HOW TO TOUCH 



countryman, and I was wondering what would happen 

 at the Sunday setthng, but I did not hear the strength 

 of it until later. He had to receive five thousand 

 francs from one man, and owed another over seven 

 tliousand francs. They managed it all right — at 

 least, one of his American advisers did, for they knew 

 the strength of it. They sent someone to talk very 

 earnestly with the bookmaker who had to receive, 

 while the English sucker, who by the way had soon cut 

 his wisdom teeth, went and lifted his bit from the other. 

 It was quite easy to go and spend the rest of the 

 afternoon in the pavilion (five-franc enclosure) ! 



There is a very well-known professional racing man 

 in England who can tell some funny stories about 

 experiences as to collecting a bit when heavily in debt. 

 One incident in particular I can remember quite well, 

 and may as well put it in here. There was immediate 

 necessity for " A " to have a bit of ready : he owed 

 a very large sum over the previous week, and on 

 Saturday and Sunday the situation was reviewed. He 

 owed sixty-eight pounds to one, seventy-eight pounds 

 to another, a hundred and thirty-nine pounds to 

 a third, forty-two pounds to a " book " he had had 

 no previous transactions with, seventy-six pounds to 

 another unsympathetic person, and ninety-four poimds 

 to a man who stood too prominently in the ring to 

 avoid. Newmarket began on the Tuesday, and there 

 was only one man to draw a bit from, sixty pounds, 

 but his address was unknown, to send a claim to. 

 This man lived somewhere in the Midlands, and it was 

 any odds that he would be at a local hunt meeting 

 on the Monday, and so would two of the bogeys be too. 

 The question was, how to avoid the two latter, touch 

 the sixty and take a chance with it. " A " deter- 

 mined to go to that meeting. He arranged the time 



^73 



