Page 160 - The snake's pass

14'8 THE SNAKE'S PASS.
working on the facts that momentarily came before his
view, conld have enabled him to keep up such a flow of
narrative and legend. The general result to me was,
that if I had been inclined to believe such matters
I would have remained under the impression that,
although the whole seaboard, with adjacent mountains,
from Westport to G-alway, was in a state of plethora
as regards uncanny existences, Knocknacar, as a habitat
for such, easily bore off the palm. Indeed, that re-
markable mountain must have been a solid mass of
gnomes, fairies, pixies, leprachauns, and all genii, species
and varieties of the same. No Chicago grain-elevator in
the early days of a wheat corner could have been more
solidly packed. It would seem that so many inhabitants
had been allured by fairies, and consequently had mys-
teriously disappeared, that this method of minimisation
of the census must have formed a distinct drain on the
local population, which, by the way, did not seem to be
excessive.
I reserved to myself the right of interrogating Andy
on this subject later in the day, if, unhappily, there
should be any opportunity. Now that we had drawn near
the hill, my fears began to return.
Whilst Andy stabled the mare I went to the cutting
and found the men already at work. During the night
there had evidently been a considerable drainage from
the cutting, not from the bog but entirely local. This
was now Friday morning, and I thought that if equal
progress were made in the two days, it would be quite