"Listen, then--I'm wishin' ye would kill a German, two Germans, d'ye
hear me now? Two Germans I'm afther wishin' ye."
Again he brandished a trembling fist aloft and again the billy,
fearing naught, grazed its way up his back.
"Thanks, very good of you," said I. "I'll remember. Good day."
"Good day it is, an' God save yer honour!"
Then with an overwhelming burst of generosity he promoted me two
ranks at once and wished again.
"Colonel," he said solemnly, though shaking with passion, "I'm afther
wishin' ye three--ten--_fifteen_ Germans!"
"Thanks," I said again, and picked up the reins, wondering if tragedy
had shadowed the bogside that morning, if some grey-eyed,
black-haired boy would come home no more from Flanders to that
whitewashed cabin.
As I turned a beshawled girl poked her head round the door lintel and
smiled at me.
"Och, faith, don't be noticin' the granda', yer honour; himself was
beyond to the town this mornin', an' they've riz the price o' porther
on him wan ha'penny. He do be as mad as the Sivinteen Divils!"