CHAPTER XXIX 



HEROES OF THE LEASH 



Thirty years ago I accidentally made the acquaintance of 

 the most sensible betting man I have ever met, the 

 proprietor of an hotel in Manchester. Portraits of famous 

 greyhounds were a conspicuous feature both of the coffee- 

 room and the parlour ; whilst in the garden was a tomb- 

 stone which commemorated the exploits of the famous 

 bitch Bab-at-the-Bowster, who lay beneath. My host, I 

 found, had made his pile by two lucky coups. He backed 

 Master M'Grath for the Waterloo Cup in 1868 and 1869, 

 and having won upwards of ;^io,ooo sensibly resolved that 

 he would bet no more, and invested his money in the 

 prosperous hotel of which I believe he is still proprietor. 

 It was a risky thing to do to back the same dog two years 

 in succession for the Waterloo Cup, but in this case the 

 bold venture was justified by the result. 



Coursing is a sport in which the general public take but 

 a faint interest, because there are technicalities about it 

 which are not easily understood by the casual spectator. 

 To a certain extent it is as unsatisfactory to the uninitiated 

 onlooker as yachting, where the only point of which the 

 spectator can be certain is that the yacht which comes in 

 first is not the winner. In like manner the greyhound 

 which kills the hare is not necessarily the victor in the 

 course — indeed, in many cases it is the worse dog of the 

 two that kills. It is needless to enter into details of 

 the points which score in coursing. Suffice it to say that 

 whilst speed holds a very important place, cleverness also 

 counts for much ; the dog which makes " the turn," or 

 causes the hare to double, counting a point every time it 

 does so. As a rule, therefore, the fastest dog out of the 



