“I’ll tell you that: first, bekase he always prophesied about the slaughter an’ fightin’ that was to take place in the time to come; an’, secondly, bekase, while he spoke, the red blood always trickled out of his mouth, as a proof that what he foretould was true.” “Glory be to God! but that’s wondherful all out. Well, well!” “Ay, an’ Beal Derg, or the Red Mouth, is still livin’.” “Livin’! why, is he a man of our own time?” “Our own time! The Lord help you! It’s more than a thousand years since he made the prophecy. The case you see is this: he an’ the ten thousand witnesses are lyin’ in an enchanted sleep in one of the Montherlony mountains.” “An’ how is that known, Barney?” “It’s known. Every night at a certain hour one of the witnesses--an’ they’re all sogers, by the way--must come out to look for the sign that’s to come.” “An’ what is that, Barney?” “It’s the fiery cross; an’ when he sees one on aich of the four mountains of the north, he’s to know that the same sign’s abroad in all the other parts of the kingdom. Beal Derg an’ his men are then to waken up, an’ by their aid the Valley of the Black Pig is to be set free for ever.” “An’ what is the Black Pig, Barney?” “The Prospitarian church, that stretch from Enniskillen to Darry, an’ back again from Darry to Enniskillen.” “Well, well, Barney, but prophecy is a strange thing to be sure! Only think of men livin’ a thousand years!” “Every night one of Beal Derg’s men must go to the mouth of the cave, which opens of itself, an’ then look out for the sign that’s expected. He walks up to the top of the mountain, an’ turns to the four corners of the heavens, to thry if he can see it; an’ when he finds that he can not, he goes back to Beal Derg, who, afther the other touches him, starts up, an’ axis him, ‘Is the time come?’ He replies, ‘No; the _man is_, but the _hour_ is _not_!’ an’ that instant they’re both asleep again. Now, you see, while the soger is on the mountain top, the mouth of the cave is open, an’ any one may go in that might happen to see it. One man it appears did, an’ wishin’ to know from curiosity whether the sogers were dead or livin’, he touched one of them wid his hand, who started up an’ axed him the same question, ‘Is the time come?’ Very fortunately he said ‘_No_;’ that minute the soger was as sound in his trance as before.” “An’, Barney, what did the soger mane when he said, ‘The man is, but the hour is not?’” “What did he mane? I’ll tell you that. The man is Bonyparty; which manes, when put into proper explanation, the _right side_; that is, the true cause. Larned men have found _that_ out.” “Barney, wasn’t Columkill a great prophet?” “He was a great man entirely at prophecy, and so was St Bridget. He prophesied ‘that the cock wid the purple comb is to have both his wings clipped by one of his own breed before the struggle comes.’ Before that time, too, we’re to have the Black Militia, an’ afther that it is time for every man to be prepared.”