Page 122 - The snake's pass

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110 — THE SNAKE'S PASS. —
" That's all, yer 'an'r." Then he added, with a sly
look at me :
" May be ye' 11 keep yer eye out for a nice bit o' bog as
ye go along."
"Get on, Andy," said I. "Shut up! you ould corn-
crake." I felt I could afford to chaff with him as we
were alone.
He grinned, and went away. But he had hardly gone
a few steps when he returned and said, with an air of
extreme seriousness:
" As I'm goin' to Knockcalltecrore, is there any missage
"
I kin take for ye to Miss Norah ?
" Oh, go on ! " said I. " What message should
I have to send, when I never saw the girl in my
"
life ?
For reply he winked at me with a wink big enough to
cover a perch of land, and, looking back over his
shoulder so that I could see his grin to the last, he
went along the corridor—and I went back to bed.
It did not strike me till a long time afterwards
when I was quite close to Knocknacar—how odd it
was that Andy had asked me to give the message to
his father. I had not told him I was even coming in
the direction—I had not told anyone—indeed, I had
rather tried to mislead when I spoke of taking a walk
that day, by saying some commonplace about 'the ad-
visability of breaking new ground ' and so forth. Andy
had evidently taken it for granted; and it annoyed me
somewhat that he could find me so transparent. How-