LOUGH DERG. 243 



among the boatmen, the sun had been for 

 some while under the horizon, and the shades 

 of evening were adding solemnity to the 

 landscape. There was not a breath of wind, 

 and the surface of the lake, which even yet 

 retained its dull, red glow, became still and 

 dark as a sheet of copper. The rods, which 

 hitherto had been pitched in the turf by 

 their spikes, were removed into the boat, 

 together with the miscellaneous articles of 

 the encampment, and Johnny M 'Go wan 

 came up with a smiling and hopeful coun- 

 tenance. 



" The boatman says, says he, the night 

 will do iligant. ,, 



" The sooner we are off, the better," said 

 the Captain, jumping up and hastening to 

 the boat, which had been launched, and lay 

 floating beside a rock. 



But if the Captain was in a hurry, the 

 boatmen w T ere not ; everything was done 

 slowly and deliberately for the purpose of 

 whiling away the time, and it was nearly 

 dark when they arrived at a part of the lake 

 where the shallowness of the water, and the 

 sandy nature of the bottom, appeared to 

 their experience as suited to the spot. 



