no A Sportsman at Large 



guise made violent overtures to Nannie McGoorty, one of 

 the few really pretty daughters of Erin present. As Mr. 

 Dan Heggarty, the local blacksmith, had for years watched her 

 growing up, and had marked her for his own, you can imagine 

 that the keen eye of observation which he bent on Ted was 

 of the very lemon order ; so I detailed Michael Dever and 

 Johnny McDonald to keep a watch on the young disciple 

 of Vulcan, lest his Hibernian blood should reach such a caloric 

 and choleric height that, urged by jealousy and alcoholic 

 indulgence, he might proceed to the " doin' in " of his hated 

 rival. By the exercise of a little tact and much whisky, 

 we reduced Dan to the maudlin and affectionate stage of 

 inebriation, which of course rendered him supremely happy 

 and amiable if somewhat repulsive. 



I have been ever addicted to " the light fantastic " both 

 from an eccentric and a conventional and technical point of 

 view, so when Martin Doyle began scraping his fiddle strings 

 and Matthew O'Dowd played upon the pipes, I rushed into 

 the fray. 



Now it happened that Johnny McDonald fancied himself 

 as a dancer, that could outskip and outstay any native rival 

 or " anny dirthy Saxon savin' yer 'anner's pardon," that 

 dare take him on. 



This unseemly boasting was not to be tolerated, so I deter- 

 mined to see if I could not abate his conceit. 



The " fluer " was cleared, and all stood around watching 

 the duel, and loudly applauding the efforts of the combatants. 

 Well, in those days, I was pretty fit and vigorous ; so at the 

 end of half an hour's dancing without a moment's breather 

 the skipper of the White Wings threw up the sponge, and 

 I was hailed the winner amid the unrestrained plaudits of 

 my guests. 



At last the party broke up, and with bibulous expressions 

 of undying love and devotion, drifted off. A big contingent 

 had to cross a neck of the bay, in a dilapidated ferry boat, 

 the holding capacity of which was strictly limited. I had 

 said good night to the last of the bhoys and was settling down 

 to a contemplative pipe, when suddenly there arose above 

 the whining of the wind, most appalling shrieks and yells 



