“That’s it, exactly.”
“Well, if they are willing to wait, they’ll be sure to have us, for there isn’t any water here for us to drink, and we can’t get along without that.”
The Irishman suddenly slapped his chest and side, as though he missed something from the pocket.
“And be the powers!” he exclaimed, “I’ve lost that mate, and there must have been enough to last us a wake or two.”
“How could you have lost that?” asked Fred, who was much disappointed.
“It must have slid out when we were riding so hard, or else when we lift our horses.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t lost somewhere among these trees, where we can get it again?”
But he was confident that such was not the case, and he was not disposed to mourn the loss a great deal. They could do longer without food than they could without drink, and he was of the opinion that this problem would be solved before they were likely to perish from the want of either.
“Did ye get a fair look at any of the spalpeens that was so ill-mannered as to paap down on ye?”
“Yes; and there was one—’Sh! there he is now!”