Mr O’Hagan noisily sniffed. ‘I have nothing against either horse or jockey. I have no bone to pick over either of them.’ He drew his breath in, holding it for a moment or two before slowly releasing it. Sometimes Tom had to buy a postal order for Mrs Rolleston from him and when he asked for it Mr O’Hagan did exactly the same thing, delaying the release of his breath for as long as he could, and only reaching for the box where he kept the postal orders when no further sound came from his nose.

‘Will it still be going?’ Tom asked.

None of the men replied. Mr O’Hagan repeated what he had several times repeated already in connection with Butt Nolan. Mr Coyne said John Joe Shevlin’s father was a man who knew his onions, the way he’d got John Joe into a stables when he was five years old. It was a story he’d heard, and he didn’t doubt a word of it. Haverty said a Carlow man always knew his onions.

‘Will the knife-throwing still be going? Will we be late for it?’

Haverty blinked. He pursed his lips in deliberation and for a moment his lean countenance seemed leaner. True enough, if they were late they could have trouble getting back across the water. They could run into difficulties because your man might be cantankerous about obliging them with the ferryboat.

‘Wait till you’ll have your bridge,’ said Mr Coyne.

But Haverty said they’d have to wait a while yet. He leaned across the table with a smile of amusement on his face. He suggested there’d be hard words all round if he remained in Spillane’s until the bridge was completed, although for himself he wouldn’t mind. He laughed noisily and so did Mr Coyne. Mr O’Hagan said that if Butt Nolan came into the public house he’d give him the sharp department of his tongue.

‘Are they pleased across about the bridge?’ Mr Coyne enquired when the laughter had calmed down.

Haverty shook his head. ‘How would they be? Isn’t it the wrong side for all of us?’

‘I know what you mean.’

‘Listen to me,’ Haverty said to Tom. ‘I have business I haven’t finished with Mr Coyne and Mr O’Hagan. Go on up yourself and see what’s doing and come down to the quays after it’s done. I’ll be waiting by the boat for you.’

‘The Zodiacs is famous the length and breadth of Ireland,’ Mr Coyne remarked. ‘When they’ve done their stuff throw them that.’ He gave Tom a ha’penny, and it struck Tom as odd that Mr Coyne should pay money for what he did not intend to witness. He accepted the coin, saying he would pass it on.

‘Don’t be long now,’ Haverty said. ‘Don’t have me waiting all night on the quays.’