DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 211 



I mention this because it was in consequence of a 

 whisper that Harry gave the driver of a car that we 

 were quickly over a mile of Dublin cobbles and in 

 the midst of a crowd that carried us into a very 

 noisy entertainment. Of course I protested, but 

 there I was, to be a witness, however much I might 

 be pained, of the fare provided. I was pained 

 quite early, and had to hold my sides until Harry 

 came to my relief with " Steady, dad, steady." 

 I never tried harder in all my life to follow good 

 advice but occasionally I had to hold my sides ; 

 they ached so. To make matters worse the turns 

 that pained me most were boisterously encored 

 and, so great was the contagion of clapping hands, 

 that I caught myself in the very act of clapping 

 mine. 



In spite of such woeful dissipation we were at 

 Broadstone Station next morning in time for the 

 seven A.M. Midland Great Western Limited Mail 

 for Achill whence we were to take a car for Dugort, 

 for a stay of two days, and then start on our tour of 

 the coast and islands of Connemara. 



It was a perfect Autumn morning when we 

 settled ourselves in corner seats of a comfortable 

 carriage for a look just once again at the many 

 places we should pass where I had fished or shot. 

 The train was in the best of humours and Irish-like 

 desired to show that it had capacities of a high 

 order ; when it slowed it seemed to say : " Now look 

 at this and look at that ; have you seen their like 

 in all your travels ? " At Mullingar it made a stay 

 which gave me time to tell my companion that the 

 rivers and lakes near would need a month to test 

 and of a splendid time of great success that I once 



