going near the _ould_ church at all, at all. But there was no use in
saying _agen_ it, for my father (God be merciful to him!) had us under
as much command as a regiment of soldiers. So away I went, with a light
foot and a heavy heart. Well, I soon came to the bounds' ditch between
the farm and the _berrin_ ground of the _ould_ church. Then I slackened
my pace a little, and kept looking hither and over, for fear of being
taken by surprise. The moon was shining clear as day, so that I could
see the gray tombstones and the white skulls; when, all at once, I
thought one of them began to move. I could hardly believe my two eyes;
but, fakes, it was true enough; for presently it came walking down the
hill, quite leisurely at first, then a little faster, till at last it
came rolling at the rate of a fox hunt. "Twill be stopped at the bounds'
ditch," thinks I; but I was never more out in my reckoning, for it
bowled fair through the gap, and made directly up to me. "By the mortal
frost," says I, "I'm done for;" and away I scampered as fast as my legs
could carry me; but the skull came faster after me, for I could hear
every lump it gave against the stones. It's a long stretch of a hill
from the _berrin_ ground down to the road; but you'd think I wasn't
longer getting down than whilst you'd be saying "Jack Robinson." Sure
enough I did make great haste; but if I did, "the more haste the worse
speed," they say, and so by me any how, for I went souse up to my neck
in a dirty _Lochaune_ by the side of the road. Well, when I recovered a
little, what would I see but the skull at the edge of the _Lochaune_,
stuck fast in a furze bush, and grinning down at me. "Oh, you're there,"
says I; "I'll have one rap at you any how, for worse than die I can't;"
so I up with a lump of a blackthorn, I had in my fist, and gives it a
rap, when what should it be after all, but a huge rat, which had got
into the skull, and, trying to get out again, it made it to roll down
the hill in that frightful way. To be sure,' said Tim, 'to be sure it
was mighty frightful, but it wasn't a ghost after all; and, indeed,