298 The Sporting Dog 



times that raised hopes, but he had no eagerness 

 of ranging and would circle and come back, or 

 stop and nose into bushes or fence corners. The 

 difference between him and the plainer pointer 

 was the difference between the dilettante and 

 the unswerving worker. Tie tin cans to their 

 tails, and Bricks would probably have reached 

 home first; his capacity for extreme speed was 

 greater. In actual work the pointer would have 

 been ahead of him on the outside, the inside, 

 around, across, and in every other direction where 

 birds were to be found. The Laverack was a 

 beauty in style, and it was easy to see that in a 

 brushy country of small field enclosures he might 

 be a charming dog. He would cover such a coun- 

 try pretty fast. But, hunted from horseback or a 

 wagon, he would be behind the gun half the time. 



We changed them around and tried the setters 

 together and then the pointers. With some minor 

 variations the outcome was the same. In fact, all 

 through we were merely confirming what we had 

 found out before but did not like to admit. 



" I tell you what we'll do. It's no fun getting 

 beaten. As it stands to-day, Dan is the best pup 

 we have, and he is not classy enough. Jeff will 

 be in it next year, but that's not this year. Lucy 

 has the foot of the party and the class, but she 

 keeps both for seldom occasions. She is not 

 reliable. Susan and Bricks are out of it entirely. 



