er under th'ould bridge. There's a good dry strip along the
one side of it, and the way the rain's dhrivin' we'd git a grand
shelter."

Judy readily agreed, and they descended the little stony footpath which
led down to the river. Beneath the arch, where Thady's booted steps
reverberated hollowly, they found, as he had said, a broadish strip of
dry ground, for the bridge had allowed the stream ample measure in its
stride. The little platform was bordered by a scattering of stones and
boulders, amongst which the shallow water gurgled. It seemed to Thady
and Judy that their quarters would be very tolerable; but they soon made
a discovery which promised luxury indeed. This was a dead branch, which
lay at one end of the arch, having evidently been floated down the
current, and perhaps hauled out of the water by some thrifty body, who,
however, had made no further use of it. Long ago that must have been,
for it was dried and bleached till it glimmered through the dusk like an
intricate white skeleton. Better fuel no one could desire. Thady made
for it at once with knife and matchbox, and in a few minutes crackling
flames were crunching up the twigs and gnawing at a log. The red light
washed flickering over the wet walls, and was caught on the glancing of
the water as it fled by, rapid and dark. Blue smoke trailed up lazily
against the frame of the arch, blurring gleams of tossed foam as it
melted out into the mist.

But a fire naturally suggested food, and Judy said ruefully, after
feeling in her empty pocket: "It's starved wid the hunger you'll be,
Thady, and the sorra a taste of anythin' have I in the world. 'Deed now,
if I'd on'y known the way it 'ud be, and I passin' thim houses below in
the boreen a while ago! I seen where there was a big cake of
griddle-bread coolin' itself, laned agin the windy-ledge, and man nor
mortal near it. I might ha' raiched it down as aisy as puttin' me fut to
the ground. But sure I was that knocked about wid one thing and another,
I thought I wouldn't be bothered wid it, so I just left it where it was,
I did so--may God forgive me," she said, with unfeigned contrition.

Thady, however, did not seem to share in her regrets. He was lifting his
cluster of cans off his shoulders, and extracting from one of them a
bundle tied up in a red handkerchief. "Is it starved you'd have us?" he
said as he untied the first corner. "Starved! How are you?" And he
continued to repeat: "Is it starvin' she said