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 towards him over the wet grey sands, two very tall men, with bright-bladed swords and shields wonderfully engraved with lions and leopards and other fierce beasts. They bowed their heads and bent their knees in greeting to the Fian chief, and in answer to Fionn's questions one of them said he was Feradach the Champion, and he and his companion had come from a far Eastern land to proffer their services to him.

"What can you do?" asked Fionn.

"Two things of power I possess an axe and a sling," said Feradach. "If there were as many as three thousand of your men waiting to sail over the sea, yet with three blows of my axe upon the sling-holder I could produce enough ships to hold them all. The only request I would make is that they should not look upon me while I strike those blows."

"That is a marvellous feat," said Fionn. "Is your companion able to perform wonders also?"

"My art is this," said the other man, "that I can follow the trail of any living creature