Great fear looked from out the eyes of Grania when she heard, and she begged that they might flee.
But Dermat answered, ‘Were we to flee, yet would Finn overtake us, and it were as ill to fall into his hands then as at this time, but neither he nor his men shall enter this hut without my leave.’
Still Grania feared greatly, but she spake no further, for in Dermat’s eyes she read his gloom.
While Bran still tarried by the hut, the nobles who loved Dermat thought of yet another warning to send their friend. They had with them a serving-man whose voice was so loud that it could be heard for many miles, and they made this man give three shouts that Dermat might hear.
And when Dermat heard the shouts he said to Grania, ‘Well I know whose is the voice that shouteth, and full well I know that it cometh as a warning that Finn is nigh.’
Then great fear took hold of Grania, and she trembled, and again she said, ‘Let us flee, for how shall we withstand the wrath of Finn?’
But Dermat said, ‘We will not flee, but neither Finn nor his men shall enter the hut without my leave.’
Then was Grania filled with foreboding, yet spake she no further, for sad and stern was her husband’s voice, and in his eyes she read his gloom.
Now Finn, having reached the wood, sent forward his men, but when they came to the thickest part of the forest they beheld a fence which no man could break through or climb. For Dermat had cleared a space round his hut and around the space had he built the strong fence.
Then the nobles climbed a high tree and from it did they look within the fence, and there they saw Dermat and with him a lady.