282 A YEAR OF LIBERTY ; OR, 



this swamp the deepest in the neighbourhood was in high request 

 with the birds. Crossing the bank, we had hardly taken three 

 steps before one sprung at our feet, and was knocked over by my 

 comrade in the first style of art. So numerous were they in this 

 small inclosure that the setters were coupled, and we walked the 

 birds up. During the next three or four hours we could not have 

 fired less than a hundred shots ; but whilst my friend performed 

 admirably, I did not kill one out of eight, and felt rejoiced to quit 

 the scene of my disgrace for a walk along the firm dry strand 

 leading to the swampy meadows which border the debouchment of 

 the Inny. 



The heavy surf, so common on the Irish coast, at this season, was 

 thundering on the shore. Like charging squadrons the huge rollers 

 rushed on, their long white plumes floating "wildly as they hurled 

 themselves headlong on the stubborn sand, thickly strewn with lines 

 and patches of foam. What a picture of a battle field ! The gallant 

 onset the unflinching defence the shattered ranks the cumbered 

 gi'ound and fame enduring as the foam ! 



Near low water-mark, half buried in the sand, lay a brass cannon 

 of antique workmanship. Heaven only knows how it came there I 

 When the Armada, battered by shot and crippled by tempests, fled 

 along the coast, and some goodly ship went down in the bay, this 

 gun perhaps then sank like lead in that moment of horror, and now, 

 uncovered by the surf, rose to recall the tale of wreck and disaster. 

 As we watched this memento of half forgotten wars, the advancing 

 tide flowed up to it; each wave heaped sand on its head, till it 

 seemed to sink down into the grave. None of the party had ever 

 seen it before, and half a century may elapse ere the spectre again 

 becomes visible to mortal eyes. 



Before we separated for the night the Major pointed to a glass of 

 Admiral Fitzroy's. The crystals had risen an inch since morning. 

 " 'Twill be a near shave," he said, "but there will be a fresh in the 

 Inny before the month is over." 



Cock shooting in the open is one of the most delightful of Irish 

 sports, provided you have a brace of setters that understand their 



