She stopped suddenly. One should not talk about them. They are easily offended.
Shaun kept looking out across the lake, but he held the hand of his little sweetheart. At last he spoke.
"Sure, I am leaving you, Dawn O'Day," he said.
As she started to cry out, he held up his hand and said, "No; do not cry, for I cannot stay. But do not fear that I shall forget you. The dream we made together shall come true. I'll be coming back to you. For there's not a faireen like you in all the world, at all."
Dawn O'Day began to cry.
She sobbed, "Och, don't be after leaving me! Don't be after going to them. Och, 'tis themselves will be keeping you, and never will Dawn O'Day see you again!"
Shaun laughed and stroked her little hand.
"Troth, do not fret, mavourneen," he said. "Sure, you know well I'll be writing to you, and never will I forget you, my Dawn O'Day."
The little girl knew that it was useless to say more. The boy stood up, and she stood, too. They looked into each other's blue eyes.
And then Eileen ran as fast as she could. She ran away from her little friend and sobbed as she ran. She thought
she should never again see her Shauneen.
The boy quickly changed his clothing. He tied a large rock to the red petticoat and threw it into the lake. He stood there in the garments of a boy.
He held out his arms and cried, "Come, leprechauns! Sure, I'm ready to go with you!"
There was no fear in his heart. Any other boy in that village would have trembled at doing such a thing. But other boys were contented at home.
Other boys had mothers and fathers and good homes. They did not want to be stolen away. Shauneen was not afraid.
He stood and called as he stood. He was straight and strong. He would make a splendid helper for a shoemaker. Why did the fairy shoemakers not come and take him? He stood there until dusk. Then he grew tired and lay down to sleep. He slept long. It was early dawn when he awoke.
He stood once more and called out, "I am ready to go. Come, leprechauns, come!"
But not a one came. And the lad was puzzled.
Now Shaun was keen. He was one who thought and planned. He did not intend to go back to his stepmother.
He began to wonder whether the tale of the leprechauns was true. Had anyone ever really seen one? Only old Patch, the village shoemaker, and he was half-witted.
But no one had been with Patch when he had seen the leprechaun. No one ever had seen the fairies; but they all believed. They believed so much that they were in daily dread of them.
They left milk upon window sills and made charms to keep the fairies from doing evil. They dressed their boys in red petticoats.
But Shaun would never again wear a red petticoat. He would never again return to his stepmother.
Even if the fairies did not steal him, he would never return. He would go somewhere. Perhaps to the "New Island" America! As he was thinking these thoughts, he found himself walking toward the shore. There was a weak light in the sky. The rugged shore was blue in the haze of dawn.
The boy could see a boat. Men were hauling things and making ready to set off for somewhere. Shaun was quick, and before he knew what he had done he had slid into the boat.
He crouched upon the bottom, under a seat. He made himself as small as a bundle of rags.
He lay very still. He felt the boat leave the shore and he heard the men talking and singing. The water rolled the boat about, and sometimes the spray came in and wet the men.
But Shaun was dry and warm under the seat. He hardly breathed.
CHAPTER IV THE STRANGE LAND
Little Eileen, with swollen eyes, told her mother how she had left the lad on the bank of the lake. She told how he had planned to put on the clothing of a boy and call the fairies. She wept as she told how brave he had been and how he had promised to write to her.
Her mother smiled sadly and said, "Och, the poor lad will never write! Never will Ireland see himself again! Sure, it's lost he is, and he standing by the banks of that lake in the clothing of a man child! For the fairies do be looking for his likes. Well pleased were they surely to find him!"
She sighed, and so did all the rest of the village folk. They all left milk upon their window sills that night.
They spoke together of the Good People and said, "God bless them!"
For, you see, they wanted to win the good will of the fairies.
Shaun's stepmother was as certain as any of the rest that the boy had been stolen.
She said, "And luck to the Good People! May they work the lazy lad and make a man of him!"
She was not sorry for Shaun. But she was sorry for herself that he was not there to work for her any more.
In a few months nobody spoke of Shaun in the village. He was forgotten. He was forgotten by all but little Eileen. She thought of him each day.
And ofttimes she went to the lake and talked to the blue waters. She asked them where the fairies had taken her Shauneen.
But the wind only blew ripples over the blue waters of the lake. And the trees sighed, and Eileen ran home crying.