The sole piece of ‘straight’ narrative, that is, of incident following closely upon incident, which Patrick has left us is the account of his experiences on the way home from Ireland (chapters 18-23 of the Confession). Briefly, on making land he and the ship’s crew pushed inland through a barren and apparently uninhabited region, where they came near to starvation. Such was their plight that the captain called on Patrick to justify his claim that the Christian god was all-powerful, for it was doubtful, he said, whether they should ever see another human face. Just then, however, they came upon a herd of pigs, on which they regaled themselves. Up to the fourteenth day thereafter food was available to them in abundance, including a find of tree honey, and, in implicit contrast to their previous situation, they had also fire and siccitas, that is, dry weather (or perhaps shelter).