Cinder Path Tales

96 CINDER-PATH TALES willing to face a dozen men, and give Tom Furness twenty-five yards inthe " quarter." Remember we were in the vestibule, not more thana dozen feet square, and there was a dim and ghastly lightfrom the flame of a single gas-jet, turned as low as possible. I came to myself first, and was beginning to ask the crazy bog-trotter what was the matter with him, when he suddenly found tongue, and broke in with a husky " The saints save us ! Howly hiven hilp us ! Fer the luve av God, Misther Brown, git up an' put yer fut ag'in the dure." I slung the poker into the pit of his stomach, got on my feet, and gave him a clip on the head with the flat of my hand that would have felled a man with an average thickness of skull. The blow from the poker resulted only in a grunt, and while that of my hand relieved my feelings a bit, it seemed to help Paddy's addledbrains not at all. He caught me by the leg, pulled me down, and sat me up against the door by his side as if I had been a wax doll, saying in a maundering and contented fashion, "Faith, thin, Misther Brown, 'tisnow we have it, an' safewe are." "Safe, arewe? I'm safe enough; but as for you, you howling idiot, if you lay your hand on me again, you'll wish you'd stayed outside."