SALMON ANGLING IN IRELAND. 217 



ment of these desirable things. As usual, the blessing sought lay 

 close to my door, and had been overlooked. On my return I found 

 it. Near our palace was a narrow court or passage, at the end of 

 which was a car standing on end, with the shafts in the air, getting 

 the unaccustomed luxury of a good wash. Nearer inspection showed 

 me a small board, nearly a foot square, of a flaming yellow, with 

 some extraordinary obsolete vehicle painted thereon, attached to 

 which was the picture of a wonderful animal belonging to a species 

 now extinct. 



A few steps brought me to the house. " Tommy, Tommy O'Boyle ! 

 Hollo, Tommy O'Boyle !" A portentous snore was the only reply. 

 Bow-wow-wow was the answer to a few hearty kicks on the door. 



" Nick, ye villan, lave the pigs alone." 



Kick kick kick, bow-wow- wow, performed in true classic strophe 

 and antistrophe, at last awoke the owner of the patent safety 

 vehicle. Nick's invocation, joined with my own, had been somewhat 

 potent, and Mr. O'Boyle suddenly appeared in a suit of primitive 

 buff, tastefully overlaid with a white tunic, called by the vulgar a 

 shirt. On the advent of his master, Nick kindly pardoned my too 

 early call, and, being a dog of practical mind, improved the occasion 

 by making a light and cheap breakfast by licking the grease off my 

 boots. 



" Could I go at once to Tyrena ? " 



" Is it a kar yer honour '11 be wanting this fine momin'?" observed 

 Mr. O'Boyle, with a pleasant smile. 



" Of course. What else can I want ? " 



"I'm thinking it's to Pat's yer goin'. Fait, I'll be wid ye 

 immadiately." 



" The coachman " was as good as his word, and by the time I had 

 roused up my servant he drove to the door and we were off. 



Mile after mile we sped on towards Tyrena over barren wastes. 

 The peat bog through which we moved, with its blackened surface 

 and dark piles of dried fuel, heaped in immense mounds and cast in 

 every variety of form and size, bore a fanciful resemblance to a city 

 consumed by fire. Everything looked charred. It seemed as if the 



