104 A YEAR OF LIBERTY ; OB, 



repose before again feeling comfortable. Some of the crew felt 

 exceedingly like boas after dinner. But the breeze was once more 

 pla\ring a game of romps with the lake before going to rest, and two 

 heavily-gorged animals had to be roused into what was unquestion- 

 abty a painful state of activity. Again the sport brightened up as 

 before, but in a couple of hours the wind sank for the night, and we 

 pulled for the shore over a long stretch of water, whose surface was 

 smooth as polished glass. Ten fish lay on the grass, two more were 

 chiefly carried by parties whose names are sacred ; one dozen in all. 

 Well done, Dereveragh ! 



If required to name the day on which the May-fly makes its first 

 annual visit to this lake, I should fix on the 18th of May. Of 

 course a long and cold spring retards the development of the 

 caddis, in the same degree that warmth and sunshine contribute to 

 its more early maturity. No season could be more genial than the 

 present, and as a consequence the drake "was up " some days prior 

 to the date above mentioned. Indeed, these beautiful insects had 

 fluttered away half their bright brief lives when we anived; but 

 the sport had reached its climax, for the trout, fully alive to the 

 dainty, were not as yet surfeited with it. 



A twice-told tale grows wearisome, however well narrated, and 

 must especially be avoided in a work so unpretending as this. 

 Suffice it, then, to say our second day proved less productive than 

 the preceding, both as to number and size, for out of eight fish 

 brought to bag, one only reached 5^1b. And now standing, perhaps 

 for the last time, on the shores of Dereveragh, I could not but turn 

 to take one long lingering look at the place where two such happy 

 days had been passed. In this uncertain and anxious life who would 

 not feel grateful to a spot where he had found such wealth ? Then the 

 thought so common to man rose within me, " Shall I ever visit it 

 again, and will there be no one of the dear faces now round me 

 absent for ever ?" Instinctively I drew closer to them, as if (idle 

 dream !) proximity gave security. In sober mood I drove back to 

 Connel, paid our moderate bill, and set off for MuUingar as the 

 shades of evening began to gather round us. 



