THK <;UEAT FOUR-MILE DAY. 293 



the little Uiick upon the field, cn«ibled him to start for 

 the second heat, procured tor liiin a vast number of un- 

 conscious backers, and made liim, at the present stage 

 of the race, quite a topic of speculation. 



As a matter of course, his comfort came to be pro- 

 vided for ; and one assiduous groom ventured to scrape 

 him down with a thin lath. Whereupon " Boots,^^ who 

 had never been known to perspire since the last war, 

 when he was taken in Canada by the person of whom his 

 present owner purchased him ; looked around, and not 

 being able to recognize the follow, or divine what on 

 earth he was up to, kicked out his left hind leg in evi- 

 dent disgust. 



This was the only token of concern in the proceed- 

 ings going on, that the pony had given during the day, 

 but that, slight as it was. gave great hope to the 

 " fielders,'' for the other horses, albeit so spry in the 

 beginning, had got beyond the kicking point ; and sub- 

 mitted to the manipulation of their trainers with com- 

 mendable, but ominous docility. 



"When the interval of rest between the heats had ex- 

 pired, " Boots '' alone, seemed qualified for a repetition 

 of the preceding exercises. He first made his appear- 

 ance at the post, in consequence of his not requiring 

 time for saddling. He stood for some moments (juictly, 

 as usual, with his nose on a parallel with the judges' 

 stand ; but as the trainers brought up EjKiminomlas 

 and BfannerhasscU he turned his head sidewisc, looked 



