"I was picked up by a bargeman."
"Well, come into the house and tell us what you've been doing."
"I've been seafaring," he said, taking a chair. "But what about this Ulick?"
"He's your brother, that's all."
His mother asked him of what he was thinking, and Ulick told her how greatly astonished he had been to find a little boy exactly like himself, waiting at the same place.
"And father?"
"Your father is away."
"So," he said, "this little boy is my brother. I should like to see father. When is he coming back?"
"Oh," she said, "he won't be back for another three years. He enlisted again."
"Mother," said Ulick, "you don't seem very glad to see me."