THEODORE'S ST. LEGER. 29 



description : ' I could see head after head advance as far as my 

 boots on each side ; and when I encouraged Theodore forwards 

 I could see head after head glide beautifully backwards out of 

 my sight.' There was one more bold and desperate attempt to 

 wrest the lead from Theodore, but it was defeated ; and then 

 Jackson said to himself, ' Now I think you're all done.' He felt 

 that the race was his own, and his heart beat merrily at the 

 thought. They ysiQ^iQ. getting near the judge's box now, and 

 already there rose into the air the mighty roar of a myriad 

 voices, and ' Theodore, Theodore, Theodore !' was the cry. ' Vio- 

 let's beat ! Theodore wins ! Bravo, Jackson ! Petre, Petre !' 

 But Violet was not beaten yet ; she made a rush that brought 

 her up to Jackson's boots. Then he lifted his arm high — down 

 came the whip. Theodore gave a bound like a deer, and passed 

 the post three-quarters of a length in front of the chestnut filly. 



Rarely, if ever, has such a scene of excitement as then fol- 

 lowed been witnessed on that time-honoured course. Jackson 

 received a tremendous ovation as he returned to scale with Mr. 

 Petre by his side, who was more amazed than any one else at 

 the victory of his own horse, and bitterly chagrined he must 

 have been at having actually paid Mr. Wyville a bonus to take 

 his betting-book off his hands. - Not one of the favourites was 

 even placed ; 50 to i had been wagered against Violet just be- 

 fore the start, and 90 to i against the Duke of Leeds' gray colt 

 by Comus, who came in third. Swap was the object of general 

 execration. And yet within forty-eight hours Swap completely 

 turned the tables upon his victor ; for in the Gascoigne Stakes, 

 Theodore, with 4 to i on him, was beaten as easily by Swap as 

 he had beaten Swap for the St. Leger. Of course there was a 

 good deal of shaking of heads at Tattersall's on settling-day ; 

 and men recalled the scandals of Escape and Eleanor, and whis- 

 pered darkly that all was not straight. ' But Mr. Powlett and 

 Mr. Petre were well known to be men of unimpeachable honour 

 — no one dared to accuse them openly of anything that savoured 

 of dishonesty ; and so Theodore's St. Leger to this day remains 

 one of the unsolved mysteries of the Turf 



