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 SCATHACH OF THE SHADOWS

day, when the heat of summer lay like a golden shimmering mist over the land, Fionn, with a few Fians, slowly mounted the slopes of Bearnas Mor, and when they reached the top sat down to rest in the shade of a big rock, while their hounds ranged over the hillside as they chose. They had left the Hill of Allen a few days before, thinking how much pleasanter the sea and mountains of Donegal would be than the sun-baked bog-country of the midlands.

They had been resting only a short time when they heard a furious barking from the hounds, mingled with the shrill squeals of some animal. The Fians rose and looked round them, then saw that the hounds had started from its lair an immense wild boar, which, instead of running from the dogs,

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