2G 



<li)ul)t tliese fish liad been carried over to the opposite side 

 ol the Ji"ver. The stroke-haulers had short rods with wiiicli 

 they jerlced a bunch of bi^' hooks and foul-hooked tlieir hsh. 

 ^\\'i' ^a\v one kilknl about lOlbs., and two or tlirce oiiu'is 

 tore out the hooks in their struggles, and escaped- — to be 

 hooked again. It was the most Hagrant and barefaced 

 piece of brutal jjoachin^ that I ever came across, and to say 

 that I was exceedingly disgusted is not to do justice to my 

 feeling's. As the afternoon was by this time well advanced, 

 we followed Flyn's lead and made tracks in the direction of 

 the promised raih^'ay station. After tramping for some 

 two hours, we reached a small cluster of cabins, where I 

 insisted upon halting- and making- incpiiries. " Is it a rail- 

 way you want?" asked a woefully dilapidated native; and 

 upon my replying- in the afhrmative, he slowly shook his 

 shag-gy head, and said, " There's no railroad in these parts !" 

 Turning- to our g-uide, I said, '' Well, Dan, you liave landed 

 us in a fine mess I AYhat are we to do?" His only sug- 

 ii-estion was to jj^o back to the boat, but to this I would not 

 agree, as it was already getting- dark, and the boat was quite 

 fifteen miles away ! If we reached her, how were we to pull 

 her ten miles against a rampant flood ? We were dog tired, 

 and nothing in the shape of a conveyance could be got. The 

 occupiers of the cabins gathered round us, and discussed 

 the situation wuth much vehemence, in Irish, and finally my 

 shaggj^-headed friend said if we would accept such poor 

 things as he had to offer, his cabin was at our disposal for 

 the night. He made the offer with so much diffidence, and 

 with such an evident desire to help us that I shook him by 

 th(^ hand without a moment's hesitation, and told him he 

 was an Irish o-entleman. The neig-hbours took him and his 

 in for the night, and we had the cabin to ourselves. We 

 made a hearty supper off potatoes and milk, and, with a 

 nightcap from my well-filled flask, we then slept the sleep 

 of the just, on a shake-down of clean oat straw. We fished 

 back to our boat next morning, killing two salmon — 121b. 

 and 13^1b. — on our way down, crossed the river, and got a 

 drive home. Flyn's wife had been sitting up all night for 

 us, and she gave him such a nagging that he suddenly 



