BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON. 75 



obtaining an exact idea of the precise positions of the pair a 

 matter of impossibility. 



' Here they come !' shouted the Squire, in a strangled voice. 

 ' Here they come, and my boy is leading ! Let him have it, 

 Redgy ! Lose him, my dear child ! lose him ! Good lad ! He 

 is coming away like a steam-engine !' 



As Appletart approached the brook the excitement of the 

 Squire intensified, especially when he saw that Captain Dykely 

 was rapidly lessening the gap between him and the Squire's 

 horse. There was only about a length and a half of moonlight 

 between Appletart and Fluefaker as the former rose like a bird 

 over the brook and landed in safety. 



' Thank God, that's over !' murmured Whinridge ; but he 

 spoke too soon. The youthful ornament of the Thornford con- 

 stabulary flashed the bull's-eye across the path of the foremost 

 horse, which shied, and then, terrified by the cheering of the 

 crowd, tore along in a manner that betokened an early dissolution 

 of partnership between him and his jockey. 



In a voice that was neither a shout nor a yell, but a frantic 

 blending of both, Mr. Whinridge exclaimed : 



' The horse has bolted ! Out of the way with you ! Redgy, 

 keep him straight, my boy ! Good lad, good la-ad, go — !' 



'How much did I win by ?' asked the boy faintly, as he 

 opened his eyes in a hushed apartment in the Whinridge Arms. 

 He had not spoken since they picked him up and found that an 

 arm was broken. ' How much ?' 



His father, whose eyes were moist and dim, and whose voice 

 was quiet like a woman's, said : 



'Twenty lengths was the judge's verdict, Redgy — twenty 

 lengths. And the cup is for you, my boy. And whenever you 

 think your father is getting out of bounds, as you may think 

 hereafter, show him that goblet, and remind him of what he went 

 through when it was Won by the Light of the Moon.' 



