102 REMINISCENCES OF SONEPORE. 



thin " tatti " partitions, the final instructions given to his only 

 two opponents, each was told to wait on the other, Gilbert's 

 chances of winning being utterly despised. The race was round 

 the course. Gilbert quietly waited on the pair, that fine horseman 

 Bob Crowdy on The Sweep being one of his opponents, the 

 pace being funereal. About a quarter of a mile from home Gil- 

 bert put the spurs in, and the hair trunk answering gamely, 

 re the others woke up he had got home midst the tri- 

 multuous applause of the localites. The owner, a herculean 

 Britisher, was simply beside himself with joy and made fran- 

 tic efforts to pat Gilbert on the back, but a look at the brawny 

 fist was enough for the slim '.un, and it was most laughable to 

 watch him dodging away from these delicate intentions. 

 " Thank you Surr,' ; shouted the owner, " and you beat them 

 layer too." At the 1874 meeting a lot of good jockeys were pre- 

 sent, Finch, Vinall, Dignum, Brewty, Gerard, Ryder and 

 others. To while away the time during the idle part of the day 

 the boys got up a match, to see who would color a newly 

 bought meershaum pipe best and quickest during the meet- 

 ing ; five entered at twenty rupees each, and Gerard's pipe was 

 so obviously in advance of the rest, that suspicions rose in the 

 minds of the other competitors, so they set a watch on him, 

 and caught the old rascal sitting on an inverted bucket be- 

 hind the stables, diligently coloring the pipe over some burnt 

 straw, so he was disqualified and little Finch eventually pouch- 

 ed the hundred rupees. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

 YEAR 1875. 



The year 1875 was an eventful time for India, for it was" 

 the year of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales' visit* 

 Though it did not affect Sonepore much, yet it gave a grand 

 opportunity to that most pompous of Civilians, Theophilus 



