t finder after all. They praised her till she
was only second to Honeybird in importance. The desire to shine still
more got the better of her; though her conscience hurt she would not
heed it.

"Ye'll find I knowed where to look," she said; "ye'll find I know
things."

Lull and the four others listened with breathless interest to her tale.
Andy Graham came in from the stables to hear it. Fly got more and more
excited. "When ye all left me," she said, "I just run on till I come
to the quarest place, all whins an' big stones an' trees, an' I can
tell ye I was brave an' scared; I was just scared out a' my skin. But
I keep on shoutin': 'Where's our wee Honeybird? Give us back our wee
Honeybird,' an' all the time I run on like mad, shoutin' hard, an' I
lifted a big stick, an' sez I: 'If ye don't give us back our wee
Honeybird I'll wreck yer ould country an' I'll burn yer ould
thorn-trees,' an' I shook the big stick. 'Do ye hear me?' sez I--'for
I will, as sure as I'm standin' on this green grass.' An' with that
something white jumped out, an', sure enough, this was Beezledum, and
Honeybird fast asleep in under a whin."

"God love ye, but ye were the brave chile," said Lull.

"An' as I was comin' away," Fly went on, "I throwed down the big stick,
an' I shouted out: 'I'll thank ye all, an' I'll niver, niver to my
dyin' day forget it on ye.'"

They praised her again and again. No one had ever such a triumph. But
in the middle of the night yells of terror from the nursery brought
Lull from her bed. Fly was sitting up in bed howling, the others were
huddled round her. Mick and Honeybird were crying with her, but Jane
and Patsy were dry-eyed and severe. Almighty God's eye had looked in
at the window at her, Fly said. He had come to send her to hell for
the awful lie she had told. Patsy said she deserved to go. "It's in
the Bible," Jane said: "all liars shall have a portion of the lake of
burnin' fire an' brimstone."

"Sure, she's only a wee chile, an' how could she know any better?" Mick
remonstrated. "God'd be the quare old tyrant if He sent her to hell
for a wee lie like thon."

"But, after Him lettin' her off one lie, He'll be clean mad with her by
this time," said Patsy.

"Whist, childer dear," said Lull, as she put them all back to bed and
tucked them in. "Sure, the Almighty has somethin' better to do than be
puttin' the likes a' yous in hell. Just be aff to sleep, an' I'll say
my beads, an' the