PRIVATE COURSING 123 



the way, were mostly with the hare, and who were 

 better pleased if she escaped, provided that she had 

 given their dogs a fair course before she eluded them. 

 On arrival at the farmhouse, the first thing was 

 breakfast (which we brought with us), and at this 

 meal the tenant used to hand out his list of dogs. 

 They were mostly farmers' greyhounds which had 

 never run in public ; if any well-known performers 

 came they were entered in their kennel names, and 

 their individuahty was kept quite secret. In fact, 

 we always discouraged anyone from running what 

 I may call a public dog at these meetings ; but 

 occasionally an odd one or two were smuggled in for 

 a trial, and it once happened that the great merits of 

 a future big winner were discovered at the High Law 

 Farm. The names of the dogs were put into a hat, 

 and drawn in two, three, or four eight- dog stakes 

 (according to the supply on hand), and sometimes, 

 but not always, the owners agreed to a very small 

 stake — 55-. a dog, but never more. They did not 

 come to gamble, in fact, and were content with 

 a very nominal sum in the morning ; but later in 

 the afternoon some of them wanted to run for 

 money, and the individual courses used to give rise 

 to a lot of subsequent matches. Indeed, on one 

 occasion, when hares were very plentiful, and we had 



