LUCKY RACING DAYS 



daunted. The second race came home at about three 

 to one. Still I did not see him. In the third race we 

 had another winner, and to the best of my recollection 

 at seven to two. The fourth we drew a blank. There 

 was a big field, I noticed, for the fifth, and fortunately, 

 or unfortunately I ran across him before he had put the 

 money on. I said : " There is going to be a big field, 

 and I think we had better divide our money — half to 

 win and half for a place." 



" We have won up to now," he emphasised, " so 

 suppose I put on five hundred francs each way and 

 you have fifty each way." In that absurd spirit of 

 caution which so frequently mars a good day I said 

 I would only have forty each way, and then I left him 

 to do the business. Our horse won at thirty- two to 

 one. I found my American friend before the last race 

 and he was radiant. " Why don't you put the whole 

 lot on ? " asked he. " Because I haven't the pluck." 

 There was a large attendance that day and a few 

 hundred francs more or less did not much interfere 

 with the long prices. I had a great idea that a horse 

 of M. Maurice Ephrussi's called Magistral, a heavily 

 built dark chestnut, would win the last race, and had let 

 myself go and put a hundred francs on. Purkiss, 

 who used to ride in England and died some time back, 

 rode this Magistral, who was a clever winner at about 

 seven to one. I met the American just outside the 

 buffet and we had a small bottle ; he wanted to make 

 it a big one — ^that's how he felt. It was agreed that 

 I should go back to his sitting-room at the hotel and 

 write my article on the day's racing — of this later — 

 and then we were to spend the rest of the evening 

 together. 



" Now I tell you what, boy," he said. " I won't 

 touch my pockets until you have done the work. I'll 



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