The protagonist of this tale is a young boy, Joe Dillon, roughly eight or nine years old, who enjoys reading stories about the Wild West and American detective novels. Although he occasionally enacts these western adventures with his peers, he finds these childlike games and school to be limiting. Alongside two other boys, his younger brother Leo Dillon and Mahoney, he hatches a plan to skip school for a day and embark on a genuine adventure in Dublin. Each of them contributes sixpence towards the excursion, and they plan to rendezvous the following morning. It is unclear whether this boy is the same one from the previous story.

When Leo Dillon doesn't appear, Mahoney decides he lost his bet of sixpence, and they share the extra money. They walk around the docks and buy some snacks, have an encounter with some younger boys, and cross the river that divides Dublin in a ferry boat. As it gets closer to their curfew, they sit around in a field, and Mahoney attempts to shoot a cat with his slingshot.

An older man who looks unkempt approaches them and starts chatting with them, inquiring about their education, literature, and romantic relationships. Despite feeling bored, they reply courteously, but the narrator feels uneasy about the man, while Mahoney doesn't seem to pay much attention to him.

After the discussion returns to school children, the elderly man leaves and goes to the edge of the field. There, Mahoney sees him either urinating or masturbating. The story, written in 1905, would not have been published if the act had been more explicitly depicted. Mahoney witnesses the act, but the narrator doesn't look up, even when Mahoney expresses concern. The narrator then proposes that if the older man asks for their names, they should use fake names.

Following his return to the narrator, the elderly gentleman becomes even more enthusiastic in discussing discipline, specifically whipping, for young boys, prompting the narrator to decide to depart. The narrator fears the man will seize him, and is nervous as he departs. The narrator then calls out to his acquaintance using the pseudonym they agreed on, "Murphy," and feels a great sense of relief when he responds, despite admitting to the reader that he has never liked Mahoney: "And I was penitent; for in my heart I had always despised him a little."