Owen’s appearance once more renewed their grief.  The body of his brother had been removed to a bed beyond the fire in the kitchen; and when Owen looked upon the features of his beloved companion, he approached, and stooped down to kiss his lips.  He was still too feeble, however, to bend by his own strength; and it is also probable that the warm air of the house relaxed him.  Be this, however, as it may, he fell forward, but supported himself by his hands, which were placed upon the body; a deep groan was heard, and the apparently dead man opened his eyes, and feebly exclaimed—­“A dhrink? a dhrink!”

Darby More, had, on concluding the De profundus, seated himself beside the bed on which Mike lay; but on hearing the groan, and the call for drink, he leaped rapidly to:  his legs and exclaimed, “My sowl to hell an’ the divil, Owen Reillaghan, but your son’s alive!!  Off wid two or three of yez, as the divil can dhrive yez, for the priest an’ docthor!!  Off wid yez! ye damned spalpeens, aren’t ye near there by this!  Give us my cant!  Are yez gone?  Oh, by this and by that—­hell—­eh—­aren’t yez—­” But ere he could finish the sentence, they had set chit.

“Now,” he exclaimed in a voice whose tremendous tones were strongly at variance with his own injunctions—­“Now, neighbors, d—­n yez, keep silence.  Mrs. Reillaghan, get a bottle of whiskey an’ a mug o’ wather.  Make haste.  Hanim an diouol! don’t be all night!”

The poor mother, however, could not stir; the unexpected revulsion of feeling which she had so suddenly experienced was more than she could sustain.  A long fainting-fit! was the consequence, and Darby’s commands were obeyed by the wife of a friendly neighbor.

The mendicant immediately wetted Mike’s lips, and poured some spirits, copiously diluted with water, down his throat; after which he held the whiskey-bottle, like a connoisseur, between himself and the light.  “I hope,” said he, “this whiskey is the raal crathur.”  He put the bottle to his mouth as he spoke, and on holding it a second time before his eye, he shook his head complacently—­“Ay,” said he, “if anything could bring the dead back to this world, my sowl to glory, but that would.  Oh, thin, it would give the dead life, sure enough!” He put it once more to his lips, from which it was not separated without relinquishing a considerable portion of its contents.

“Dhea Grashthias!” he exclaimed; “throth, I find myself, the betther o’ that sup, in regard that it’s good for this touch ‘o’ configuration that I’m throubled wid inwardly!  Doxis Doxis Glorioxis?  Amin!” These words he spoke in a low, placid voice, lest the wounded man might be discomposed by his observations.

The rapidity with which the account of Mike’s restoration to life spread among the neighbors was surprising.  Those who had gone for the priest and doctor communicated to all they met, and these again to others:  that in a short time the house was surrounded by great numbers of their acquaintances, all anxious to hear the particulars more minutely.