"'A barony——'
"'Eh! hold on, my good man,' says the jobber, 'I'm afraid I'll be late for my train. I was only jokin'. I'll give you five pound apiece for the pigs.'
"'The time isn't half up yet,' says Jimmy, 'stay where you are,' an' on he went.
"'A barony an' a barony, that's two baronies, four baronies, eight baronies, sixteen baronies, thirty-two baronies—that's a county.'
"'Listen here!' says the jobber; but Jimmy wouldn't listen.
"'A county an' a county, that's two counties, four counties, eight counties, sixteen counties, thirty-two counties—that's Ireland!' says Jimmy, with a shout, an' he gave the jobber a slap on the back that made him jump.
"'You owe me all the oats in Ireland, my fine clever fellow, an' not more than half the time's up yet. If I kep' on countin' it's the oats o' the whole world you'd have to be givin' me at the end of half an hour. You met a fool last year, but he isn't at all, at all as soft as he looks. When are you goin' to pay me?'
"The poor jobber was shakin' an' shiverin' like a man in a fit. He was afraid, I think, that the neighbours 'd back up Jimmy, an' give him a taste o' their sticks if he failed to pay.
"'Oh, sir!' says he, 'don't be too hard on me. Sure I haven't the price of one haggard let alone all the haggards in Ireland. There's all I have in the world—fifty pound—an' you can have it an' welcome for your two pigs.'
"'Well,' says Jimmy, 'as it's Christmas times an' I'm a soft-hearted man, I'll let you off easier than you deserve. Give me a twenty pound note, an' I'll forget that you owe me the rest!'