A COOLGARDIE PIONEER. 167 



him. For a man who has made money as he has, 

 Ford is most unassuming, and there is none of that 

 purse-proud boasting I am sorry to say I have found 

 in a heap of men in Sydney with not half his ready 

 money. He is a man that fortune has not spoilt 

 but improved. A man I hope I may often meet 

 again. 



This Coolgardie pioneer is as fond of a bit of 

 racing as any man I know, and he knows how to 

 enjoy the sport. Racing will never ruin him, because 

 he has learnt the safest rule of betting — that no horse 

 is ever worth entrusting with more than a fiver. I 

 asked him, as a man whose opinion was worth 

 having, which he thought a man was more likely 

 to have luck at, backing horses or striking a gold 

 mine. 



He unhesitatingly said at backing horses. 



I think he is right. I would sooner venture a 

 modest sum on the chances of a good horse than on 

 the chances of a gold mine turning out well, even 

 when it was struck. 



