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 up in my heart that at last my search was ended. But on going forward I found that it was only a number of little men struggling to raise a big rock from its place in the ground. It had fallen back on some of them, who were crying and shouting over their little hurts. I tell you, Patrick, it was not of men like those that the Fianna was composed. We would not have employed them even for our horse-boys.

"Unobserved I looked at their puny efforts for a moment, then they saw me, and in their astonishment let the rock fall back more heavily on their comrades, who would surely have been crushed to death had not I, taking pity on them, stooped sideways from my saddle, and with one hand I plucked the rock from the earth and hurled it fifty yards away. Alas! it was my undoing, for with the effort I made the golden saddle-strap broke, and I slipped to the ground.

"As I touched the earth I remembered Niav's words, but too late. Quickly as a flying shadow the white horse disappeared, and still more quickly a withered, shrivelled