Now, I have bidden Fergus and Phelim to go with you.
They can row, and that well, and you need help.

Aye, I ken the ways of the boatwork well enough.

You will make them go with you, for hardly will they obey me, now at the last." Thereat those two brethren threw themselves at the feet of the old man, and besought him to let them bide with the rest for that crown of martyrdom which they might gain.
"No, my sons," he said sternly, and yet lovingly; "your lives may yet be of use.

Ours are done.

Now you shall win more by saving the lives of these friends of ours who came to us in need than by losing your own." Then he bent toward them, and spoke rapidly in the Latin tongue, and I saw their faces change, and they rose up.