The Pride of Our TiUafje. 61 



A gentleman behind me, knowing — by instinct I suppose 

 — how utterly absorbed I was in the race, and whom I after- 

 wards found out to be a gi^eat AYest of England horse- 

 breeder, very kindly offered to keep me ' posted up' as to 

 the success of the favourite, as he said, though not a bet- 

 ting man, he knew^ every horse, and the names and colours 

 of the riders and all about them. At a quarter-past three 

 o'clock the lot were at the jDOst, and after a horse called Sky- 

 blue had bolted three or four times, for one whole hour the 

 last horse in the rank, one called Tambourine, every time a 

 start w^as attempted, stuck his feet hard against the gi-ound, 

 and stood on his head with his heels in the air and would 

 not move, although friendly hands with stout sticks gave 

 him one or two which would have seriously injured a hippo- 

 potamus. All this time my informant, who was an admii'- 

 able judge, told me that the favourite was as quiet as possi- 

 })le, and not the least flurried, and the false starts were more 

 likely to prejudice the other horses the most. At last the 

 starter left Tambourine at the post, and after thirty-three 

 false starts they were oif in a hurricane of wind and rain. 



My friend behind me was very hopeful and encouraging. 

 " ISTow," he said, " he is in a good place by the bushes ; they 

 are makmg for the Corner ; now he is well round, w^ell 

 through his horses, a little wide, perhaps, but out of the 

 ruck ; now he is shaking them all off. Look at him passing 

 the stand ! He must win ! He must win. Ko, by Jove, 

 he's broken down ! " (I saw the horse go from under his 

 jockey almost.) " jSTo, he's all right again ! " Then, for the 

 first time, I opened my mouth just as the horse was within 

 a hundred yards or so of home, and I know not why, except 

 from utter madness, I kept on shrieking out like a maniac 

 the jockey's name, in a voice which could be heard half-way 

 across the course, and in a moment I saw two horses locked 

 together dash past the judge's chair. 



