32 A YEAR OF LIBERTY ; OR, 



believe me, is not always the case with gentlemen who travel for 

 amusement. 



The principal scene of our week's happy toil was the eastern 

 shore of the lake, including Cummeragh Bay ; so to-day we will 

 change our ground and visit the opposite side. 



On the western shore the wild mountain range, extending from 

 Derrynane, rises abmptly, forming a grand and beautiful setting to 

 the silvery sheet below. But these mountains will never again echo 

 to the joyous hallo or cheery horn of the great Dan. Why here, 

 actually here, on his own happy hunting grounds, he is dead as a 

 door-nail. Such is fame. What a change this peaceful wilderness 

 must have been after the sweat and turmoil of '^ Conciliation Hall." 

 Surely he must often have quitted his home with shaken purpose 

 and sinking heart. Could he have gazed into the magic mirror 

 below, and seen things as we see them to-day, he -would have 

 remained with his hounds when " Emancipation," the great monu- 

 ment of his life, had been built up, and rested on his fame. 



We cannot start till the bait arrives. John, whose business it is 

 to procure it, ought to have returned long ago. As he was nowhere 

 in sight, I strolled to the bridge to look after him. Lo ! there he 

 was in all his glory. With his legs comfortably disposed on the 

 shingle, and his back supported by a smooth boulder, the wretched 

 man was fast asleep. 



Across his knees lay the butt ; his hands had relaxed their hold, 

 and two-thirds of the rod lay quietly in the water no, not quietly 

 for an imfortunate eel was tugging at it with all his might, begging 

 the inexorable sleeper " to get up and take the nasty pin out of his 

 throat, for it hurt him very much, and he was but a poor slimy 

 fellow after all, and meant no harm in tasting what Misther John 

 had so kindly placed at his disposal." 



I felt seriously alarmed at this unexpected malady. I had learned 

 how colic might be cured, but was fairly puzzled how to treat the 

 present crisis. It would be unsafe even to trust him alone in future, 

 as the poor fellow might, at any moment, fall into a state of coma. 



The first thing, however, to be done was to rouse the sufferer, so 



