as fast as ever they could, the cowboy, the Gruagach, and his twelve sons.
On the road they came to a woman who was crying very hard.
"What is your trouble?" asked the cowboy.
"You need have no care," said she, "for I will not tell you."
"You must tell me," said he, for I 'll help you out of it."
"Well," said the woman, "I have three sons, and they used to play hurley with the three sons of the king of the Sasenach,[1] and they were more than a match for the king's sons. And it was the rule that the winning side should give three wallops of their hurleys to the other side; and my sons were winning every game, and gave such a beating to the king's sons that they complained to their father, and the king carried away my sons to London, and he is going to hang them there to-day."
"I 'll bring them here this minute," said the cowboy.
"You have no time," said the Gruagach.
"Have you tobacco and a pipe?" asked the cowboy of the Gruagach.
"I have not," said he.
"Well, I have," said the cowboy; and putting
- ↑ Sasenach, English.
