He looked like some kind of an Indian when he capered round the garden, an old tea-cosy on his head, beating a tin with his fist and yelling:Įveryone was incredulous when it was reported that he had a vocation for the priesthood. But he played too fiercely for us who were younger and more timid. Dillon was prevalent in the hall of the house. His parents went to eight-o’clock mass every morning in Gardiner Street and the peaceful odour of Mrs. But, however well we fought, we never won siege or battle and all our bouts ended with Joe Dillon’s war dance of victory. He and his fat young brother Leo, the idler, held the loft of the stable while we tried to carry it by storm or we fought a pitched battle on the grass. Every evening after school we met in his back garden and arranged Indian battles. He had a little library made up of old numbers of The Union Jack, Pluck and The Halfpenny Marvel. Stranger danger is no joke.It was Joe Dillon who introduced the Wild West to us. All this leaves our little guy blushing hard-core because Mahony wasn't ever really his friend, but now he's totally relying on him.He yells for Mahony (and uses a classic tactic, calling him by a fake name they had agreed upon earlier), and Mahony comes to the rescue. And okay, don't tell anyone, but he's getting a little scared.It's boring and he's talking about whipping little boys for having girlfriends, so basically our narrator figures he better get outta Dodge.Hey, whatever happened to the buddy system? Everything's fine until Mahony runs off and leaves the narrator alone with this 'queer old josser,' or 'strange old fool,' who just can't stop talking.If you've predicted that he starts up a little convo with our mischievous adventurers, you're right. A very strange-looking man walks by the guys in the field and then starts walking in circles around them, all creepy-like.

Wandering around alongside the River Liffey, they end up in a field in a suburb called Ringsend they never make it as far as the Pigeon House.It's kind of a disorganized trip already. They play 'Indian' as they head out of town. One lousy friend drops out, so the narrator and his pal Mahony set out together.Skipping school and going out to the Pigeon House sounds like a real adventure, so he and two friends agree on a plan to do it the next day.Oh, yeah, he's been reading chapter books about the Wild West, so that has a lot to do with it. Our narrator wants adventures and the kind of 'wild sensations' you can't get at school or in the neighborhood (An Encounter.8).

An encounter james joyce