-- Knock him down on the road; they
didn't hear him at all.
[
Michael pulls him down. SARAH. Gag his jaws.
MARY. Stuff the sacking in his teeth.
[
They gag him with the sack that had
the can in it.49
SARAH. Tie the bag around his head,
and if the peelers come, we'll put him head-
first in the boghole is beyond the ditch.
[
They tie him up in some sacking. MICHAEL --
to Mary. -- Keep him quiet,
and the rags tight on him for fear he'd
screech.
(He goes back to their camp.)Hurry with the things, Sarah Casey. The
peelers aren't coming this way, and maybe
we'll get off from them now.
[
They bundle the things together in
wild haste, the priest wriggling and
struggling about on the ground, with
old Mary trying to keep him quiet. MARY --
patting his head. -- Be quiet,
your reverence. What is it ails you, with
your wrigglings now? Is it choking maybe?
(She puts her hand under the sack, and feels
his mouth, patting him on the back.) It's
only letting on you are, holy father, for your
nose is blowing back and forward as easy as
an east wind on an April day.
(In a soothing
voice.) There now, holy father, let you stay
easy, I'm telling you, and learn a little sense
and patience, the way you'll not be so airy
again going to rob poor sinners of their scraps
of gold.
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