AND HOW I HAVE CAUGHT MY FISH 179 



CHAPTER XVII. 



MY IRISH RELATIVE THE SUPERIOR TOURIST THE COSTS 

 OF FISHING. 



THE welcome downpour had refreshed the face 

 of Nature. The drooping flowers of yesterday 

 now stood up in all their pride and glory, giving 

 out gratefully of their fragrance to the cool and 

 lingering breeze. The fishers, too, wore quite a 

 different look ; there was a springiness in their 

 movements that had so long been sadly absent. 

 Gillies had brought the news that the rivers were 

 just perfection ; so what more was needed to make 

 men keenly sure of sport ? 



How strange must be the workings of the Fates 

 that decide our movements ! I might never have 

 visited Ireland had it not been for a right good 

 fellow, an Irishman, who is very Irish in thought 

 and, at times, in speech. 



Our first meeting took place when we both had 

 grown so far to manhood as to desire to seek for 

 mates, and, for a time, it seemed to me we both 

 were paying court to the same lady the elder of 

 the two daughters that graced the home we had 

 grown fond of visiting. 



N 2 



