DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 191 



her pace, for the car swayed more than ever, and fairly 

 jumped when a wheel took a larger stone than usual. 

 On our right as we neared the group of dwelhngs, 

 men and women were at work on patches of a much- 

 divided field, and to get a view of them Pat stood up, 

 and there he saw O'Malley, no room for doubt, for he 

 twirled his whip round his head in the wildest fashion 

 while he shouted, 'The bhoy is digging praties. It's 

 meself that sees him.' In his excitement he did not 

 notice that he was nearing a shallow ditch until the 

 heavy drop of the wheel on my side banged him down 

 heavily upon his seat. 



* Whist, ye careliss brute. Couldn't ye see I was 

 shpaking to O'Malley? Come out av it.' 



The energy of our driver continued unabated until 

 we were in the boat, which was in a much briefer space 

 of time than I expected, considering she lay 100 yards 

 or more from where she could be launched and the 

 bhoy O'Malley was far older than myself. He and his 

 fishing mate, with our driver's help, got the boat 

 upon their heads, and walked with it as if it were a 

 shell, and indeed it proved to be a flimsy shell of thin 

 deal boards covered with canvas fortified by tar. I 

 thought her none too safe for four to go in, but, after 

 we had crossed the bar that caused her to bump her 

 tail in such a fashion as jerked our heads at their 

 full weight upon our shoulders, she glided like a duck 

 over the big oily waves of the open sea. Our driver 

 had pushed us off, and then spread out his aims as if 

 to bless us, unmindful of a wave that came to wet him 

 to the knees. 



Brian O'Malley, the head boatman, whom Pat 

 so lovingly called a bho}^ was the most ancient mariner 

 I had ever shipped with, and much exceeded, in 

 appearance, the seventy-three years he later on 

 confessed to; yet there was a grimness in his work 

 and ordering of the course which soon inspired a con- 

 fidence that he still possessed more go than many 



