AT WORK ON THE RACE-TRACKS 



of course, for obvious reasons, that there should be no 

 ready- money betting except in the pari-mutuel. The 

 backer rushed in five minutes after it was too late to 

 pay, with a big wad of notes, and flashed these in the 

 faces of one or two he owed money to. As a matter of 

 fact he had to pay about forty thousand francs, and 

 actually had about thirty thousand francs on him ; but 

 don't you see, if he had been in time to settle, his money 

 would not have gone round. He demurred that they 

 would not take his money, and one or two must have 

 felt inclined to incur the risk. However, they resisted 

 it, and the backer seemed very much put out. Would 

 you believe it, he wiped them all off that day, and had 

 forty thousand in his favour ? He backed a five-to- 

 one chance to begin with ; of course they stood him 

 all right. With the twenty thousand francs he won 

 over the first race he backed three winners, afterwards, 

 in one case, laying fifty thousand to forty thousand 

 francs on, which came off. He lost a bit after that, 

 but, as I say, cleaned up eighty thousand francs, 

 or thirty- two hundred pounds, to the good. I am 

 putting this in, but would make it clear that not the 

 slightest fraud was intended : he was simply short of 

 the money that day ; but it was a master stroke of 

 a master mind in dealing with a pressing situation. 



There was an Englishman there, very young, who 

 knew very little about racing, but he was somehow 

 introduced to two bookmakers. The " boys " used to 

 buttonhole him with tips, but I heard that he had not 

 dropped any ready, and later I saw him betting on 

 credit with at least two. He was living at an expen- 

 sive hotel, but somehow he did not strike me as being 

 particularly full of brass. He would bet in twenties 

 and thirties during that week in which he dawned on 

 us. We became curious, I suppose, about our own 



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