"What do you call this vegetable that the animal is eating?" said the angel pointing to the ass.
"That isn't a vegetable at all, sir, that's only grass; every kind of animal eats it, but Christians don't."
"Is it not good to eat?"
"Sure, I don't know. Dogs eat it when they are sick, so it ought to be wholesome, but I never heard tell of any person that ate grass except they were dying of the hunger and couldn't help themselves, poor creatures! And there was a Jew once who was a king, and they do say that he used to go out with the cattle and eat the grass like themselves, and nobody says that he didn't get fat.
"But here's my father coming across the fields (which is a queer way for him to come, because he went away by the road), and I'm thinking that he has a basket under his arm and there will be food in it."
CHAPTER VII
It was true enough. Mac Cann was coming to them from a point at right angles to where he was expected.
Now and again he turned to look over his shoulder, and as he was taking advantage of dips in the ground, bushes, and such-like to shield his advance his daughter divined that something had occurred in addition to the purchase of food. She had often before observed her father moving with these precautionary tactics, and had many times herself shared and even directed a retreat which was full of interest.