240 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



might be that after all we should have to return to 

 Achill railway station. 



After about an hour of anxious waiting the boat 

 arrived. It was rowed by a square-built man who 

 manipulated the oars in most effective fashion and 

 looked so much the sailor in garb and gait that I 

 thought I was venturing much when I asked him 

 if he was the postmaster. He was, and in a very 

 brief space of time he had found a mate ; the two 

 trotted with the loads of luggage to the boat and 

 we were off in much less time than it sometimes 

 takes to ascertain the cost of hiring. The reason 

 of this haste was that there was not a minute to 

 spare if the tide was to help the boat to round the 

 island to where the sails would fill and, failing this 

 help, they would have no chance of returning home 

 that night. Hence the quickest shipment and the 

 most manful struggle I have ever witnessed, a 

 struggle which deserved success. It only just 

 succeeded, the tide turned during the last fifteen 

 minutes, but we reached the wind, the sails filled 

 and the boat commenced to leave a trail that grew 

 in size. The men had a drink, mopped their brows 

 and, having rearranged the baggage, lit their pipes, 

 folded their arms and smoked contentedly. 



It was seven o'clock when we entered the little 

 harbour and we found our to-be host, Mr J. M'Cabe, 

 on the quay to welcome us. When the luggage 

 was landed I asked the boatmen to come on shore 

 and have some food, but they shook their heads 

 as they replied : " We must be off at once," and 

 they would have gone without had not my host, 

 at my request, hastened for bread and cheese and 

 something in a bottle. When shaking hands with 



