Page:The Aran Islands, parts III and IV (Synge).djvu/60

 one day there was a priest over and he said to Pat:

Is it the devil's horns you have on your sticks, Pat?"

I don't rightly know," said Pat, "but if it is, it's the devil's milk you've been drinking since you've been able to drink, and the devil's flesh you've been eating, and the devil's butter you've been putting on your bread, for I've seen the like of them horns on every old cow through the country.

The weather has been rough, but early this afternoon the sea was calm enough for a hooker to come in with turf from Connemara, though while she was at the pier the roll was so great that the men had to keep a watch on the waves and loosen the cable whenever a large one was coming in, so that she might ease up with the water.

There were only two men on board, and when she was empty they had some trouble in dragging in the cables, hoisting the sails, and getting out of the harbour before they could be blown on the rocks.

A heavy shower came on soon afterwards, and I lay down under a stack of turf with some people who were standing about, to wait for another hooker that was coming in with horses.