e needin' to mind that
man standin' there! You know he can't see nor hear us!"

Oh, it was good to hear the rich old tongue again. I smiled, and the
foreman of the leprechauns--if that's what he was--saw me smile and
became stiff and alert for a moment, as though suspecting that perhaps
I actually could see him. Then he shrugged and turned away, clearly
deeming such a thing impossible.

I said, "Just a minute, friend, and I'll beg your pardon. It so happens
I _can_ see you."

He whirled to face me again, staring open-mouthed. Then he said, "What?
What's that, now?"

"I can see you," I said.

"Ohhh!" he said and put his palms to his cheekbones. "Saints be with us!
He's a believer! Run everybody--run for your lives!"

And they all began running, in as many directions as there were little
souls. They began to scurry behind the trees and bushes, and a sloping
embankment nearby.

"No, wait!" I said. "Don't go away! I'll not be hurting you!"

They continued to scurry.

I knew what it was they feared. "I don't intend catching one of you!" I
said. "Come back, you daft little creatures!"

But the glade was silent, and they had all disappeared. They thought I
wanted their crock of gold, of course. I'd be entitled to it if I could
catch one and keep him. Or so the legends affirmed, though I've wondered
often about the truth of them. But I was after no gold. I only wanted to
hear the music of an Irish tongue. I was lonely here in America, even if
I had latched on to a fine job of work for almost shamefully generous
pay. You see, in a place as full of science as the nuclear propulsion
center there is not much time for the old things. I very much wanted to
talk to the little people.

I walked over to the center of the glade where the curious shiny object
was standing. It was as smooth as glass and shaped like a huge cigar.
There were a pair of triangular fins down at the bottom, and stubby
wings amidships. Of course it was a spaceship, or a miniature replica of
one. I looked at it more closely. Everything seemed almost miraculously
complete and workable.

I shook my head in wonder, then stepped back from the spaceship and
looked about the glade. I knew they were all hiding nearby, watching me
apprehensively. I lifted my head to them.

"Listen to me now, little people!" I called out. "My name's Houlihan of
the Roscommon Houlihans. I am descended from King Niall himself--or so
at least my father used to say! Come on ou