190 A Sportsman at Large 



I was well placed to see the run up and can vouch for it that 

 " the black " just got the turn by favour. Then Fullerton 

 was in for a couple, and turned the hare to his brother, who 

 wrenched, but, by a supreme effort, Fullerton took puss 

 away and put in one, two, three, before placing the hare for 

 Simonian* to score a kill of no merit. 



It was only the brindle's brilliant cleverness that averted 

 defeat. A turn of luck the wrong way and it would have 

 been " all U.P." with the favourite ! 



Every other course I saw Fullerton run he won with con- 

 summate ease. He had such a stride that he could lead from 

 the slips, or give the " go-by " to any living longtail and 

 paralyse the stoutest of hares. He seemed to tower over them, 

 and, as it were, peg them down, so that he completely dominated 

 their movements, and thus rendered their wiliest tactics abor- 

 tive. This style of running does not make killing a matter 

 of course, or, for the matter of that, by any means an easy job. 

 In his earlier days, Colonel North's paragon was not over 

 brilliant or successful in bringing his teeth into play ; though 

 latterly he showed great improvement in this respect. Any- 

 way, it made no difference, for he never gave his opponent the 

 opportunity to butt in and take advantage of the weak- 

 ness. 



After Fullerton had retired from active service, he was kept 

 on show at Colonel North's mansion. One day he disappeared 

 and nothing was heard of him for some weeks. Large rewards 

 were offered, and at last the poor old fellow was recovered ; 

 but he was all to pieces and a mere shade of his once beautiful 

 self. He never quite recovered and soon passed in his checks. 

 His remains were sent to the taxidermist, and, when the effigy 

 was complete, it was set up in the Natural History Museum 

 at South Kensington, where it may be seen any day. But, oh ! 

 what a caricature it presents of one of the handsomest, and 

 assuredly the best greyhound that ever went to slips in my 

 day. 



The office of the coursing judge is by no means a sinecure. 



For the purpose, a man need be equipped, not only with 

 an intimate and exact knowledge of the rules which govern the 



* Simonian had some consolation in the winning of the Waterloo Plate. 



