e will,' says the other, 'for the Judge is come
to give the sentence.' Well, O'Connell kept to it that he would not, and
they made a bet, and the hotel man bet all he had on the man being hung.
In the morning O'Connell was in no hurry out of bed, and when the two of
them walked into the Court, the Judge was after giving the sentence, and
the man was to be hung. '_Maisead_,' says the judge when he saw
O'Connell, 'I wish you had been here a half an hour ago, where there is
a man going to be hung.' 'He is not,' says O'Connell. 'He is,' says the
judge. 'If he is,' says O'Connell, 'that one will never let anyone go
living out of his hotel, and he making money out of the hanging.' 'What
do you mean saying that?' says the judge. Then O'Connell took the
instrument out of his pocket where it was written down all the
hotel-keeper had put on the hanging. And when the judge saw that, he set
the man free, and he was not hanged."

THE CUP OF THE SASSANACH

"He was over in England one time, and he was brought to a party, and tea
was made ready and cups. And as they were sitting at the table, a
servant girl that was in it, and that was Irish, came to O'Connell and
she said, 'Do you understand Irish?' [IRISH: 'An tuigeann tu Gaedilge,
O'Connell?' 'Tuigim,'] says he, 'I understand it.' 'Have a care,' says
she, 'for there is in your cup what would poison the whole nation!' 'If
that is true, girl, you will get a good fortune,' said he. It was in
Irish they said all that, and the people that were in it had no ears.
Then O'Connell quenched the candle, and he changed his cup for the cup
of the man that was next him. And it was not long till the man fell
dead. They were always trying to kill O'Connell, because he was a good
man. The Sassanach it was were against him. Terrible wicked they were,
and God save us, I believe they are every bit as wicked yet!"

THE THOUSAND FISHERS

"O'Connell came to Galway one time, and he sent for all the trades to
come out with the sign of their trade in their hand, and he would see
which was the best. And there came ten hundred fishers, having all white
flannel clothes and black hats and white scarves about them, and he gave
the sway to them. It wasn't a year after that, the half of them were
lost, going through the fogs at Newfoundland, where they went for a
better way of living."

WHAT THE OLD WOMEN SAW

"The greatest thing I ever saw was O'Connell driving through Gort, very
plain, and an oiled c