before they could stop him he was on the table, and had put it in such a state that they could not play on it longer if they had wanted to.
But the cowboy made after the hare, and the Gruagach after the cowboy, and they ran as fast as ever their legs could carry them till nightfall; and when the hare was entering the castle where the twelve sons of the Gruagach were killed, the cowboy caught him by the two hind legs and dashed out his brains against the wall; and the skull of the hare was knocked into the chief room of the castle, and fell at the feet of the master of the place.
"Who has dared to interfere with my fighting pet?" screamed he.
"I," said the cowboy; "and if your pet had had manners, he might be alive now."
The cowboy and the Gruagach stood by the fire. A stork was boiling in the pot, as when the Gruagach came the first time. The master of the house went into the next room and brought out an iron and a wooden pike, and asked the cowboy which would he choose.
"I 'll take the wooden one," said the cowboy; "and you may keep the iron one for yourself."
So he took the wooden one; and going to the pot, brought out on the pike all the stork except a small bite, and he and the Gruagach fell to eat-
