Page:The Snake's Pass (Stoker).djvu/34

 Where is it hid?'

It's hid in the mountain! Buried where you nor the likes iv you can't touch it in a thousand years!' an' he leered agin.

Tell me where it may be found?' sez the Saint starnly. An' thin the Shnake leers at him again wid an eviller smile than before; an' sez he:—

Did ye see the wather what was in the lake?'

I did,' sez Saint Pathrick.

Thin, when ye find that wather ye may find me jool'd crown, too,' sez he; an' before the Saint could say a word, he wint on:—

An' till ye git me crown I'm king here still, though ye banish me. An' mayhap, I'll come in some forrum what ye don't suspect, for I must watch me crown. An' now I go away—iv me own accorrd.' An' widout one word more, good or bad, he shlid right away into the say, dhrivin' through the rock an' makin' the clift that they call the Shleenanaher—an' that's Irish for the Shnake's Pass—until this day."

"An' now, sir, if Mrs. Kelligan hasn't dhrunk up the whole bar'l, I'd like a dhrop iv punch, for talkin' is dhry wurrk," and he buried his head in the steaming jorum, which the hostess had already prepared.

The company then began to discuss the legend. Said one of the women:—

"I wondher what forrum he tuk when he kem back!" Jerry answered:—

"Sure, they do say that the shiftin' bog wor the forrum