CHAPTER XVIII 



DURING the " eighties " of last century 

 there appeared on the "Turf" a young 

 sportsman who attracted a great deal of 

 attention. He was known as " The 

 Jubilee Plunger," though his correct patronymic was 

 Ernest Benzon. 



In the genesis of his career he was possessed of 

 very great wealth, the unrestricted handling of which 

 devolved upon him when he attained his majority, 

 which happened to be in the year when the somewhat 

 austere Queen Victoria celebrated the jubilee of her 

 protracted reign ; hence the first word of the term 

 bestowed on young Benzon. 



It is hardly to be wondered at that his exchequer 

 attracted the wolves and hyenas of the Turf and their 

 jackal parasites. Poor Ernest soon proved himself 

 to be a striking example of that paradoxical production 

 the " fly flat." He rated his own intellect very highly, 

 but was no match for the many devices of crookdom, 

 which were directed at his purse strings, despite the 

 fact that he had enlisted the personal patronage of 

 no less an expert in turf and other matters than Sir 



George Chetwynd, who undertook the office of guide, 



208 



