just thoughtlessness, but I would give me other arm not to have said those
words."

"I know that you did not mean it, O'Grady, and we were all feeling sorry
that the regiment had not had a chance to be in the thick of it."

"Here they are, coming this way with the pitch kettle. You had better get
away, lad, before they begin."

Terence was glad to follow the advice, and hurried out of the barn and
walked three or four hundred yards away. He was very fond of O'Grady, who
had always been very kind to him, and who was thoroughly warm-hearted and
a good fellow, in spite of his eccentricities. In a quarter of an hour he
returned. Just as he was entering, O'Flaherty came out of the door.

"I must have a breath of fresh air, Terence," he said. "The heat is
stifling in there, and though we are working in our shirt-sleeves we are
just as damp as if we had been thrown into a pond."

"Has O'Grady's arm been seared?"

"Yes, and he stood it well; not a word did he say until it was over. Then
he said, 'Give me another drink, O'Flaherty; it's wake-like I feel.'
Before I could get the cup to his lips he went off in a faint. He has come
round now and has had a drink of weak whisky and water, and is lying quiet
and composed. It is better that you should not go near him at present. I
hope that he will drop off to sleep presently. I have just given a glance
at your father, and he is nearly, if not quite, asleep too, so you had
better leave them now and look in again this evening. Now that the affair
is over, and there is time to go round, they will clear out some houses