V- 



THE SIRES OF THE BELVOIR KENNEL 253 



size, with great bone below the knee, and sired 

 some beautiful stock. 



One of the smartest middle-sized sires was Helper 

 (1903), a seven season hunter by Handel (1899), 

 from Ruby (1900). A nicely inbred dog to 

 Watchman, placed second in the entry to Daystar 

 — who was, glorious son of Dexter, beautiful even 

 for a Bel voir hound ! " See this hound stand," 

 said Ben Capell drawing Helper for inspection. 

 " He will stand for a week, it's no trouble to him. 

 Did you ever see rounder, closer, cat-like feet on a 

 foxhound ? One gentleman said to me, ' are his 

 feet right ? ' and all I could say was, ' I don't 

 really know because I never had a good view of 

 them ! ' He carries his bone right down to his 

 toes, and is a nice sized ' ribby ' dog that is getting 

 a lot of good stock all over the country. Shelly 

 hounds are no use for sires, you must have stuff 

 to get your stock big enough, lots of bone for 

 wear and tear. A great hound in his work. Helper 

 does drive on, and no mistake ! He will be there ! " 

 The loss of Daystar, killed out hunting in his second 

 season, w^as a great disappointment for the kennel ; 

 though fortunately he left some daughters who have 

 perpetuated his fame. The union of Helper with 

 Gauntlet (1905), the daughter of Daystar, resulted in 

 Harper (1908) one of the finest stallion hounds in the 

 kennel. It used to be Capell's delight to draw 

 Ragman and Harper together on the flags for 

 inspection, and so alike were they in character 

 and outline, that even the most practised eye had to 

 guess which was which. What a gloriously matched 

 couple they would have made for Peterborough, 

 if the Ducal kennel had ever been a competitor in 

 public ! Harper is a foxhound in every line, stand- 

 ing on the best of legs and feet. 



