devices of old Rory, whom he proposed to
bring with him. Ody had been careful not to put on his best clothes
until he had caught the beast, because, as he remarked, "He well knew
the crathur 'ud be off wid himself hidin' in the unhandiest place the
divil 'ud put in his mind, if he noticed e'er a dacint stitch on him."
Yet despite this precaution, when his master went to look for him after
breakfast, no black pony was in sight.

"And he that'll be foosterin' everywhere under your feet other whiles,
he's that fond of company," said Ody's aunt, who hobbled out of doors
for the first time to assist in the search. "Belike he's seen you
rubbin' up your brogues, and be raison of that he's took off wid
himself. Bedad, now the big ould head of him is as full of desate as it
can hould."

"He's a notorious schemer, God forgive him," Ody said, rather sadly, for
it went against the grain with him to admit defects in Rory.

But his scheming bade fair to prove successful, as Ody after long
hunting stood baffled at the door, with his expedition seemingly
frustrated, when Hugh McInerney passing by reported that he "was after
seein' the baste lanin' gathered up close agin the back of the big stone
above there, wid a continted grin on the ould gob of him that 'ud
frighten you wid the villiny was in it." Whereupon the two young men
went to dislodge him from his fool's paradise, and the three started
together without further delay.

Till a short way down the road they met old Felix O'Beirne, and with him
Denis O'Meara, at whose heels followed Joe Egan, ragged and small, his
habit being to dog his splendid cousin so persistently that old Mrs.
Byers next door said she wondered "the young chap didn't of an odd
while take him be the two shoulders and sling him over the dyke."

"So you're off to the fair," said old O'Beirne. "And is it sellin' the
pony you'd be at last? Sure, now, he'll be the pick of the market,
that's sartin."

"Ah, they'll niver give me me price for him, the naygurs," said Ody.

"Our Captin-Commandin' here had a right to take him off of you for a
throoper," said old O'Beirne, "and, faix, there wouldn't be his aquil in
the len'th and breadth of the army. What 'ud you offer for him, lad?
Look at the size of the head he has on him, and the onnathural white
face of him that's fit to scare a rigimint before it, if there was
nothin' else."

"Is it broke bankrupt you'd have me then?" said Denis, "settin' up to be
buyin' me