148 CHASING AND RACING 



Weasel is sure to be favourite, and will probably start 

 odds on,'* 



Your Uncle Cockie fell to it ! 



"All right. You can lay me £^ioo to ;^io or 

 ;^400 to £10 if you like ! " 



" Thanks, ;^2oo to ;£ 10 is as much as I can do with, 

 and I expect you have me boiled at that." 



Now as a matter of fact, I really knew very little 

 of Latimer, and had never been on his back ; but he 

 was a very likely looking customer, of the wiry type, 

 and as sound as a bell. I had no idea as to the quality 

 of the opposition ; but presumed that some of our 

 leading gentlemen jocks, who had been hunting in 

 ** the shires " would have been busy digging out some 

 pretty useful stuff with a view to this particular 

 race. 



From what I could see of them in the paddock, 

 before the race, some of them looked good enough for 

 anything ; they were the cream of the hunting field, 

 and bloodlike enough for the race track. 



The distance of ** The Boden '* was one and a half 

 miles, starting a furlong below the distance post, 

 looping the loop, and running in. There was some 

 confusion when the white flag was hoisted. These 

 ** fox catchers ** seemed disgruntled at the unwonted 

 surroundings and circumstances, Latimer being one 

 of the worst offenders. But I got him off with the 

 leading lot, only to pull him back so as to take careful 

 stock of the sort of cattle he had to deal with. He 



