PRIVATE COURSING 115 



the individual (there used to be one or two in every 

 country district) who had no leave and asked for 

 none, but kept greyhounds, and never lost an oppor- 

 tunity of running them at a hare. I well remember 

 one of these village worthies in my very youthful days. 

 When inclined to work he was journeyman to a black- 

 smith ; but he preferred poaching, and, as can be 

 imagined, was well known to the local constabulary. 

 On one occasion I heard that this man, who had 

 taught me how to tickle trout, and was thoroughly 

 cognisant of every country sport, had broken his leg 

 by a fall from a ladder. Now is the time to buy his 

 brindled greyhound, I thought, and I went to his 

 shanty w^ith all the ready money I could raise just 

 after the time of the Christmas tips. I found ' Old 

 Jack ' very angry at being pinned to his bed, but hard 

 up and good to deal with ; and after about an hour's 

 severe bargaining I led the brindle away, poorer 

 by twenty-two and sixpence, but happy in the pos- 

 session of what I thought to be quite the best grey- 

 hound in the parish. Mind you, I had never seen 

 the dog at work, but all the labourers in the 

 village had long regarded him with an extraordinary 

 amount of veneration, and numerous tales had reached 

 me concerning the great number of hares which the 

 old man disposed of at the nearest market town. 



I 2 



