Walking day by day along the shore or through the fields, he came to think that life might very well be spent without ambitious or extended hopes in quiet toil and unexciting pleasures.

What held him back was the recollection, which never ceased to haunt him, of his father's prophecy.

The thought of the great fight, declared to be imminent, stirred in him an emotion so strong that the peace and monotony he half desired became impossible.
He never made it clear to himself that he either believed or disbelieved the prediction.

He certainly did not expect to see an actual gathering of armed men, or that Ireland was to be the scene of a battle like those in South Africa.

But there was in him a conviction that Ireland was awakening out of a long sleep, was stretching her limbs in preparation for activity.