THE MERRY GEE-GEE 



CHAPTER I 



HOW I CAME TO WRITE A BOOK 



Returning home from Newmarket the 

 other evening after a particularly un- 

 successful week, and being in an extra- 

 contemplative mood, the thought recurred 

 to me, as It had so often done before, 

 that I would, by one vehement resolve 

 — a real copper-bottomed, armour-plated, 

 life-and-death resolution — bind myself 

 never to back another horse In a race. 

 Financial matters were about as black 



