"It is me, sure enough, Padraig."
"You'll be going away in a minute, I suppose," said he grimly.
He sat on the grass and there was peace once more. He was sitting beside O'Brien, and the ass was still thinking deeply with his hocks touching against their shoulder-blades.
When he seated himself they were all silent, for, in face of everything, Mac Cann took the lead, and they waited for him to speak.
O'Brien was looking at him sideways with a grin on his hard jaw. He creaked out a little laugh and then covered it up with his hand as one who was abashed, but Mac Cann paid no attention to him.
His attention was on Eileen Ni Cooley.
"You're a great woman," said he, "and you're full of fun surely."
"I'm everything you like to call me," replied Eileen.
"Which of the men are you with this time, or are you travelling with the pair of them?"
"I don't want either of them, Padraig, but I can't get away from them anyhow. They won't let me go my own road, and they're marching at my elbows for two days and two nights, cursing and kicking and making a noise every step of the way."