A Sportsman at Large 297 



from one of them. This proved to be none other than Micky 

 Magee, who yelled out : " Aw' bad cess to ut, ut's murthered 

 and kilt Oi am intoirely ! Faith, and the yong gintleman has 

 shot me dead ! " 



We rushed up and found the unfortunate one rubbing his 

 head's antipodes, the while emitting most blood-curdling 

 groans, intermingled with strange oaths in his native Erse. 



Naturally enough, my young hopeful was in a terrible 

 state of perturbation. No doubt he had visions of a trial 

 for manslaughter or worse, with chains and dungeons to 

 follow. Nor was he restored to equanimity until he was 

 assured that a careful diagnosis had revealed the fact that 

 only two shots had pierced Magee' s epidermis, and to such 

 shallow effect that we were able to prise them out with a 

 penknife. Nevertheless, the whimpering boy had dived into 

 his pocket and, producing a carefully hoarded half-sovereign, 

 had handed it over to the victim of his carelessness, who, 

 as soon as he had received the douceur, ceased his groaning 

 and curses. Grinning from ear to ear, he seized the little 

 Lionel's hand, exclaiming : 



" Aw* more power to yez 'anner ! May the blessed saints 

 presarve yez, and if so be ye'd be having another shot at 

 pour ould Micky, begob yez welcome ! ' ' 



In addition to those I have already mentioned as guests of 

 the Castle, was my trusty friend, Bizzy Robinson (he of the 

 glass-eye) and his charming wife Kate. 



After our day's sport we had many merry evenings. All 

 sorts of spoof, games and entertainments in the invention 

 of which Teddy Maurice was the moving spirit were 

 engineered. The ladies of the party subscribed to a prize 

 to be presented to the male guest who should produce the 

 best dinner-table decoration ; and many an artistic pro- 

 duction was evolved. Another time we decided to have 

 a fancy-dress repast, and each racked his or her brains in the 

 invention of some weird costume or characterization. Here 

 again Teddy's theatrical experience served us in good stead. 

 Though his make-up of various members of the party was 

 strikingly effective, in some cases they were decidedly incon- 

 venient ! For instance, he made up Bizzy as Captain Pott, 



