'd to give the pledge, an'
wid the blessin' iv timperance to deginerate Ireland.

'An' begorra, I have the medle myself; an' it's proud I am iv that same,
for abstamiousness is a fine thing, although it's mighty dhry.

'Well, whin Terence finished his pint, he thought he might as well stop;
"for enough is as good as a faste," says he; "an' I pity the vagabond,"
says he, "that is not able to conthroul his licquor," says he, "an'
to keep constantly inside iv a pint measure," said he; an' wid that he
wished Jer Garvan a good-night, an' walked out iv the room.

'But he wint out the wrong door, bein' a thrifle hearty in himself, an'
not rightly knowin' whether he was standin' on his head or his heels, or
both iv them at the same time, an' in place iv gettin' into bed, where
did he thrun himself but into the poulthry hamper, that the boys had
settled out ready for the gandher in the mornin'. An' sure enough he
sunk down soft an' complate through the hay to the bottom; an' wid the
turnin' and roulin' about in the night, the divil a bit iv him but was
covered up as shnug as a lumper in a pittaty furrow before mornin'.

'So wid the first light, up gets the two boys, that war to take the
sperit, as they consaved, to Tipperary; an' they cotched the ould
gandher, an' put him in the hamper, and clapped a good wisp iv hay an'
the top iv him, and tied it down sthrong wid a bit iv a coard, and med
the sign iv the crass over him, in dhread iv any harum, an' put the
hamper up an the car, wontherin' all the while what in the world was
makin' the ould burd so surprisin' heavy.

'Well, they wint along quite anasy towards Tipperary, wishin' every
minute that some iv the neighbours bound the same way id happen to fall
in with them, for they didn't half like the notions iv havin' no company
but the bewitched gandher, an' small blame to them for that same.

'But although they wor shaking in their skhins in dhread iv the ould
bird beginnin' to convarse them every minute, they did not let an' to
one another, bud kep singin' an' whistlin' like mad, to keep the dread
out iv their hearts.

'Well, afther they war on the road betther nor half an hour, they kem to
the bad bit close by Father Crotty's, an' there was one divil of a rut
three feet deep at the laste; an' the car got sich a wondherful chuck
goin' through it, that it wakened Terence widin in the basket.

'"Bad luck to ye," says he, "my bones is bruck wid yer thricks; what the
divil a