Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/24

 bound not to refuse a challenge, and there is one in thine eyes now which I must accept.' Her eyes said that she feared him to be treacherous, unwilling to tell her anything because he could thus easily slip away to his own country and not be followed. Therefore he told her that he was Cohoolin's son, and had come from Scotland where lived his mother, Queen Eefa; and he gave her the ring from off his finger. He begged her to tell nobody, and she promised. Then, angry with her for making him break his promise, he tore himself away and left her.

The men did not take it quite so easily when Conla refused to tell his name. But when they challenged him he did not refuse that, and, each and all, he either slew them or drove them away running at such a pace that they were invited to become messengers for the king. Of every one whom he met upon the roads of Erin he inquired about Cohoolin. They told him grand and fantastic tales of combat against odds, and how the hero's face looked when he was angry and in a difficulty, how his hair stiffened and his eyes bulged, and he seemed many times the size of his opponent, and how a light, which they called 'the hero-light', shone upon him at such times, and upon him alone.

Conla knew from the stories that he would have no difficulty in recognizing Cohoolin. Time after time, when he had listened to some one telling of Cohoolin's courage or generosity, he started forward again on his road to seek his father. But then he remembered that when he found Cohoolin he would not be able to reveal himself. If his father recognized him, and said, 'Art thou Conla, the son of Eefa?' he would not have to deny it, or even be silent. But if his father asked, 'Who art thou?' he must refuse, as he had done to many others.