All on the Irish Shore Part 17

Thus adjured, a tall, spectacled man emerged from the crowd, and, beaming with a pleasing elderly bashfulness through his spectacles, gave it as his opinion that though gorsoon was a term usually applied to the male child, it was equally applicable to the female. "But, indeed," he concluded, "the Bench has as good Irish as I have myself, and better."

"The law requires that the thransactions of this coort shall take place in English," the Chairman responded, "and we have also the public to consider."

As it was pretty certain that we were the only persons in the court who did not understand Irish, it was borne in upon us that we were the public, and we appreciated the consideration.

"We may a.s.sume, then, that the children that set on the dog wor' of both s.e.xes," proceeded Mr. Heraty. "Well, now, as to the dog-- William, ask Darcy what sort of dog was it."

The monotonous and quiet Irish sentences followed one another again.

"That'll do. Now, William--"

"He says, yer wors.h.i.+p, that he was a big lump of a yalla dog, an' very cross, by reason of he r'arin' a pup."

"And 'twas to make mutton-broth for the pup she dhrove Darcy's sheep in the lake, I suppose?"

A contemptuous smile pa.s.sed over Darcy's face as the Chairman's sally was duly translated to him, and he made a rapid reply.

"He says there isn't one of the neighbours but got great annoyance by the same dog, yer wors.h.i.+p, and that when the dog'd be out by night hunting, there wouldn't be a yard o' wather in the lakes but he'd have it barked over."

"It appears," observed Dr. Lyden serenely, "that the dog, like the gorsoons, was of both s.e.xes."

"Well, well, no matther now; we'll hear what the defendant has to say.

Swear Sweeny!" said Mr. Heraty, smoothing his long grey beard, with suddenly remembered judicial severity and looking menacingly over his spectacles at Sweeny. "Here, now! you don't want an interpreter! You that has a sisther married to a stationmaster and a brother in the Connaught Rangers!"

"I have as good English as anny man in this coort," said Sweeny morosely.

"Well, show it off man! What defence have ye?"

"I say that the sheep wasn't Darcy's at all," said Sweeny firmly, standing as straight as a ramrod, with his hands behind his back, a picture of surly, wronged integrity. "And there's no man livin' can prove she was. Ask him now what way did he know her?"

The question evidently touched Darcy on a tender point. He squared his big shoulders in his white flannel jacket, and turning his face for the first time towards the magistrates delivered a flood of Irish, in which we heard a word that sounded like _ullan_ often repeated.

"He says, yer wors.h.i.+ps," translated William, "why wouldn't he know her!

Hadn't she the _ullan_ on her! He says a poor man like him would know one of the few sheep he has as well as yer wors.h.i.+p'd know one o' yer own gowns if it had sthrayed from ye."

It is probable that we looked some of the stupefaction that we felt at this remarkable reference to Mr. Heraty's wardrobe.

"For the benefit of the general public," said Dr. Lyden, in his languid, subtle brogue, with a side-glance at that body, "it may be no harm to mention that the plaintiff is alluding to the Chairman's yearling calves and not to his costume."

"Order now!" said Mr. Heraty severely.

"An' he says," continued William, warily purging his frog-countenance of any hint of appreciation, "that Sweeny knew the _ullan_ that was on her as well as himself did."

"_Ullan!_ What sort of English is that for an interpreter to be using!

Do ye suppose the general public knows what is an _ullan_?" interrupted Mr. Heraty with lightning rapidity. "Explain that now!"

"Why, yer wors.h.i.+p, sure anny one in the world'd know what the _ullan_ on a sheep's back is!" said William, staggered by this sudden onslaught, "though there's some might call it the _rebugh_."

"G.o.d help the Government that's payin' you wages!" said Mr. Heraty with sudden and bitter ferocity (but did we intercept a wink at his colleague?). "If it wasn't for the young family you're r'arin' in yer old age, I'd commit ye for contempt of coort!"

A frank shout of laughter, from every one in court but the victim, greeted this sally, the chorus being, as it were, barbed by a shrill crow of whooping-cough.

"Mr. Byrne!" continued Mr. Heraty without a smile, "we must call upon you again!"

Mr. Byrne's meek scholastic face once more appeared at the rood-screen.

"Well, I should say," he ventured decorously, "that the expression is locally applied to what I may call a plume or a feather that is worn on various parts of the sheep's back, for a mark, as I might say, of distinction."

"Thank you, Mr. Byrne, thank you," said Mr. Heraty, to whose imagination a vision of a plumed or feathered sheep seemed to offer nothing unusual, "remember that now, William!"

Dr. Lyden looked at his watch.

"Don't you think Sweeny might go on with his defence?" he remarked.

"About the children, Sweeny--how many have ye?"

"I have four."

"And how old are they?"

"There's one o' thim is six years an another o' thim is seven--"

"Yes, and the other two eight and nine, I suppose?" commented Dr. Lyden.

The defendant remained silent.

"Do ye see now how well he began with the youngest--the way we'd think 'twas the eldest!" resumed Dr. Lyden. "I think we may a.s.sume that a gorsoon--male or female--of eight or nine years is capable of setting a dog on the sheep."

Here Darcy spoke again.

"He says," interpreted William, "there isn't pig nor a.s.s, sheep nor duck, belongin' to him that isn't heart-scalded with the same childhren an' their dog."

"Well, I say now, an' I swear it," said Sweeny, his eye kindling like a coal, and his voice rising as the core of what was probably an old neighbourly grudge was neared, "my land is bare from his bastes threspa.s.sing on it, and my childhren are in dread to pa.s.s his house itself with the kicks an' the sthrokes himself an' his mother dhraws on them! The Lord Almighty knows--"

"Stop now!" said Mr. Heraty, holding up his hand. "Stop! The Lord's not intherferin' in this case at all! It's me an' Doctor Lyden has it to settle."

No one seemed to find anything surprising in this p.r.o.nouncement; it was accepted as seriously as any similar statement of the Prophet Samuel to the Children of Israel, and was evidently meant to imply that abstract justice might be expected.

"We may a.s.sume, then," said Dr. Lyden amiably, "that the sheep walked out into Sweeny's end of the lake and drowned herself there on account of the spite there was between the two families."

The court t.i.ttered. A dingy red showed itself among the grizzled hairs and wrinkles on Sweeny's cheek. In Ireland a point can often be better carried by sarcasm than by logic.

"She was blind enough to dhrown herself, or two like her!" he said angrily; "she was that owld and blind it was ayqual to her where she'd go!"

"How d'ye know she was blind?" said Mr. Heraty quickly.

"I thought the defence opened with the statement that it wasn't Darcy's sheep at all," put in Dr. Lyden, leaning back in his chair with his eyes fixed on the rafters.

Sweeny firmly regarded Mr. Heraty.