nd they pulled an Irish
halfpenny, with the harp on, from their pockets, and moistened it with
saliva--which in English means spat on it--and then threw it into the
pocket on the other side of body. But none of these accredited appeals
to heaven put a speck upon the sea where the boats ought to have been,
or cast upon the clouds a shade of any sail approaching. Uneasily
wondering, the grannies, wives, and little ones went home, when the
nightfall quenched all eyesight, and told one another ancient tales of
woe.

Yet there is a salve for every sore, a bung for every bunghole. Upon the
Sunday morning, when the tide was coming in, and a golden haze hung
upon the peaceful sea, and the seven bells of the old grey church were
speaking of the service cheerfully, suddenly a deep boom moved the bosom
of distance, and palpitated all along the shore. Six or seven hale
old gaffers (not too stiff to walk, with the help of a staff, a little
further than the rest) were coming to hear parson by the path below the
warren, where a smack of salt would season them for doctrine. They knew
from long experience, the grandmother of science, that the mist of the
sea, coming on at breakfast-time, in the month of August (with the wind
where it was and the tides as they were), would be sure to hold fast
until dinner-time. Else, good as they were, and preparing punctually
once a week for a better world, the hind buttons of their Sunday coats
would have been towards the church, and the front ones to the headland.
For the bodies of their sons were dearer to them, substantially dearer,
than their own old souls.

They were all beginning to be deaf, or rather going on with it very
agreeably, losing thereby a great deal of disturbance, and gaining great
room for reflection. And now when the sound of a gun from the sea hung
shaking in the web of vapour, each of these wise men gazed steadfastly
at the rest, to see his own conclusion reflected, or concluded. A gun
it was indeed--a big well-shotted gun, and no deafness could throw any
doubt on it. There might not be anything to see, but still there would
be plenty to hear at the headland--a sound more arousing than the
parson's voice, a roar beyond that of all the gallery. "'Tis a battle!"
said one, and his neighbour cried, "A rare one!" They turned to the
parish church the quarters of farewell, and those of salutation to the
battle out at sea.

It was all over the village, in the time it takes to put a h