About four o'clock
`` Do you think I 'd be throubling your reverence every minit . Long life to your reverence . May you be spared long in the parish . '' About four o'clock that afternoon , Father Letheby was startled by a sudden commotion in the village . All the dogs were barking , and there are as many dogs in Kilronan as in Constantinople , and they are just as vicious ; all the women were at the doors , rubbing their hands in their aprons ; and the village loafers were all turned towards where a solemn procession was moving through the street . First came a gang of youngsters , singing , `` Sure , We 're the Boys of Wexford , '' then a popular ditty ; then came two laborers , dragging along a ladder with as much show of expended energy as if it were a piece of heavy ordnance ; then the cart on which the ladder was placed ; then two more laborers behind , making desperate efforts to second the arduous endeavors of their mates in front ; then a squadron of bare-legged girls , trying to keep the hair out of their eyes ; and finally , the captain of the expedition , Jem Deady , leisurely walking along , with his hands in his pockets , a wheaten straw in his mouth , whilst he looked from cabin to cabin to receive the admiration of the villagers . It was expressed in various ways : -- `` Wisha , thin , Jem , ' t is you 're the divil painted . ''