suspend investigations for six hours, while I get this bullet cut
out, and then -'"

"'An' then," continued Horse Egan, for the peppery Major's
peculiarities of speech and manner were as well known as his
tanned face; "'an' then, ye dissolute, half-baked, putty-faced
scum o' Connemara, if I find a man so much as lookin' confused,
begad, I'll coort-martial the whole company. A man that can't get
over his liquor in six hours is not fit to belong to the
Mavericks!'"

A shout of laughter bore witness to the truth of the sketch.

"It's pretty to think of," said the Kerry man slowly. "Mulcahy
would have us do all the devilmint, and get clear himself,
someways. He wudn't be takin' all this fool's throuble in
shpoilin' the reputation of the regimint -"

"Reputation of your grandmother's pig!" said Dan.

"Well, an' he had a good reputation tu; so it's all right. Mulcahy
must see his way to clear out behind him, or he'd not ha' come so
far, talkin' powers of darkness."

"Did you hear anything of a regimental coortmartial among the
Black Boneens, these days? Half a company of 'em took one of the
new draft an' hanged him by his arms with a tent-rope from a
third-story verandah. They gave no reason for so doin', but he was
half dead. I'm thinking that the Boneens are short-sighted. It was
a friend of Mulcahy's, or a man in the same trade. They'd a deal