"I'm able to thry it, anyhow, an' willin too."

"Do you say you're able to fight me?"

"I'll bring the boy home whether or not."

"Thady's not your match, Jack Ratigan," said another boy. "Why don't you
challenge your match?"

"If you say a word, I'll half-sole your eye. Let him say whether he's
able to fight me like a man or not. That's the chat."

"Half-sole my eye! Thin here I am, an' why don't you do it. You're
crowin' over a boy that you're bigger than. I'll fight you for Thady.
Now half-sole my eye if you dar! Eh? Here's my eye, now! Arrah, be
the holy man, I'd--Don't we know the white hen's in you. Didn't Barny
Murtagh cow you at the black-pool, on Thursday last, whin we wor
bathin'?"

"Come, Ratigan," said Thady, "peel an' turn out. I say, I am able to
fight you; an' I'll make you ate your words aginst my father, by way of
givin' you your dinner. An' I'll make the dacent strange boy walk home
wid me over your body--that is, if he'd not be afraid to dirty his
feet."

Ratigan and Thady immediately set to, and in a few minutes there were
scarcely a little pair of fists present that were not at work, either
on behalf of the two first combatants, or with a view to determine their
own private rights in being the first to exercise hospitality towards
the amazed poor scholar. The fact was, that while the two largest boys,