“I am through with your service,” declared the giant. “If I had never come at all, still would I have been here too long. Give me my wages and let me go.”
“What wages can you expect when you have just come?” asked Finn. “All you have done is to eat a meal at my expense.”
“Again I see that the stories told of you are not true,” said the giant. “You promised to give me what wages I asked and now you refuse.”
“You have asked no wages,” cried Finn, becoming angry at the unreasonable request. “You but trifle with me when you ask pay for eating my food.”
“Since I can get no pay, I shall leave without it. Perhaps your men will give me my wages more willingly.”
He strode off toward the sea, taking long but shuffling steps. The horse moved after him, slowly at first, but with ever increasing speed. The Fenians were still on his back.
“Get off!” cried Fergus. The men tried desperately, but they were fastened as tight as if they had grown there.
“Is there no man among you who will stop this beast?” shouted Conan, when he found that they were moving away from the Fenian camp.
A new member of the band ran after the animal and seized it by the tail. Instead of stopping it, he, too, came under the enchantment and could not let go.
The giant suddenly lost all his awkwardness. He began to run with the speed of the wind. The horse also became full of life and fleet of foot.