"How should I know?" I replied. "Unless…" They all looked at me.
"There have been more of the second set of clues than the first. I mean, we've found ogham clues for lines of the poem no one was given. Presumably, we were supposed, with the clues we got, to figure out it was from 'Song of Amairgen,' and go and find all the lines of the poem, not just the ones we had." I stopped there, and they all waited. "So," I hesitated. "So I don't know."
"So, this means that when we get this far, there are no more clues," Jennifer said. "Isn't that what you're thinking?"
"I guess so. We're still missing some lines before this. We would have to try and find them, to see if there are any ogham clues that go with them, and maybe one or two lines after this one to see if they are blank too. Then we'd know."
"The lines from this one, the one about the mountain paths," Malachy said, looking at the copy of the poem Jennifer had brought with her, "are slightly different in structure. Instead of I am something or other, they start with he who: he who clears the mountain paths, he who describes the passage of the moon and so on. So maybe we have come to the end of the clues. Maybe we need to find the missing ones before that. We're missing the one about the stag of seven battles and the ray of the sun, aren't we?"
"Not anymore," I said. "We now have ray of the sun, which is," I paused to hold up my notes.
"Grianan Ailech to Granard down the line of the noonday sun," Jennifer read aloud. "Where did you find this one?"
"The garda station," I replied. "It's a long story." I felt vaguely guilty about handing over the clue I got from Rob. But I'd given him all the ones we had so far, hadn't I?
"Did you get a chance to talk to Dad?" Jennifer asked. She looked a little lonely in a way, I thought, and missing him. She was wondering whether I'd told him about her and Paddy.
"Only briefly," I said. "There were a lot of people around." She looked relieved. "Don't tell him I told you about Conail's clue," I added.
"Maybe we could do a deal here," she said, a mischievous smile slowly appearing on her face.
"And maybe we couldn't," I said, although I found myself beginning to smile too. "Just don't tell him."
"What did she say?" Kevin asked.
"She said don't tell Rob she told us the clue," Malachy said directly into Kevin's ear.
"Not that, the clue," Kevin shouted. "What was the clue?"
"Grianan Ailech to Granard down the line of the noonday sun," Malachy shouted back. A couple of other diners looked our way.
"I know Granard," Kevin said. "It's a town, County Longford, I believe. I don't know about this ring of fire thing, but Granard's a real place."
"This is the first real place name we've had," Paddy said. "Maybe it's hidden in Granard. Maybe we should go there. I'll see if I can keep the van for another day or two. We could leave tonight."
Jennifer doing an overnighter with this guy? I didn't think so.
"Hold on a sec," I said. "There are a lot of other clues we still haven't found. Why don't we just concentrate on finding them all, and then see what we've got."
Jennifer looked disappointed. "I guess you're right," she sighed. "But I just want to get going and find this thing, whatever it is."
"That's a good point," I said. "Eamon Byrne said the clues were about what it was, as well as where it was. Maybe the Granard clue is a what, not a where. Without the what, even if we knew where, we wouldn't know what to look for. I mean is it bigger than a bread-box? Animal, vegetable, mineral?"
"I think it's gold," Malachy said. "The bogs. Eamon Byrne was in the turf business, peat. They've found all sorts of treasures hidden in the bogs, stashes of gold and everything. The Celts apparently hid stuff in the bogs, or maybe they threw it in as an offering or something. Roman coins, Viking treasures, gold tores. Those are the metal collars the Celts wore around their necks," he said to Jennifer. "In battle that was all they wore, that and their swords and shields. Starkers, they were, when they were fighting. Must have been something to see." He roared with laughter and slapped his knee. "Denny has some good stories about those battles," he said. "We'll get him to tell them soon. That's if you're up to helping him to a whiskey or three, Lara," he added.
"I am," I replied. I had to laugh too. I loved these three old guys.
"So what's left in the way of lines of the poem?" Paddy asked. "The stag of seven slaughters, I know, but what else?"
"Let's see," I said, looking at my notes. "Lake in a plain, a piercing spear waging war, and a god that fashions heroes for a lord, whatever that is."
"Kevin has an idea for one of those," Jennifer said. "We were going there after lunch. Some observatory, or something."
"Oratory," Malachy corrected her. "The Gallarus Oratory. Kevin thinks that would be the place for lake in a plain. Religious place, very ancient. Yer man Eamon Byrne's kind of place. 'Tis a bit obscure to be sure. The clues we've left are getting harder. But Kev sees it this way. There are no lakes in plains around here. They're all in the mountain valleys. So he tinks 'tis the Gallarus Oratory, on account of it's in the shape of an overturned boat, and it's resting on one of the few flat areas there are. So if we're done here, let's get going."
The Gallarus Oratory was an extraordinary structure, very old, and set in a windswept plain with a view over to the water far away and three hills that looked like curling waves whose motion had been caught and frozen in some cataclysmic event in earth's early history. "The three sisters," Malachy said, following my glance. "That's what they're called. Now come look at the oratory."
It was made without mortar, just thousands and thousands of stones carefully placed to create a tiny early Christian church, maybe twenty feet by sixteen, its sides tapering up to form a corbelled arch roof and ceiling. It did indeed look a little like an upturned boat, its keel in the air. There was only one small window and one low door facing each other at either end.
I touched the walls inside. "A beauty, isn't it?" Ma- lachy said. "No mortar, but it's still watertight, after a thousand years! More. It is supposed to date to the eighth century. It's the same construction as those clo-chans we saw on the slope of Mount Eagle, except they were round, and this is a rectangle. A beauty," he repeated.
We heard a shout outside and hurried to find Jennifer and Paddy waving a piece of paper that had been folded and wedged until it was about an inch square.
"Found it around the back, between the stones," Paddy said.
"Hurry up, open it!" Jennifer exclaimed. "I've got the alphabet."
The two of them unfolded the paper as quickly as they could, but not fast enough for the others who crowded around.
"Is there anything on it?" Kevin asked, trying to peer over Paddy's shoulder.
"There is!" Jennifer crowed. "But it's too windy here. We'll have to translate it later. What about the hero one, what could that be."
"Now let's think about that," Malachy said, as we headed back to the van. "What do you say to the god that fashions heroes for a lord, Kev? Any of your brilliant ideas on this one?"
"Did you say hero?" Kev yelled.
"I did," Malachy said.
"Well, who's the greatest hero of the west of Ireland?" he said.
"Grand idea, Kev!" Malachy said.
"Okay," I said. "I give up. Who is the greatest hero of the west of Ireland?"
Kevin and Malachy looked horrified at my ignorance. Paddy merely smiled and opened up the van.
"Why Fionn MacCumhail!" Malachy said, saying something that sounded like Finn McCool. "Head of the Fianna, wasn't he? The greatest warriors ever. And, as it turns out, Fionn fought one of his greatest battles right here in Dingle. Can you get this thing moving any faster this time, now Paddy? And do you tink it's up to the climb?" he said, giving a tire a little kick.
"We'll go as fast as it will take us, Malachy," Paddy said. "Fast as it will go. Now hop in. Will you be following behind, Ms. McClintoch?"