"Certainly he has the finest house in Gweedore, sir, and what's more he made it the finest himself." "Do you mean that he built it ?" "He did, indeed; and did you not notice the beautiful stone fences he is putting up all about it, and the four farms he has ?" "Then he is certainly a man of substance ?" "And of good substance, sir! The Government, they gave him a hundred pounds towards the house.

But it was the flood that was the blessed thing for him and made a great man of him!" "The flood ?" I asked, with some natural astonishment; "the flood?
What flood ?" "And did you never hear of the great flood of Gweedore?
It was in August 1880.

You will mind the water that comes down behind the chapel?
Well, there was a flood, and it swelled, and it swelled, and it burst the small pipe there behind the chapel: too small it was entirely for carrying off' the great water, and nobody took notice of it, or that there was anything wrong, and so the water was piled up behind the chapel, and at Mass on the Sunday, while the chapel was full, the walls gave way, and the water rushed in, and was nine feet deep.

There were five people that couldn't get out in time, and were drowned--two old people and three children, young people.

It was a great flood.