DEPARTURE FROM CONNAUGHT. 367 



irregular, and come in questionable shape ; but still, 

 be they in form of butter or rum, train-oil or mahogany, 

 they answer " for the nonce," and even a dead body 

 has not been profitless to the finder. 



I possibly have thus digressed from having witnessed 

 the triumphant arrival of a huge beam of Dantzic oak 

 and a ship's topmast, which certain retainers of my 

 gentle cousin have towed in. It appears that these 

 " spolia opima " were discovered early in the morning 

 about the centre of the bay, and a boat from both shores 

 approached them nearly at the same time. Both, like 

 true vassals, claimed on behalf of the respective master ; 

 and it being impossible, on what an Irishman would 

 very naturally term " debateable land," to settle the 

 question of property, the respective crews fought the 

 thing fairly out, and my kinsman's representatives, 

 being men of thews and sinews, after breaking two heads, 

 and chucking one gentleman of " the Capulets " over- 

 board, brought the godsends safely hither. Law there 

 will be, of course. The rival claimant was formerly an 

 attorney, who managed to spoliate an unhappy fool 

 who was litigiously inclined, and, of course, became 

 owner of the property. He who thus gets them will be 

 most tenacious of ill-acquired rights ; and this log and 

 spar will most likely terminate in being made a droit 

 of the Admiralty. 



We started on our last chasse and the ultima dies of our 

 sporting wanderings has come. The shortened days 

 and wet moors have made us desert grouse-shooting, 

 and we crossed the estuary to shoot a fen some three 

 miles off, which at this season is thickly tenanted with 

 snipes and waterfowl. 



The day was particularly favourable ; dark and quiet, 



