"Well, the next day the talk was all over the place that Hegarty was in a ragin' fever, an' the best of doctors wor brought down from Dublin to try an' cure him, but 'twas worse an' worse he was gettin', an' at last he got so bad that they had to tie him down, an' Cassidy had to watch him night an' day, an' the poor boy was nearly worn out like an ould shoe, an' he asked me to come an' help him.
"I didn't like the job, at all; but Cassidy was an ould friend of mine, an' we wor naybour's childre, so by dint of persuasion he got meself to consint, an' sure 'twas the hard time we had between us. Every minute Hegarty used to start up and cry out:
"'Hunt him away! Hunt him away; his nails are in my throat! His eyes are scorchin' me! I'm burnin'! I'm burnin'!'
"The Lord save us, but 'twas awful to listen to him.
"'Hunt him out! Cassidy, hunt him out, or I'll horsewhip you as I horsewhipped the widow, an' 'tis her curse is on me, the ould hag. Hunt him out!'
"And we had to pretend we wor huntin' him out, an' daylight or dark we used to hear a long howl outside that wud make your flesh creep.
"Well, begob, we wor almost wasted to a thread watchin' him, an' we could hardly get a wink of sleep; but one night the two of us were dozin' by the side of the bed when all of a sudden we heard glass crashin', an' before we had time to rub our eyes wud our fists what should we see but the black dog who had burst in through the window, an' he in gores of blood an' his eyes blazin' like wildfire, and before we could stir a foot he was up on the bed an' he tarin' the throat out of ould Hegarty.
"'The Lord between us an' all harm!' says Cassidy, an' he caught up the poker an' he hot the dog a belt that ought to have broken every rib in his body. 'Ye divil get out of that,' says he, an' I gave him another thwack, an', wud a screech that would waken the dead an' that made every hair of our heads stand up like bristles, the black dog jumped out through the windy, an' he tuk the whole sash along wud him, an' ye'd take yer oath for a minnit that the whole house was on fire, an' there was a smell of brimstone that would knock ye down. An' when we kem to ourselves an' looked at ould Hegarty, there he was stiff and stark, an' the blue mark of the dog's teeth across his windpipe. We called up the house an' sent for the docthors, an' they kem, an' they said 'twas somethin' or the other was the matter wud him that killed him; but Cassidy an' meself knew betther nor they, but we kept our tongues quiet, for what was the good of talkin' agin them docthors? Well, we waked him, though sorrow the wan kem to the wake barrin' the playboys who kem to have a look at him, an' he was buried up in the churchyard, and not far from the poor widow ayther, an' when ye are goin' home to-night take my advice and go round by the hill-road, and don't pass by the churchyard, though 'tis your shortest way home, for as sure as ye do ye might meet wud the black dog who is always about on Christmas Eve, for that was when ould Hegarty bet the poor widow wud his horsewhip, and maybe if the dog met any one of yees he'd do to ye what he did to ould Hegarty."