"Now I am for knowing at last who and what you are. You are one of the race of Odrum the Pagan." "Well, I am not denying it, Colum. And what is more, I am Angus MacOdrum, Aonghas mac Torcall mhic Odrum, and the name I am known by is Black Angus." "A fitting name too," said Colum the Holy, "because of the black sin in your heart, and the black end God has in store for you." At that Black Angus laughed. "Why is there laughter upon you, Man-Seal?" "Well, it is because of the good company I'll be having. But, now, give me the word: are you for having seen or heard aught of a woman called Kirsteen McVurich?" "Kirsteen--Kirsteen--that is the good name of a nun it is, and no sea-wanton!" "Oh, a name here or a name there is soft sand. And so you cannot be for telling me where my woman is?" "No." "Then a stake for your belly, and the nails through your hands, thirst on your tongue, and the corbies at your eyne!" And, with that, Black Angus louped into the green water, and the hoarse wild laugh of him sprang into the air and fell dead against the cliff like a wind-spent mew. Colum went slowly back to the brethren, brooding deep. "God is good," he said in a low voice, again and again; and each time that he spoke there came a fair sweet daisy into the grass, or a yellow bird rose up, with song to it for the first time, wonderful and sweet to hear. As he drew near to the House of God, he met Murtagh, an old monk of the ancient old race of the isles. "Who is Kirsteen McVurich, Murtagh?" he asked. "She was a good servant of Christ, she was, in the south isles, O Colum, till Black Angus won her to the sea." "And when was that?" "Nigh upon a thousand years ago." At that, Colum stared in amaze. But Murtagh was a man of truth, nor did he speak in allegories. "Ay, Colum my father, nigh upon a thousand years ago." "But can mortal sin live as long as that?" "Ay, it endureth. Long, long ago, before Oisìn sang, before Fionn, before Cuchullin was a glorious great prince, and in the days when the Tuatha De Danann were sole lords in all green Banba, Black Angus made the woman Kirsteen McVurich leave the place of prayer and go down to the sea-shore, and there he leaped upon her, and made her his prey, and she followed him into the sea." "And is death above her now?" "No. She is the woman that weaves the sea-spells at the wild place out yonder that is known as Earraid: she that is called _an-Cailleach-uisge_, the sea-witch." "Then why was Black Angus for the seeking her here and the seeking her there?" "It is the Doom. It is Adam's first wife she is, that sea-witch over there, where the foam is ever in the sharp fangs of the rocks." "And who will he be?" "His body is the body of Angus the son of Torcall of the race of Odrum, for all that a seal he is to the seeming; but the soul of him is Judas." "Black Judas, Murtagh?" "Ay, Black Judas, Colum." * * * * *