Trout Fishing in Wicklow 187 



At last we sallied forth ourselves and 

 carried the Constabulary barracks by assault. 

 The sergeant in charge, however, refused 

 to " take us in charge," but looking upon 

 us as " Babes in the Wood," and pitying 

 our hopeless and forlorn condition, he came 

 with us to aid us in our search, finally dis- 

 covering the abode of a retired car-driver, 

 where there was a room containing one large 

 ramshackle wooden four-poster a relic of 

 ages and past greatness which we promptly 

 secured, notwithstanding that the charge for 

 its use was equivalent to the value of the 

 freehold of the whole house. Never, if I 

 live as long as Methuselah, shall I forget 

 the horror, misery, and torture of that most 

 unholy night. The heavy cavalry were as 

 big as oysters, with the jaws of Bengal 

 tigers and the blood-sucking capabilities of 

 vampires. I could not stand their attacks, 

 and turned out to pass the night in a chair ; 



