e worth saving, and he believed that his own sword was a match
for any ax. If this ruffian Cathbarr was a freebooting outlaw, he would
be willing enough to stake his ten men on his prowess, and Yellow Brian
was very anxious to have those ten axmen behind him.

At the top of the tower men watched and steel glistened, and as Brian
rode up to the low gateway, it was flung open and a man strode out.
This man hardly came up to Brian's conception of an outlaw, except as to
stature.

He was a good six feet four, reflected Brian as he drew rein and waited,
and was built in proportion--or, rather, out of proportion. His
shoulders and chest seemed tremendous, and a long mail-shirt reached to
his knees; his hair was short-clipped and brown, and beneath his curly
brown beard Brian made out a massive face, wide-set brown eyes, and an
air not so much ruffianly as of cheerful good-humor.

Brian had no need to ask his name, however, for in one hand he carried a
weapon such as had seldom seen the light since powder had come to
Ireland. It was an ax, some five feet from haft to helve; double-bladed,
each blade eight inches long, curved back slightly, and two inches thick
by twice as much wide. The edges, which came down sharply from the
thickness, were not overkeen, and were not meant to be so. When the
thing struck, that was the end of what stood before it.

"_Cead mile failte!_" cried Cathbarr of the Ax in a deep, rumbling
voice, his white teeth flashing through his beard in a smile. "A hundred
thousand welcomes to you, swordsman! Are you come to capture my lordly
castle?"

"No; your men," laughed Brian, liking this huge, merry giant on the
instant. "I am come from O'Donnell Dubh to reduce you and fetch you to
him."

The smile froze on the giant's face.

"I am sorry for that, yellow one! I like your face and your thews, and
to find that you serve the black traitor of Bertragh is an ill thing."

"I serve no man," answered Brian easily. "I need men. If I conquer you,
O'Donnell lends me twoscore men for three months; also, by conquering
you I win your men to me, which makes fifty. With my seventy men, I
shall fall to work."

"By my faith, a ready reckoner!" and Cathbarr grinned again. "Get down
and fight."

Brian swung out of the saddle and led his horse to one side. They were
not so badly matched, he reflected. Cathbarr's head was bared, while he
had steel cap and jack; but for some reason he felt hesitant at thought
of kill