176 A Sportsman at Large 



lected. I am fond of cats, as of nearly all animals; conse- 

 quently I did all I could to cure Jenny of this murderous 

 habit, but whenever opportunity arose she would defy and 

 outwit me. 



To return to her daughter Dark Crystal. Her brief but 

 brilliant career commenced during what I may call the third 

 era of my coursing enterprises. This was some time after 

 my days as M.F.H. I was then a dweller in London, and 

 had to be content to make sundry sporting excursions, taking, 

 on short leases, furnished houses with shootings and fishings 

 attached, as the seasons came round. My greyhounds were 

 trained at that period by Harry Hoad, at Southminster. 

 There I secured a pretty little cottage, where I and my family 

 could spend a pleasant week-end and enjoy training operations. 

 Harry Hoad, a master of his craft, had been private trainer 

 to my friend the late Mr. H. T. Michels, by whose courtesy 

 my string was added to the establishment. 



My eldest son, Raymond (who came to a tragic end), and 

 my youngest, Lionel (who was at Salonika, in the M.G.C., 

 during the war), were not greatly interested in coursing; 

 but the middle one, Denis (late R.A.F.), whom novel readers 

 may know under pseudonym D. H. Denis, was as keen as 

 mustard at the fascinating sport. He was, at the time, a 

 mere lad at an engineering college. Dark Crystal was regis- 

 tered in his name and ran as his property. 



Her first appearance as a puppy was at Peterborough, 

 where she won two courses in such brilliant fashion that I 

 withdrew her with a view to the forthcoming Newmarket 

 Champion Puppy Stakes, wherein after slamming her first 

 two opponents she came across a greatly fancied candidate 

 belonging to the Earl of Sefton. I was given to understand 

 that his lordship had backed this one very heavily. Dark 

 Crystal certainly led to the hare, and then, after an exchange 

 or two, in which her opponent had rather the best of it, the 

 hare took them out of sight of the crowd ; but to my delight 

 the flag steward came back with the red signal fluttering. Dark 

 Crystal was on the red ! Lord Sefton seemed much upset, but 

 Mr. Brice, the judge, explained that, in the latter phases of 

 the course, our bitch had outstayed and out-pointed her rival. 



