The unnamed narrator, a young boy, learns that a local priest has died by a stroke. The boy listens to a straggling conversation between his aunt, his uncle, and their family friend, Old Cotter. Old Cotter voices his disapproval of the boy’s close friendship with the deceased priest. Later, the boy dreams of the priest and understands that the priest wants to confess something to him. The next morning, he goes to look at the priest’s home, which has been boarded up. He thinks about the time they spent together; the boy would often bring him a gift of snuff from his aunt. The priest also taught him Latin and told him stories. Later that day the boy goes with his aunt to visit the priest, where his two sisters are holding vigil. One sister, Eliza, talks about the priest’s last days, and how he seemed to be in crisis.

The narrator, a school-age boy, enjoys playing adventure games with his friends. A boy named Joe introduces him to Western stories and makes the narrator long for adventure. One day, Joe’s brother Leo is caught reading a Western at school and admonished for it. Soon after, the boy plans to skip school with Leo and their friend Mahony; however, Leo doesn’t come, and the boy and Mahony go off together.