Summary

At a pier wall, a painter named Mr. Lloyd helps a boatman named Micheál lower a chest full of easels and paints down the wall. Micheál secures the items in the boat. Micheál eases a nervous Lloyd onto the boat. Micheál offers to stop, saying that the passage is not often made anymore and can be rough, but Lloyd refuses. During the passage, Lloyd thinks of titles of paintings based on the exchanges he is having with Micheál. A man named Francis Gillan arrives, and Micheál explains he is there to help him row. Lloyd finds himself jealous of Francis’s gracefulness. Francis greets Micheál in Irish and the boat departs. Lloyd begins to sketch as the boat makes its crossing, and he sees a black bird that Micheál explains is a guillemot, much to...