82 GARRYOWEN 



" And how about the seals? " 



" I don't want to see them. Go back." 



" Well, now, listen to me. Do you see over 

 there, behind us, that black hole in the chffs, 

 quarter of a mile, or maybe less, from the Devil's 

 Keyhole? " 



"Which? Where? Oh, that! Yes." 



" Well, that's the big sea cave that everyone 

 goes to see. Faith, you haven't seen Ireland at all 

 till you've been in the Devil's Kitchen — that's 

 the name of it. Shall I row you there? " 



" Yes — anywhere, so long as we get close to the 

 shore. It frightens me out here." 



" And, what call have you to be afraid when 

 Pm with you? " asked Mr Giveen in a tender tone 

 of voice, turning the boat's head and making for 

 the desired shore. 



" I don't know. Let us talk of something else. 

 Why do they call it the Devil's Kitchen? " 



" Faith, you wouldn't ask that if you heard the 

 hullabuUoo that comes out of it in the big storms. 

 You'd think, by the frying and the boiling, it was 

 elephants and whales they were cooking. But in 

 summer it's as calm as a — calm as a — what's its 

 name? Musha, I'll be remembering it in a minit." 



Mr Giveen grumbled to himseK in thought as he 

 lay to his oars. Sometimes the brogue of the 

 common people, with whom he had collogued from 

 boyhood, and which underlay his cultivated speech 

 as a stratum of rock underhes arable land, would 

 crop up thick and strong, especially when he was 



