“If that is so, you must know Finn MacCool,” said the man.
“I know him well. He is my chief,” replied Dermot.
“Then you had better tell no one that you are from Erin,” said the man. “If you do, you are likely to share the same fate. Finn is to be hanged in the palace courtyard today. The gallows is ready. When he is dead, his body is to be pulled to pieces by wild horses. You had better not acknowledge that you know him.”
Dermot set the fellow on his feet again. The fierce look in his eyes caused the man to step back.
“If you were not so small,” thundered Dermot, “you would never give such advice to another man. Men from Erin never fail to acknowledge their friends. Show me the way to the palace.”
“If you will go up the hill on your right, you can see it in the valley below,” directed the man. He lost no time in getting a safe distance from this mighty stranger. He was so frightened that instead of going on to the hanging, he turned around and made for his home as fast as he could. In the whole White Nation he was the only man traveling away from the palace.
Dermot bounded up the hill with mighty strides. When on top he looked in the direction of the hurrying people. Sure enough, there was the castle with crowds spread out all around it. Dermot dashed down the hill at full speed.
People were crowded so closely together that no ordinary man could possibly have squeezed through them. Each man was elbowing his neighbor so that he might get close enough to see the death of this great Fenian chief. Dermot could have cut his way through with his sword, but it was one of the rules of the Fenians not to harm the common people of a nation. He cleared his way by taking several in his right hand and several in his left and putting them behind him. Then he stepped into the opening and repeated the process until he reached the courtyard. He walked past the gallows and up to the pole of combat before the palace. This he struck a mighty blow with his sword.
The king came to his window and looked out in alarm.
“Who struck that blow?” he asked. “It must have been an enemy.”