214 The Sporting Dog 



billiard players. I never saw Schaefer in a great 

 match, but I have seen him give big odds to a 

 good amateur. He played with almost unnatural 

 rapidity. The stroke came as quickly as he could 

 get the cue in position ; yet it would be foolish- 

 ness to suppose that his play lacked any accuracy, 

 or that he was at all in doubt as to the result of 

 each calculation. 



Cesar Thomson will transcribe a set of awkward 

 violin runs into octaves and tenths and play them 

 with added velocity. Yet, his pupils tell me, he 

 practises less than any other great fiddler. 



Put a first-rate professional baseball player on 

 the bases. Some might suppose that his apparent 

 willingness to take chances was only blind and 

 reckless daring, when, in fact, his perception of 

 where he is coming out is much more definite, 

 and his adjustment of capacity to the task much 

 more scientific than can be predicated of the 

 cautious and hesitating player in the tenth-rate 

 team. 



These illustrations make plain, at least to me, 

 what is meant by class when the term is intelli- 

 gently used. Now see how it works in our study 

 of dogs. It is often true that the foxhound which 

 habitually goes out in front does not do it because 

 he possesses the higher order of mere speed. 

 The fact is more likely to be that he can use his 

 fox sense and can rely upon his nose when going 



