Page:The Snake's Pass (Stoker).djvu/42

 "What was it I heard as I came in about the Hill holding some one?" Dan answered:—

Twas me, yer Riverence, I said that the Hill had hould of Black Murdock, and could hould him tight."

"Pooh! pooh! man; don't talk such nonsense. The fact is, sir," said he, turning to me after throwing a searching glance round the company, "the people here have all sorts of stories about that unlucky Hill—why, God knows; and this man Murdock, that they call Black Murdock, is a money-lender as well as a farmer, and none of them like him, for he is a hard man and has done some cruel things among them. When they say the Hill holds him, they mean that he doesn't like to leave it because he hopes to find a treasure that is said to be buried in it. I'm not sure but that the blame is to be thrown on the different names given to the Hill. That most commonly given is Knockcalltecrore, which is a corruption of the Irish phrase Knock-na-callte-crōin-ōir, meaning, 'The Hill of the Lost Golden Crown;' but it has been sometimes called Knockcalltore—short for the Irish words Knock-na-callte-ōir, or 'The Hill of the Lost Gold.' It is said that in some old past time it was called Knocknanaher, or 'The Hill of the Snake;' and, indeed, there's one place on it they call Shleenanaher, meaning the 'Snake's Pass.' I dare say, now, that they have been giving you the legends and stories and all the rubbish of that kind. I suppose you know, sir, that in most places the local fancy has run riot at some period and has left a good crop of absurdities and impossibilities behind it?"