The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-06-26
THE PATH OF MURT0GH,
HAROLD FREDERIC.
PRIZE NOVELTIES, No. o i.
BY HAROLD FREDERIC.

and the kline believing outside, and my
father cut down; and then IL was like my
mother drew her cloak tight over my
head-and no one came ever to take II off
again. | forget the SUM-"
Murtogh nodded his head. 81 Will go
TO Muskerry some day." he said, IN
kindly way. 81 cannot tell when, just
now; but will go, and will burn and
desolate rything for six miles around
and you shall have bag for your harp
made Of eyelids of the MacSwineys. "
Old Owny lifted his sightless face
wistful affection. "Ah, Murty dear, he
expostulated mildly, "it is you who have
the grand nsture-but think, Murty-I
am very old man. and no kin of yours.
IL Is fifty years since the last man who
took my eyes drew breath. III you went
now, no living soul could tell what you
came for or why the great suffering was put
upon th6m. And, moreover the O'Nia-
honys Carbery have wives from the Mac
SwineFs these three generations. No
feud les now.n
The lord of Dunlogher growled sharply
between his teeth, and Owny shrank
further back.
togh demanded, with an arrogant note in
his voice, THAT have no concern in the
O'Mahonys Carbery, or the O'Mahonys
fonn.lartarach, or any other? j do not
take heed OF Conogher of Ardintenant,
or Tiege OF Rosbrim, or Donogh of Dun
manus, or Donal Of Leamcon. 4 will
give them all my bidding to do, and
they will do it, or ] will kill them, and
spoil their castles. You could not behold
~, but you have your song from the
words OF others how last year fell upon
.Diarmaid Bhade and crushed him and
his house, and slew his son and brought
away his herds. His fathers father and
mine 10. 10 tA V,asa
in blood than the rest, yet would not
spare him. / made his Ballydevlin nest
for owls and bats. Let the others OBJ
serve what / did. / am in Dunlogher,
and am the O'Mahony here and i look
the sun in the face like an eagle. Put
that TO your songl'
The sound came to them from the
walled bawn and gateways beyond the
Three Castles, hundred yards behind, of
voices In commotion. The old bard lifted
his head, and his brow scored itself in
lines of listening attention. II Murtogh
heard he gave no sign, but gazed again in
meditation out upon the vast waste OF
waters, blackened now as the purple refiec-
tions of the twilight waned.
'Biind men have senses that OF hers
lack, " he remarked at last. ''Tell me-
you, does the earth we stand on seem
ever to you to be turning round?"
Owny shuddered a little at the thought
" ulnl. " utu you leu
out beyond here, and j felt the big round
sea pinks under my feet, and remem-
bered they grew only on the very edgen
he began.
"Not that" the chief broke in, tits
not my meaning. But at Rosbin there
was a book writ by Fineen, the son OF
Dlarmaid, an uncle to my fathers father,
and my father heard il read from this
book that the world turned round one way
Ike duck on spit, and the sun turned
round the other way, and that was why
we were apart oil night. And often /
come here and ] swear there Is q move
ment under my feet. But elsewhere there
Is none, not in the bawn, or in the
towers, or anywhere else but Just here.'
The old man inclined his face, as II
he could sec the ground he stood upon.
but shook his head after a moments watt
ing. 1T would not be true, Murty'' he
suggested, sold Fineen had a mighty
scholarship, as have heard an he made
an END 20 edify the angels, but-but''---
Murtogh did not wait for the hesitat-
ing conclusion. ~ saw his tomb when /
was lad, in the chapel at Rosbrin. He
was laid at his own desire under weight
OF stone like my wall here. 1 saw even
then how foolish il was. These lands
men have no proper sense. How they will
rise at the blessed resurrection, with all
that burden OF stone to hold them down?
have better understanding than that.
buried my father, as he buried his, out
yonder In the seas. And VIII be buried