their middles, and a big bar of plug tobacco. Those were the things in the basket.
Mary's eyes and her mouth opened when she saw them, and she blessed herself, but she made no sound; and when she turned her face towards the company there was no expression on it except that of hospitality.
She cut slices from each of these things and piled them on a large piece of paper in the centre of the men; then she sat herself down and they all prepared to eat.
The second angel turned courteously to Mac Cann.
"Will you kindly begin to eat," said he, "and by watching you we will know what to do."
"There can be nothing more uncomely," said the first angel, "than to see people acting in disaccord with custom; we will try to do exactly as you do, and although you may be troubled by our awkwardness you will not be shocked by a lapse from sacred tradition."
"Well!" said Patsy thoughtfully.
He stretched a hand towards the food.
"I'll stand in nobody's light, and teaching people is God's own work; this is the way I do it, your worships, and any one that likes can follow me up."
He seized two pieces of bread, placed a slice of cheese between them, and bit deeply into that trinity.
The strangers followed his actions with fidelity, and in a moment their mouths were as full as his was and as content.
Patsy paused between bites:
"When I've this one finished," said he, "I'll take two more bits of bread and I'll put a lump of meat between them, and I'll eat that."
"Ah!" said that one of the angels whose mouth chanced to be free.
Patsy's eye roved over the rest of the food.
"And after that," he continued, "we will take a bit of whatever is handy."
In a short time there was nothing left on the newspaper but soft sugar, butter, tea, and tobacco. Patsy was abashed.
"I did think that there was more than that," said he.
"I've had enough myself," he continued, "but maybe your honours could eat more."
Two of the angels assured him that they were quite satisfied, but the youngest angel said nothing.
"I'm doubting that you had enough," said Patsy dubiously to him.
"I could eat more if I had it," returned that one with a smile.
Mary went to the cart and returned bearing two cold potatoes and a piece of bread, and she placed these before the young angel. He thanked her and ate these, and then he ate the package of soft sugar, and then he ate a little piece of the butter, but he didn't care for it. He pointed to the plug of tobacco:
"Does this be eaten?" he enquired.
"It does not," said Patsy. "If you ate a bit of that you'd get a pain inside of your belly that would last you for a month. There's some people do smoke it, and there's others do chew it; but I smoke it and chew it myself, and that's the best way. There's two pipes there on the paper, and I've a pipe in my own pocket, so whichever of you would like a smoke can do exactly as I do."
With a big jack-knife he shredded pieces from the plug, and rolled these between his palms, then he carefully stuffed his pipe, pulled at it to see was it drawing well, lit the tobacco, and heaved a sigh of contentment. He smiled around the circle.
"That's real good," said he.
The strangers examined the pipes and tobacco with curiosity, but they did not venture to smoke, and they watched Patsy's beatific face with kindly attention.
CHAPTER VIII
Now at this moment Mary was devoured with curiosity. She wanted to know how her father had become possessed of the basketful of provisions. She knew that three shillings would not have purchased a tithe of these goods, and, as she had now no fear of the strangers, she questioned her parent.
"Father," said she, "where did you get all the good food?"
The angels had eaten of his bounty, so Mac Cann considered that he had nothing to fear from their side. He regarded them while he pulled thoughtfully at his pipe.
"Do you know," said he, "that the hardest thing in the world is to get the food, and a body is never done looking for it. We are after eating all that we got this morning, so now we'll have to search for what we'll eat to-night, and in the morning we'll have to look again for more of it, and the day after that, and every day until we are dead we'll have to go on searching for the food."
"I would have thought," said the eldest angel, "that of all problems food would be the simplest in an organised society."
This halted Mac Cann for a moment.
"Maybe you're right, sir," said he kindly, and he dismissed the interruption.
"I heard a man once, he was a stranger to these parts, and he had a great deal of the talk, he said that the folk at the top do grab all the food in the world, and that then they make every person work for them, and that when you've done a certain amount of work they give you just enough money to buy just enough food to let you keep on working for them. That's what the man said: a big, angry man he was, with whiskers on him like the whirlwind, and he swore he wouldn't work for any one. I'm thinking myself that he didn't work either. We were great friends, that man and me, for I don't do any work if I can help it; it's that I haven't got the knack for work, and, God help me! I've a big appetite. Besides that, the work I'd be able to do in a day mightn't give me enough to eat, and wouldn't I be cheated then?"
"Father," said Mary, "where did you get all the good food this morning?"
"I'll tell you that. I went down to the bend of the road where the house is, and I had the three shillings in my hand. When I came to the house the door was standing wide open. I hit it a thump of my fist, but nobody answered me. 'God be with all here,' said I, and in I marched. There was a woman lying on the floor in one room, and her head had been cracked with a stick; and in the next room there was a man lying on the floor, and his head had been cracked with a stick. It was in that room I saw the food packed nice and tight in the basket that you see before you. I looked around another little bit, and then I came away, for, as they say, a wise man never found a dead man, and I'm wise enough no matter what I look like."
"Were the people all dead?" said Mary, horrified.
"They were not—they only got a couple of clouts. I'm thinking they are all right by this, and they looking for the basket, but, please God, they won't find it. But what I'd like to know is this, who was it hit the people with a stick, and then walked away without the food and the drink and the tobacco, for that's a queer thing."
He turned to his daughter.
"Mary, a cree, let you burn up that basket in the brazier, for I don't like the look of it at all, and it empty."
So Mary burned the basket with great care while her father piled their goods on the cart and yoked up the ass.
Meanwhile the angels were talking together, and after a short time they approached Mac Cann.
"If it is not inconvenient," said their spokesman, "we would like to remain with you for a time. We think that in your company we may learn more than we might otherwise do, for you seem to be a man of ability, and at present we are rather lost in this strange world."
"Sure," said Patsy heartily, "I haven't the least objection in the world, only, if you don't want to be getting into trouble, and if you'll take my advice, I'd say that ye ought to take off them kinds of clothes you're wearing and get into duds something like my own, and let you put your wings aside and your fine high crowns, the way folk won't be staring at you every foot of the road, for I'm telling you that it's a bad thing