witchcraft he
imbibed from it, contrived to pull off the arm of the ould wagabone,
Darmod David Odeen, whilst shaking hands with him--for Finn could do no
feat of strength without sucking his thumb, Shorsha, as Conan the Bald
told the son of Oisin in the song which I used to sing ye in Dungarvon
times of old;" and here Murtagh repeated certain 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 you say you 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 of 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 decent
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 nic