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228 That did not put Michael off the subject. He waited until John had gone, and then he said to the big tinker, "Stop a bit, Patrick, and have something to eat, after the night's work."

Patrick did not think that would be in any way inconvenient to him, and he stayed.

By-and-by, when Patrick had eaten something, and when he had drunk another drop of wine, Michael said, in a careless sort of way, "Patrick, was not that music we heard last night wonderful! I never heard the like of it, and I have often heard beautiful music. If I hadn't been looking at him with my own eyes, and listening to him with my own ears, I would not believe that any mortal man could bring such music out of pipes."

"And he couldn't, either, unless he got help to it," said Patrick. "Didn't you notice the whirl-wind? And didn't you hear the human voices, and the crying, and the laughing, and the shrieking? No sooner did the music begin than they gathered into the house to us. I tell you I believe there were far more of them there, dancing to the music, than there were of ourselves. They began to go away when the time of cockcrow was drawing near to them. And see how the piper stopped exactly before the cock crew! It is a wonder to me that they do not carry the piper off with them. If I were in his place I would not play that music, however much I might be pressed to do it. It would be far better for him to have sense. 'The jar does not always come unbroken from the well.'

"I wonder where in the world he learnt that music, or how he got hold of it," said Michael.

"That question is often put to him," said Patrick,