Castor

Castor is one of Lord Saltash's two ancient pointers which are the Viscount's nearly permanent companions. While barred from certain rooms such as the breakfast room and drawing room, they will nonetheless lay with their noses over the threshold and slowly try to sneak more of their bodies inside the room.

When the Viscount is in his study or the gun-room, or the estate office, his presence may be located by the rather asthmatic breathing of the aforesaid pointers. One or other of them is generally to be found asleep with its head resting somewhat heavily on his Lordship's foot.

While on campaign in Spain, John Vickery once reminisced to a friend, "Father has two German short-haired pointers, brothers from the same litter. They are quite old by now, but when they were very young they retrieved almost everything, quite assiduously. My schoolbook copy of the Aeneid was a favourite for Castor to bring to the morning room for breakfast, as I recall." He smiled.

"Anyway, on my last visit home before I enlisted, we had a fox get into the hen-house and kill four or five hens. We came down to breakfast that morning to discover, in a very neat row, three dead hens and my Aeneid, with both Castor and Pollux sitting there looking as pleased as Punch. It made quite a stir, as you can imagine."

The incident was also recalled by Emma: "...It was all the more amusing because Castor and Pollux are pointers and not retrievers." She smiled at the memory. "Towards the end of that summer, we had a fox get into the hen-house and kill, oh half a dozen hens or so. We came down to breakfast to find four or five hens, quite dead, and my brother's Aeneid, all lined up very neatly in a row and both dogs looking as pleased as Punch - I cannot think how they were not discovered by one of the servants."

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