216 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



for cattle. Hawthorns, heavily laden with red berries, grew 

 abundantly on the stone-faced banks along the road, and gorse 

 with golden flowers ; geese and ducks waddled about in the 

 puddles and ditches ; donkeys and cattle picked up what they 

 could in the bare fields, while hobbled goats took their chance 

 by the road-side. 



The hindquarters of our car horse were safely kept down 

 by the heaviest straps probably ever turned out of a saddler's 

 shop, but those hinder parts were very nimble, had proved very 

 expensive in cars, and great agility, skill, and time were 

 required to properly adjust the ponderous kicking- strap. When 

 once safely within the shafts, the animal had a rough time ; 

 it was constantly whipped because when cantering it did not 

 trot, and when trotting it did not canter, and treated to frequent 

 refreshers by violent tugs at the mouth. So, perhaps, its 

 decidedly expressed objection to the shafts was not altogether 

 incomprehensible. After escaping various dangers by road, 

 from roving pigs and hobbled goats and obstinate donkeys, we 

 at last arrived at our destination and were received by the 

 Scotch keeper, attended by a wild-looking lot of native beaters. 

 They were excellent men for this purpose, however, and worked 

 willingly and well through the very thick coverts, undeterred 

 by brambles or gorse, stimulated, no doubt, by the certain and 

 glorious prospect of the Saturday night carouse with the money 

 earned by beating during the week. Porter, here the favourite 

 and universal drink, unlimited, or at all events sufficient in 

 quantity to make Paddy incomparably happy, is the just reward 

 for work performed in the woods and among the heather. When 

 at last homeward bound from the shebeen, over roads which 

 move about unsteadily, are curiously rough and singularly con- 

 fusing by their number, and on treacherous knees which refuse 

 to carry so much extra weight, a body thus contented can 

 hardly be blamed if he stops short and follows the example 

 of his friend, the woodcock source of all his enjoyment and 

 hides among the ferns and soft surroundings of the nearest 

 ditch. He has thoroughly enjoyed the day's sport and his 

 beloved porter in the beershop at night, and, like a true sports- 

 man, is anxious and ever ready for more. Even the youngsters 

 are very fond of sport, as the following incident will show. 

 Certain coverts were being beaten on a very misty morning; 



