244 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



for and your pilot an Irishman with pride of ownership 

 in every fish you caught ? Was it a lovely Autumn day 

 hke the one I write of? If you can say 'Yes' to this, 

 you will agree with me that such a day of joy is hard to 

 equal and should be remembered with a thanl^ful 

 heart. 



The fish we caught round these islands were lost 

 count of, as was the passing of our time until the 

 sun went down and gave thoughts of the journey back. 

 The glories of that Autumn evening, coming to finish 

 with splendour a perfect day spent in happy company 

 on ocean waves that seemed to joy in the pleasure that 

 they gave, brought a chastened spirit, before which 

 the vanity of success was much belittled to make room 

 lor humbler thoughts. 



We learned from Pat that he came so often to these 

 rocks and stayed so late that the noises of the night 

 which scared his comrades had for him no terrors. 



'I'm not denying the fairies, but it's not meself 

 that fears thim.' 



'But, Jennings, what of the old women's souls that 

 wail within the bodies of the seals at night?' 



*Och ! old wimen, is it? Faith, it's old wimen 

 that can hear the same whin the creatures are no more 

 than laughing. It's winking at me they were this 

 same day when they see'd yer honours in me boat, 

 and shure it's plaised jintlemen ye are that I am 

 cooking the hsh for.' 



Until then I had no thought of being hungry, and 

 was but half conscious of Pat's doings, but wher 

 I looked and saw the fish boihng in a saucepan and 

 the steaming potatoes in the crock, and thought of the 

 little way the heavy craft was making against the tide, 

 I was hungry and did justice to the meal provided. 



In youthful days I much preferred accompanying 

 my father's men when going journeys that were 

 uriknown to me to being at school. I once played 

 tiTjant to go for lime and had some of the man's 



