DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 239 



sail gjid half a gale to give her a pleasant list. Pat 

 looked quite at home in her, and I thought no man 

 and boat could possibly be more in harmony as each 

 and every detail of both lent themselves to make 

 a rough and ready picture that suggested 'Work, 

 and nevsr mind the weather.' Individual articles, 

 some for domestic use, vied with one another to bring 

 this abou;, while collectively they told that the 

 captain of\-times dined, and sometimes slept, on 

 board. A lar-smudged, iron crock, half filled with 

 dying embers on which potatoes baked, gave forth 

 a pleasant, peaty smell, but, like all else on board, 

 it was the worse for use and stood lopsidedly on two 

 legs, and on that portion of its bottom that had lost 

 the third. So much were man and boat alike that 

 after some days spent \vith him and her I had to ask 

 if he had made it himself. 



Millet was the first to speak. 'Jennings, these gentle- 

 men want you to take them for pollack to-morrow.' 



'Shure thin it's meself that will be delighted to 

 do that same and see the jintlemen hauling at the 

 monsters, and it's me gear, and none hke it, will 

 hould thim.' 



Jennings's eyes turned to where a number of stout 

 cord lines, wound upon wooden frames, lay, and 

 then he smilingly remarked : — 



'It's fun they'U be giving yer honours if it plaises 

 the weather.' 



As we were turning to go I said, 'Have you a gaff, 

 Jennings ? ' 



The answer to this held a reproach as if the speaker 

 thought it was in my mind to doubt his lines. 



'Gaff, yer honour? It's no gaff ye'U need.' 



We — I say 'we,' as I do not desire to hurt tender 

 feehngs — had lost our gaff, and I feared for our chances 

 of replacing it, but I got one that evening which 

 answered splendidly. An obhging man — all Irislimen 

 are that — unscrewed a hook from out the ceiling of his 



