262 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



I was so or not, but I certainly felt delighted at the 

 thought of a holiday during which my friend and 

 I might catch salmon or kill grouse as the fancy 

 moved us. Emery is a clever fisher, a most ex- 

 cellent companion, and is full of the resource, 

 ingenuity, and cheerfulness that were so necessary 

 to angling visitors to Ireland at that time. It is 

 quite usual to hear people say : " Oh ! let Emery 

 manage, and there will be no trouble." He had 

 left little to chance : beds and beats had been ar- 

 ranged weeks prior, so we had only to move in on 

 the appointed day. This we did, to find that others 

 had moved in either earlier on that day or some 

 time previous. 



The hotel was not the huge structure that now 

 stands on the spot, but, next after a limited number 

 of bedrooms, there was a drawing-room ; and then, 

 following in importance, a dining-room. We slept 

 in the dining-room the first night ; believe me, if 

 you can, not from choice, although there was much 

 that was very choice -choice smells of baked, 

 boiled and fried, choice groans, choice snoring and 

 choice wishes. A night of such purgatory is 

 cheaply bought if, ever after, you feel more grateful 

 for a sweet, soft bed. I was so truly grateful when 

 in one the next night that I almost desired to keep 

 awake to enjoy the comfort of it. 



Leenane is near the house in which a whole 

 family, named Joyce, was killed by Fenians, and, 

 Miss Balfour having paid a visit to the spot soon 

 after, a fact much noticed by the Press, caused 

 ladies innumerable and various to show their 

 courage by following her example ; hence the 

 spasmodic rushes such as that which robbed us of 



