1 8 GARRYOWEN 



and vanish. Now and then a great cormorant 

 would pass the cliff edge, sailing along without a 

 movement of the wings and sinking from sight 

 with a cry. 



The sea-breeze blew, bringing with it the crown- 

 ing dehght of the cliff-top — the smell of the sea. 

 The smell of a thousand leagues of waves, the smell 

 of seaweed from the shore, the smell that men 

 knew and loved ten thousand years ago, the smell 

 which is freedom distilled into perfume, and the 

 remembrance of which makes us turn each year 

 from the land and seek the sea. 



" Moriarty," said the child, " where are those 

 ships going to? " 



" Which ships? " asked Moriarty. 



" Those ships with the brown sails to them.'* 



" Limerick," replied Moriarty, without raising 

 an eye from the job he was on, or knowing in the 

 least which way the ships were going, or whether 

 Limerick was by the sea or inland. Moriarty had 

 a theory that one answer was as good as another 

 for a child as long as you satisfied it, and the 

 easiest answer was the best, because it gave you the 

 least trouble. Moriarty was not an educationaUst ; 

 indeed, his own education was of the slightest. 



" Why are they going to Limerick? " demanded 

 Miss French. 



" Why are they goin' to where? " asked 

 Moriarty, speaking like a man in a reverie and 

 whittling away with his knife at the stick. 



" Limerick." 



