1 86 THE MERRY GEE-GEE 



bottom weight, and it will be the biggest 

 cert, in all Christendom ; and won't you 

 give the bookmakers beans over that 

 cove? Everything is going as merry as 

 the marriage bell, so you dine your friends 

 sumptuously on the very best; do, the 

 Empire, and sup at the Savoy, Continental, 

 or friendly Jimmy's — nice life this, when 

 you know how to play the game — till a 

 sequence of reverses set in such as have 

 never been heard of before. One cert, 

 ran a deadheat, and got beat in the run 

 off; another got shut in at the critical 

 moment ; one twisted a plate when it had 

 the race in hand ; a swinging hurdle caught 

 another that couldn't have lost ; and the 

 readied two-year-old broke down. Who 

 could stand all this ? You take the knock, 

 and instead of betting on the Nod over 

 the rails, you are dashing it down in dollars 

 on the course. I've saved a couple of 



