Page:The Hare.djvu/151

Rh the way, were mostly with the hare, and who were better pleased if she escaped, provided that she had given their dogs a fair course before she eluded them.

On arrival at the farmhouse, the first thing was breakfast (which we brought with us), and at this meal the tenant used to hand out his list of dogs. They were mostly farmers' greyhounds which had never run in public; if any well-known performers came they were entered in their kennel names, and their individuality was kept quite secret. In fact, we always discouraged anyone from running what I may call a public dog at these meetings; but occasionally an odd one or two were smuggled in for a trial, and it once happened that the great merits of a future big winner were discovered at the High Law Farm. The names of the dogs were put into a hat, and drawn in two, three, or four eight-dog stakes (according to the supply on hand), and sometimes, but not always, the owners agreed to a very small stake—5s. a dog, but never more. They did not come to gamble, in fact, and were content with a very nominal sum in the morning; but later in the afternoon some of them wanted to run for money, and the individual courses used to give rise to a lot of subsequent matches. Indeed, on one occasion, when hares were very plentiful, and we had