"Then they rode away, leaving me, sore wounded, sitting on the side of the road," continued Paddy. "After a while I come to myself, for I seemed dazed; and, my horse peacefully grazing beside me, I managed to get on its back, and turned toward London in the hope of meeting you; but instead of meeting you, sir, I came upon Jem with his pile of saddles, and he bound up my head and did what he could to save me, although I've a great thirst on me at this moment that's difficult to deal with."
"There's a ditch by the side of the road," said the priest.
"Yes," said Paddy sadly; "I tried some of that."
I went to my pack on the horse and took out a bottle and a leather cup. Paddy drank and smacked his lips with an ecstasy that gave us hope for his ultimate recovery. Jem Bottles laughed, and to close his mouth I gave him also some of the wine.
"I hope," said Father Donovan with indignation, "that the miscreant who misused you will be caught and punished."
"I punished them," said Jem, drawing the back of his hand across his mouth.
"We'll hear about it another time," said I, having my suspicions.
"Let the good man go on," begged Father Donovan, who is not without human curiosity.
Jem needed no second bidding.
"Your Reverence," he said, "I was jogging quietly on as a decent man should, when, coming to the edge of this forest, I saw approach me a party of horsemen, who were very hilarious and laughed loudly. If you look up and down the road and see how lonely it is, and then look at the wood, with no hedge between it and the highway, you'll notice the place was designed by Providence for such a meeting."