“I’ll tell you! Do you see that car?” and Hughie pointed to where Heffernan had left his yoke drawn up, and the old mare cropping a bit as well as she could, being tied by the head; “well, any one that will pull the linch-pin out of the wheel, on the far side of that car, needn’t be without tuppence to wet his whistle ...” and Hughie gave a rattle to a few coppers he had left in his pocket.
“Yous’ll have to be smart about it too,” said he, “or maybe whoever owns that car will have gone off upon it, afore yous have time to do the primest bit of fun that ever was seen upon this fair-green!”
“Whose is the car?”
“Och, if I know!” says Hughie; “but what matter for that? One man is as good as another at the bottom of a ditch! ay and better. It will be the hoith of divarsion to see the roll-off they’ll get below there at the foot of the hill....”
“Maybe they’d get hurted!” said the boys.
“Hurted, how-are-ye!” says Hughie; “how could any one get hurted so simple as that? I’d be the last in the world to speak of such a thing in that case! But if yous are afraid of doing it....”
“Afraid! that’s queer talk to be having!” says one of them, very stiff, for like all boys he thought nothing so bad as to have “afraid” said to him; “no, but we’re ready to do as much as the next one!”
“I wouldn’t doubt yiz!” said Hughie; “h-away with the two of you now! Only mind! don’t let on a word of this to any sons of man....”
Off they went, and Hughie turned his back on them and the car, and stared at whatever was going on the other end of the fair. He hadn’t long to wait, before Heffernan and Barney and the dealer came out of the drink-tent. Hughie took a look at them out of the corner of his eye.
“Ah!” he said to himself, “all ‘purty-well-I-thank-ye!’ after what they drank inside! But wait a bit, Mickey Heffernan....”