138 A YEAR OF LIBERTY ; OR, 



whoop I lit a cigar with infinite satisfaction, pulled off my boots, 

 poured out the water, and hung myself out to dry, here above 

 Kathleen's Fall. Carelessly casting the line as I sat dangling my 

 legs over the water, the fly was instantly taken by a regular rasper. 

 I was up in a second. Mike was utterly bothered by such an unusual 

 combination of circumstances ; a lodge, where our salmon was safe 

 not to remain five minutes, bare feet, and two hundred yards of the 

 sharpest and most broken rocks in all Ireland on the very course he 

 was sure to take, and that, too, at a pace requiring the utmost exer- 

 tions of an active man to keep up with. ' Holy Mary,' he exclaimed, 

 in an agony of despair, * oh. Holy Mary,' what a murthering sin, and 

 him, too, so big ! the ould rogue, bad luck to him, we'll be bate 

 entirely.' 'The boots Mike, the boots!' I roared, with an energy 

 corresponding to the excitement of mind and anguish of body. Had 

 I gone barefoot on a pilgrimage to Loretto, I could not have suffered 

 half so much. Poor Mike pulled manfully at the reeking leather in 

 the almost hopeless endeavour to get it on, whilst I kicked like a 

 madman to help him. ' Hould him, hould him, your honour !' and 

 faith it was time, for the fish was within six inches of the edge of 

 the torrent. By great good luck he turned and shot up the water 

 like an arrow ; we breathed again, and for a moment felt secure. By 

 desperate struggling and pulling we contrived at length to get one 

 boot on and the other partly so ; but a rebellious fold still held out 

 in spite of our superhuman endeavours ; whish, whish, wl^-i-s-h, 

 groaned the wheel : ' he's over,' and away we went, tumbling, 

 scrambling, jumping, slipping, and recovering, bruised and breathless. 

 The gallant foe made one vain effort to head the stream. Those few 

 seconds enabled me to come up and bring him under the rod. It 

 was now ten to one on the fly, and in a few minutes after Mike landed 

 a splendid fellow of three-and-twenty pounds." 



Many a star was shining in the deep blue sky, and the moon had 

 risen over Stonewall, yet the commander showed no intention of 

 breaking up his bivouac. 



"Is that Causan-a-Mhanaigh where the moonlight rests, John?" 

 ; to his squire. 



