265 ANGLING 



maybe 'twas a rock, or a stump of a tree, after all ; so I 

 goes about every way to get the book free, but nothing 

 would, do. At last he vexed me all out — I didn't care a 

 farthing what became of the rod or tackle; I gave a 

 terrible whip, and tossed something over my head into 

 the bushes behind. " Yourself, and all that came before 

 you, to the divil ! " says I, going to see what it was. 

 And, sure, I found that it was an anvil, and that the 

 hook had stuck in its eye. But that wasn't the best of 

 it : there was a fine stag (nine years ould by the horns) 

 sleeping in the bush, and when I thrun. back the anvil, 

 I struck him with it in the middle of the forehead, and 

 killed him as dead as a gurnet.' 



" ' Who the d 1,' interrupted Moriarty, ' ever saw 



a rod or gut that would pitch an anvil out of the lake at 

 Tornies 1 Weren't Mr. Lynch and I raising an anvil the 

 other day, for a wager 1 There isn't a rod in the world, 

 unless a rod of iron or steel, that would do it.' 



" Paddy never vindicates a story. I was unable, from 

 laughter, to utter a word ; but Moll, as usual, swore ' it 

 was thrue for the lad. Wasn't the anvil a block by the 

 fire, until she gave it to her sister's son-in-law, when he 

 set up the forge at Fahah Cross? And, for the stag, 

 didn't an Iveraghan give a full-bound of butter for his 

 skinr 



" I saw that Paddy was in great blood this day ; and 

 willing to see how far he would run if line enough were 

 given him, I requested Moriarty's silence by a look, and 

 showed Paddy a volume containing some excellent 

 drawings of fishes. 



" ' That one is a shark : he grows to be sixteen or 

 twenty feet long, and is exceedingly ferocious. A man 

 in full armour was once found in the belly of one. Did 

 you, Paddy, ever see anything like that 1 ' 



" ' A man in armour ? — That's a soger, I suppose 1 

 No, indeed, sir ; I never saw anything quaie in a fish. 

 A man in a shuit (suit) of iron ! The only thing I ever 

 saw out of the way was one day I caught a brown trout, 

 between twenty and thirty pounds, and we found a 

 wran's (wren's) nest and seventeen eggs in his gills. 



