hoe-aside," said Larry.

"The horse's shoe was it?" asked Oonah.

"No, _alanna_," said Larry; "shoe-aside is Latin for cutting your
throat."

"But he didn't cut his throat," said the widow.

"But sure it's all one whether he done it wid a razhir on his throat,
or a hammer on his head; it's shoe-aside all the same."

"But there was no hammer found, was there?" said the widow.

"No," said Larry, "but some people thought he might have hid the hammer
afther he done it, to take off the disgrace of the shoe-aside."

"But wasn't there any life in him when he was found?"

"Not a taste. The crowner's jury sot on him, and he never said a word
agin it, and if he was alive he would."

"And didn't they find anything at all?" said Oonah.

"Nothing but the vardict," said Larry.

"And was that what killed him?" said Oonah.

"No, my dear; 't was the crack in the head that killed him, however he
kem by it; but the vardict o' the crowner was, that it was done, and
that some one did it, and that they wor blackguards, whoever they wor,
and persons onknown; and sure if they wor onknown then, they'd always
stay so, for who'd know them afther doing the like?"

"Thrue for you, Larry," said the widow; "but what was that to the
murdher over at the green hills beyant?"

"Oh! that was the terriblest murdher ever was in the place, or nigh it:
that was the murdher in earnest!"

With that eagerness which always attends the relation of horrible
stories, Larry and the old woman raked up every murder and robbery that
had occurred within their recollection, while Oonah listened with mixed
curiosity and fear. The boiling over of the pot at length recalled them
to a sense of the business that ought to be attended to at the moment,
and Larry was invited to take share of the potatoes. This he declined;
declaring, as he had done some time previously, that he must "be off
home," and to the door he went accordingly; but as the evening had
closed into the darkness of the night, he paused on opening it with a
sensation he would not have liked to own. The fact was that, after the
discussion of numerous nightly murders, he would rather have had
daylight on the outside of the cabin; for the horrid stories that had
been revived round the blazing hearth were not the best preparation for
going a lonely road on a dark night. But go he should, and go he did;
and it is not improbable that the widow, from sympathy, had a notion
why Larry paused upon the th