her when they were near the shore, and she went down under them. Two
men got ashore, but the man from this island was drowned, for his
oilskins went down about his feet, and he sank where he was.'

Then we talked about the chances of the mackerel season. 'If the
season is good,' he said, 'we get on well; but it is not certain at
all. We do pay four pounds for a net, and sometimes the dogfish will
get into it the first day and tear it into pieces as if you'd cut it
with a knife. Sometimes the mackerel will die in the net, and then
ten men would be hard set to pull them up into the canoe, so that if
the wind rises on us we must cut loose, and let down the net to the
bottom of the sea. When we get fish here in the night we go to
Dunquin and sell them to buyers in the morning; and, believe me, it
is a dangerous thing to cross that sound when you have too great a
load taken into your canoe. When it is too bad to cross over we do
salt the fish ourselves--we must salt them cleanly and put them in
clean barrels--and then the first day it is calm buyers will be out
after them from the town of Dingle.'

Afterwards he spoke of the people who go away to America, and the
younger generations that are growing up now in Ireland.

'The young people is no use,' he said. 'l am not as good a man as my
father was, and my son is growing up worse than I am.' Then he put
up his pipe on the end of the bed-post. 'You'll be tired now,' he
went on, 'so it's time we were sleeping; and, I humbly beg your
pardon, might I ask your name?' I told him.

'Well, good night so,' he said, 'and may you have a good sleep your
first night in this island.'