Up he jumped and out to stop Hughie. But the yard was silent and empty. Hughie and the calves were gone.
Mickey was more uneasy than ever.
“A nice bosthoon[6] I must be,” he thought, “to go trust my good-looking calves to a k’nat[7] like Hughie! And he to go off without any breakfast, too...!”
Heffernan was a good warrant to feed man or beast. But he mightn’t have minded about Hughie, that had plenty of little ways of providing for himself. His pockets would be like sideboards, the way he would have them stuck out with meat and eggs and so on, that he would be given along the road. Hughie was better fed than plenty that bestowed food upon him.
Balloch, where the fair is held, is the wildest and most lonesome place in Ardenoo, with a steep rough bit of road leading up to it, very awkward to drive along. Up this comes Heffernan, on his side-car, driving his best, and in a great hurry to know where would he come on Hughie. He had it laid out in his own mind that sight nor light of his calves he never would get in this world again. So it was a great surprise to him to find them there before him, safe and sound. His heart lightened at that as if a millstone was lifted off it.
And the fine appearance there was upon them! Not a better spot in the fair-green, than where Hughie had them, opposite a drink-tent where the people would be thronging most. And it was a choice spot for Hughie too. Happy and contented he was, his back against a tree, leaning his weight on one crutch and the other convenient to his hand.
“So there’s where you are!” says Mickey, when he came up.
“Ah, where else!” says Hughie, a bit scornful. Sure it was a foolish remark to pass, and the man there before him, as plain as the nose on your face. But Hughie was puzzled, too, by the look of relief he saw on Mickey’s face. He understood nothing of what Heffernan was after passing through. It’s an old saying and a true one, “Them that has the world has care!” but them that hasn’t it, what do they know about it?
While Hughie was turning this over in his mind, Mickey was throwing an eye upon the calves, and then, seeing they were all right, he was bandying off with himself, when Hughie said, “Terrible dry work it is, driving stock along them dusty roads since the early morning!” and he rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth with a grin.
At that, Mickey put his hand into his pocket and felt round about, and then pulled it out empty.