country district) who had no leave and asked for none, but kept greyhounds, and never lost an opportunity of running them at a hare. I well remember one of these village worthies in my very youthful days. When inclined to work he was journeyman to a blacksmith; but he preferred poaching, and, as can be imagined, was well known to the local constabulary. On one occasion I heard that this man, who had taught me how to tickle trout, and was thoroughly cognisant of every country sport, had broken his leg by a fall from a ladder. Now is the time to buy his brindled greyhound, I thought, and I went to his shanty with all the ready money I could raise just after the time of the Christmas tips. I found 'Old Jack' very angry at being pinned to his bed, but hard up and good to deal with; and after about an hour's severe bargaining I led the brindle away, poorer by twenty-two and sixpence, but happy in the possession of what I thought to be quite the best greyhound in the parish. Mind you, I had never seen the dog at work, but all the labourers in the village had long regarded him with an extraordinary amount of veneration, and numerous tales had reached me concerning the great number of hares which the old man disposed of at the nearest market town. Here I may state that 'Jack' had 'leave' over one or
