nearly midnight before
` I am almost sure of it , for Long Tom Cunningham , the big ship carpenter that you 've heard your father tell of , was just such a man , and the first touch of `` the horrors '' carried him off . ' '' ` Well , sir , I 'm much obliged for your good will , any how , and after my cousin Johnny McGrath has his bit of a spree , I 'll try and leave it off for a while , any way . ' `` Johnny McGrath 's ` spree , ' a fulling-frolic , came off one Saturday night , about a fortnight after this ; and while the web of strong , coarse homespun cloth , which was to furnish Mac and his boys with their year 's stock of outer clothing , was being duly lifted , rubbed , banged on a bench , and twisted by the strong hands of about thirty men and women , Jim led the roaring choruses , and manipulated his end of the cloth with a vigor which at once delighted and alarmed the fair weaver thereof . `` In the dancing and whiskey-drinking which followed , Jim was in his element ; and it was nearly midnight before the party broke up , and he was left alone with the rest of his relative 's household . '' ` Well , Johnny , ' said he , ` you 've done the decent thing this time , and I 'm glad my last spree has been at your place , for I 'm going to quit grog for a while . Give me a coal for my pipe , Jane , for it 's late , and I 've a good five miles ' of beach atween me an ' home . ' '' ` Is the man mad ? '