nix. "Could
you kindly tell us--"

"Will you have a cigar?" the Leprechaun interrupted.

With a surprised "Thank you very much," the Phoenix took the cigar,
bit off the end, and popped it into its beak. The Leprechaun lighted
it, and the Phoenix puffed away.

"Stick o' gum, lad?" said the Leprechaun to David, holding out a pack.

"Why, yes, thank you," said David. He took the stick of gum from the
pack, and was immediately sorry for it. The stick was made of wood and
had a small wire spring, like a mouse trap, which snapped down on his
finger and made him yelp with pain. At the same instant the Phoenix's
cigar exploded, knocking the startled bird backwards into a bush.

"Haw haw haw!" shouted the Leprechaun, rolling on the ground and
holding his sides. "Haw haw haw!"

In a trice the Phoenix had pounced on the Leprechaun and pinned him to
the ground.

"Let him up," said David furiously. "I'll punch his head for him."

"I think, my boy," said the Phoenix coldly, "that I shall carry the
creature up into the clouds and drop him. Or should we take him back
with us and hand him over to the Scientist?"

"Now, don't take offense, Your Honor," said the Leprechaun. "I thought
you'd look at it as kind o' comic."

"Exceedingly comic," said the Phoenix severely. "I am quite overcome
with mirth and merriment. But perhaps--_perhaps_--I shall let you off
lightly if you tell us where the Banshee lives."

"The--the Banshee of Mare's Nest Wood?"

"The same. Speak!"

A new light of respect and fear came into the Leprechaun's eyes.
"She's a terror, she is. What'll you be wanting--"

"None of your business!" roared the Phoenix. "Where is she?"

The Leprechaun had begun to tremble. "Follow the path yonder through
the wood until you reach the cave, Your Honor. You're not friends o'
hers, are you? You'll not be telling on me? I'm real sorry for those
jokes, Your Honor."

The Leprechaun's fright was so genuine now that the Phoenix relented
and let him go. The little creature dashed off like a rabbit into the
bog.

"Let that be a lesson to you, my boy," said the Phoenix. "Beware the
Leprechaun bearing gifts. But I wonder why the thought of the Banshee
frightened him so?"

They followed the path until they came to the mouth of a cave under a
heap of rocks. The Phoenix plunged in, and David nervously followed.
The cave turned out to be a long passageway which led, after several
turns, into a chamber.

From the ceiling of t