PODGERS' POINTER 83 



life ; but there's a particular friend of mine who is 

 most anxious to have one day's shooting at Bally- 

 bawn. Do you think }'ou could manage to let him 

 have it ? " 



I emphasised the word " one " in the most im- 

 pressive way. 



" I would give one or two days, Mr Brown, with 

 the greatest pleasure ; but the fact is, I have lent 

 my dogs to Sir Patrick O'Houlahan." 



" Oh, as to tliat, my friend has a splendid dog — 

 a most remarkable dog. 1 hear it's a treat to see 

 him in front of a bird." 



I stood manfully by Podgers' exact words, adding 

 some slight embellishments, in order to increase 

 O'Piooney's interest in the animal. 



" In that case, there can be no difficulty, Mr 

 Brown. I leave for Ballybaw^n on Saturday — will 

 you kindly name Monday, as I would, in addition 

 to the pleasure of receiving you and your friend, 

 like to witness the performance of this remarkable 

 dog ; and I must be in Galway on Wednesday." 



Having settled the preliminaries so satisfactorily, 

 I wrote the following note to Podgers : — 



" Dear Podgers, 



" It's all right. Mr O'Eooney has named Mon- 

 day. Be sure to hrmrj the dog, as his cloys are away. 



