That's their sate whenever they meet; an' a snug one it is for them that don't like their neighbors' eyes to be upon them.

Go now an' satisfy yourself, but watch them at a distance, an', as you expect to save your sister, don't breathe the name of Nell M'Collum to a livin' mortal." Meehaul Neil's cheek flushed with deep resentment on hearing this disagreeable intelligence.

For upwards of a century before there had subsisted a deadly feud between the Neils and Lamh Laudhers, without either party being able exactly to discover the original fact from which their enmity proceeded.

This, however, in Ireland, makes little difference.

It is quite sufficient to know that they meet and fight upon every possible opportunity, as hostile factions ought to do, without troubling themselves about the idle nonsense of inquiring why they hate and maltreat each other.