need so many stools aanyway," Jamie said. "I'll get a hatchet
an' we'll haave a fire in no time."

"T' be freezin' t' death wi a bogman goin' t' waste is unchristian, t'
say th' laste," Billy ventured.

"Every time we get to th' end of th' tether God appears!" Anna said
reassuringly, as she pinned her shawl closer around her neck.

"There's nothin' but empty bowels and empty pipes in our house," the
sweep said, "but we've got half a dozen good turf left!"

"Well, it's a long lane that's got no turnin'--ye might lend us thim,"
Jamie suggested.

"If ye'll excuse m' fur a minit, I'll warm this house, an' may the
Virgin choke m' in th' nixt chimley I sweep if I don't!"

In a few minutes he returned with six black turf. The fire was rebuilt
and we basked in its warm white glow. The bogman snored on. Billy
inquired about the amount of his change. Then he became solicitous
about his comfort on the floor. Each suggestion was a furtive flank
movement on Boyle's loose change.

Anna saw the bent of his mind and tried to divert his attention.

"Did ye ever hear, Billy," she said, "that if we stand a dhrunk maan on
his head it sobers him?"

"Be the powers, no."

"They say," she said with a twinkle in her eyes, "that it empties him of
his contents."

"Aye," sighed the sweep, "there's something in that, Anna; let's thry it
on Boyle."

There was an element of excitement in the suggestion and we youngsters
hoped it would be carried out. Billy made a move to suit the action to
the thought, but Anna pushed him gently back. "Jamie's mouth is as
wathry as yours, Billy, but we'll take no short cuts, we'll go th' long
way around."

That seemed a death-blow to hope. My sisters began to whimper and
sniffle. We had many devices for diverting hunger. The one always used
as a last resort was the stories of the "great famine." We were
particularly helped by one about a family half of whom died around a pot
of stir-about that had come too late. When we heard Jamie say, "Things
are purty bad, but they're not as bad as they might be," we knew a
famine story was on the way.

"Hould yer horses there a minute!" Billy O'Hare broke in. He took the
step-ladder and before we knew what he was about he had taken a bunch of
dried rosemary from the roof-beams and was rubbing it in his hands as a
substitute for tobacco.

After rubbing it between his hands he filled his pipe and began to puff
vigorously.

"Wud ye luk at 'im!" Jamie exclaimed.