178 THE MERRY GEE-GEE 



then- bookmaker's runner, and now owning 

 six or seven horses in one of the crack 

 stables at Newmarket. 



There they all are, the racing army ; the 

 seasons may come and the seasons may 

 go, favourites get beat and outsiders roll 

 home, they keep on punting bravely still. 



I hope none who may read this book 

 will jump to the conclusion that book- 

 making is a simple, broad, and easy road 

 to fortune. You can bet unlucky at 

 that game very easily, and go down at 

 it. Then, again, those bookmakers who 

 are at heart backers in disguise, and 

 keep something for the book (that is, 

 not lay it), or back once or twice a day, 

 are not playing their own game properly, 

 and are pretty certain to "come unstuck." 



A bookmaker should be a born 

 mathematician, and bet to figures as near 

 as possible, but which is not always 



