this hole iv a place,' he says. 'F'r why?'
says th' ol' man; 'I thought ye liked it.' 'Faith,' says Hogan, 'I
niver liked a blade iv grass in it,' he says. 'I'm sick iv it,' he
says. 'I don't want niver to see it no more.' And he wint away. Th'
next mornin' th' polis was lookin' f'r him to lock him up f'r stealin'
joo'lry in the fair town. Yes, by dad.

"'Tis th' way iv th' boss, Jawn. I seen it manny's th' time. There
was wanst a boss in th' Sixth Wa-ard, an' his name was Flannagan; an'
he came fr'm th' County Clare, but so near th' bordher line that no
wan challenged his vote, an' he was let walk down Ar-rchey Road just's
though he come fr'm Connock. Well, sir, whin I see him first, he'd th'
smell iv Castle Garden on him, an' th' same is no mignonette, d'ye
mind; an' he was goin' out with pick an' shovel f'r to dig in th'
canal,--a big, shtrappin', black-haired lad, with a neck like a bull's
an' covered with a hide as thick as wan's, fr'm thryin' to get a crop
iv oats out iv a Clare farm that growed divvle th' thing but nice, big
boldhers.

"He was de-termined, though, an' th' first man that made a face at him
he walloped in th' jaw; an' he'd been on th' canal no more thin a month
before he licked ivry man in th' gang but th' section boss, who'd been
a Dublin jackeen, an' weighed sixteen stone an' was great with a thrip
an' a punch. Wan day they had some wurruds, whin me bold Dublin man
sails into Flannagan. Well, sir, they fought fr'm wan o'clock till tin
in th' night, an' nayther give up; though Flannagan had th' best iv
it, bein' young. 'Why don't ye put him out?' says wan iv th' la-ads.
'Whisht,' says Flannagan. 'I'm waitin' f'r th' moon to come up,' he
says, 'so's I can hit him right,' he says, 'an' scientific.' Well,
sir, his tone was that fierce th' section boss he dhropped right there
iv sheer fright; an' Flannagan was cock iv th' walk.

"Afther a while he begun f'r to go out among th' other gangs, lookin'
f'r fight; an', whin th' year was over, he was knowed fr'm wan end iv
th' canal to th' other as th' man that no wan cud stand befure. He got
so pop'lar fr'm lickin' all his frinds that he opened up a liquor
store beyant th' bridge, an' wan night he shot some la-ads fr'm th'
ya-ards that come over f'r to r-run him. That made him sthronger still.
When they got up a prize f'r th' most pop'lar man in th' parish, he
loaded th' ballot box an' got th' goold-headed stick, though he was
r-runnin' against th' aldh