wild banshee. What did I just tell you?"

"You told me that children may ride cock-horse--and I'm not sixteen till
to-morrow!" she cried, jumping her horse just as her father's clutching
fingers touched his bridle. She was out in the road before Harlan's
horse had picked up his heels. She swung her little whip above her head.

"Come on, Big Boy!" she urged at the top of her voice, crying above the
clamor of the racing dogs. "We're playfellows to-day, and I can't fall
in love till to-morrow!" The last words she lilted mockingly, flashing a
look backward at Dennis Kavanagh.

The old man did not shift his attitude, fingers curved to clutch, arms
extended, until he heard the tattoo of their horses' hoofs on the long
bridge.

"Maybe Brian Boru might have been proud of her for a daughter," he
muttered, as he trudged back up the steps, "but I'll be dammed if I know
whether I am or not!"




CHAPTER VIII

THE MANTLE OF THELISMER THORNTON


The fire on the Jo Quacca hills was checked at nightfall. Two hundred
beaters and trenchers managed to fight it back and hold it in leash to