CHAPTER XVII 



I HAPPENED to run across a great coursing character, one 

 Sam Deacon, whose personal appearance was ponderous 

 and impressive ; for he presented a fine understudy of the 

 Tichborne Claimant, Arthur Orton. Now Sam was an ex- 

 cellent judge of a greyhound, and when he told me that Mr. 

 Dunmore was selling his string, and that a litter of first season 

 runners was to be had, such as would surely produce several 

 high- class winners, I began to sit up, and finally commissioned 

 him to buy for me. He secured two bitches, Dear Ada and 

 Dear Lucy. The latter was useful ; but it was the former 

 who turned out one of the very best of her age and size. I 

 re-registered her Handy Cat a very appropriate name. 

 She was only a little bit of a thing, about forty-two pounds 

 weight, but she had fair speed, and once on the scut her nose 

 remained there (let puss twist and turn and jerk as she would) 

 until she could use her teeth, in which important particular 

 she was most proficient. 



Sometimes she would be led in the early stages of a stake ; 

 but let her opponent make the slightest mistake, and she had 

 him beat in a twinkling. As a contest progressed, and when 

 the surviving dogs began to lose some of their speed, Handy 

 Cat retained hers ; so would, in the final stages, both lead and 

 outwork the other greyhounds. 



This happened in The Barbican Cup. I had backed her at 

 200 to 6, but gave nearly all my bets away to relations and 

 friends. The dog left in for the final with my representative 

 was the speedy Mister O'Shea, belonging to Lord Sefton, 

 who, however, w r as not present. Unfortunately, in the semi- 

 finals, this dog was so hard run that he collapsed. The Earl's 

 trainer (known as " Weasel ") could not get him round to go 



