SEA SPRAY ^ SMOKE DRIFT 



Neck and neck ! head and head ! staring eye ! 

 nostril spread ! 

 Girth and stifle laid close to the ground ! 

 Stride for stride ! stroke for stroke ! through 

 one hurdle we've broke ! 

 On the splinters we've lit with one bound. 



And " Banker for choice" is the cry, and one 

 voice 

 Screams *' Six to four once upon Banker " ; 

 '' Banker wins," '* Banker's beat," '* Cadger 

 wins," " A dead heat " — 

 " Ha ! there goes Fred's whalebone a 

 flanker." 



Springs the whip with a crack ! nine stone 

 ten on his back, 

 Fit and light he can race like the devil ; 

 I draw past him — 'tis vain ; he draws past me 

 again, 

 Springs the whip ! and again we are level. 



Steel and cord do their worst, now my head 



struggles first ! 



That tug my last spurt has expended — 



138 



