Mac Cann screwed an eye upwards like a bird and rubbed at his chin.
"There will be rain soon," said he, "and the country wants it."
"It will be heavy rain," said his daughter.
"It will so," he replied; "let us be getting along now the way we'll be somewhere before the rain comes, for I never did like getting wetted by rain, and nobody ever did except the people of the County Cork, and they are so used to it that they never know whether it's raining or whether it isn't."
So they encouraged the ass to go quicker and he did that.
As they hastened along the road they saw in front of them two people marching close together, and in a little time they drew close to these people.
"I know the look of that man's back," said Patsy, "but I can't tell you where I saw it. I've a good memory for faces, though, and I'll tell you all about him in a minute."
"Do you know the woman that is with him?" said Caeltia.
"You can't tell a woman by her back," replied Patsy, "and nobody could, for they all have the same back when they have a shawl on."
Mary turned her head to them: