170 ANGLING. 



and said, f Oh ! the large fish never give play : a lively pail now, 

 is worth twenty of 'em for that, sir. But, talking of large fish/ 

 continued he, looking at the fire and then turning to me, ' I was 

 fishing over there at Benson's Point one day. The boat was almost 

 wracked to pieces on that blackguard little quay that the Madam 

 has below ; two or three of her ribs war broken, and so I was 

 obliged to fish from the land. Well, just as I was thinking where 

 I'd put her when she was mended, I feels a mighty heavy pull at 

 the line, that I knew must be from a great fellow. I tried him, 

 but not a stir could I get out of him for any money. Says I, 

 " This must be the making of me, when he won't rise 'his head at 

 all out of the sand ; 'tis the way with the great salmon that they 

 won't give any play at all." Well, we tried him again, and again, 

 and again ; but 'twas no use. I thought that may-be 'twas a rock, 

 or a stump of a tree, after all ; so I goes about every way to get 

 the hook tree, but nothing would do. At last he vexed me all out 

 I didn't care a farthing what became of the rod or tackle ; I gave 

 a terrible whip, and tossed something over my head into the bushes 

 behind. "Yourself, and all that came before you, to the clivil!" 

 says I, going to see what it was. And, sure, I found that it was 

 an anvil, and that the hook had stuck in its eye. But that wasn't 

 the best of it : there was a fine stag (nine years ould by the horns) 

 sleeping in the bush, and when I thrun back the anvil, I struck 

 him with it in the middle of the forehead, and killed him as dead 

 as a gurnet.' 



' ' Who the d 1, 5 interrupted Moriarty, f ever saw a rod or 



gut that would pitch an anvil out of the lake at Tonnes ? Weren't 

 Mr. Lynch and I raising an anvil the other day, for a wages ? 

 There isn't a rod in the world, unless a rod of iron or steel, that 

 would do it/ 



" Paddy never vindicates a story. I was unable, from laughter, 

 to utter a word ; but Moll, as usual, swore ' it was thrue for the 

 lad. Wasn't the anvil a block by the fire, until she gave it to her 

 sister's son-in-law, when he set up the forge at Eahah Cross ? And, 

 for the stas:, didn't an Iveraghan give a full-bound of butter for his 

 skin?' 



" I saw that Paddy was in great blood this day ; _ and willing to 

 see how far he would run if line enough were given him, I requested 

 Moriarty's silence by a look, and showed Paddy a volume contain- 

 ing some excellent drawings of fishes. 



e 'That one is a shark: he m grows to be p sixteen or twenty feet 

 long, and is exceedingly ferocious. A man in full armour was once 

 found in the belly of one. Did you, Paddy, ever see anything like 

 that?' 



' A man in armour ? That 's a soger, I suppose ? No, indeed, 

 sir ; I never saw anything quare in a fish. A man in a shuit (suit) ' 

 of iron ! The only thing^I ever saw out of the way was one day 1 

 caught a brown trout, between twenty and thirty pounds, and we 



* A spring salmon. 



