hour for us it was when ye left us, losing, as we did, your
funny stories of your snake--and the battles of your military--they sent
me to Paris and Salamanca, in order to make a saggart of me."

"Pray excuse me," said I, "for interrupting you, but what kind of place
is Salamanca?"

"Divil a bit did I ever see of it, Shorsha!"

"Then why did ye say ye were sent there? Well, what kind of place is
Paris? Not that I care much about Paris."

"Sorrow a bit did I ever see of either them, Shorsha, for no one sent me
to either. When we says at home a person is going to Paris and
Salamanca, it manes that he is going abroad to study to be a saggart,
whether he goes to them places or not. No, I never saw either--bad luck
to them--I was shipped away from Cork up the straits to a place called
Leghorn, from which I was sent to--to a religious house, where I was to
be instructed in saggarting till they had made me fit to cut a dacent
figure in Ireland. We had a long and tedious voyage, Shorsha; not so
tedious, however, as it would have been had I been fool enough to lave
your pack of cards behind me, as the thaif, my brother Denis, wanted to
persuade me to do, in order that he might play with them himself. With
the cards I managed to have many a nice game with the sailors, winning
from them ha'pennies and sixpences until the captain said I was ruining
his men, and keeping them from their duty; and, being a heretic and a
Dutchman, swore that unless I gave over he would tie me up to the mast
and give me a round dozen. This threat obliged me to be more on my
guard, though I occasionally contrived to ge