The Confessions of a 'Poacher. 23 



a broken mesh to mend. Every now and then 

 he would look out on the darkening night, 

 always directing his glance upward. The two 

 dogs would whine impatiently to be gone, and 

 in an hour, with bulky pockets, he would start, 

 striking right across the land and away from 

 the high road. The dogs would prick out 

 their ears on the track, but stuck doggedly to 

 his heels ; and then, as we watched, the dark- 

 ness would blot him out of the landscape, and 

 we turned with our mother to the fireside. In 

 summer we saw little but the " breaking " of 

 the lurchers. These dogs take long to train, 

 but, when perfected, are invaluable. All the 

 best lurchers are the produce of a cross 

 between the sheep-dog and greyhound, a 

 combination which secures the speed and si- 

 lence of the one, and the "nose " of the other. 

 From the batches of puppies we always saved 

 such as were rough-coated, as these were 

 better able to stand the exposure of long, 

 cold nights. In colour the best are fawn or 

 brown some shade which assimilates well to 

 the duns and browns and yellows of the fields 



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