SIXTY YEARS ON THE TURF 



Hawkins ? That it was a thousand to one on 

 you?" 



** Yes. And so it was. And we've won." 



" You have. But it would have been a thousand 

 to one against you if the old 'un had spoken first." 

 He only laughed afresh. 



The names of Hawkins and the Claimant are in- 

 dissolubly linked in the public memory ; and how 

 far instrumental he was in getting the alleged 

 "Sir Roger" convicted is well known. But it is 

 not common property that in the beginning the 

 clever lawyer really thought the impostor was the 

 genuine man. This, though, is mere truth. Any- 

 way, one Sunday Hawkins met my old friend, 

 Mr. George Lambert, in Hyde Park, and asked him 

 if he had seen me lately. Yes, he had. 



" Well," said Hawkins, *' when you see him again — 

 and make it your business to see him — tell him that 

 Tichborne is the man, and that he ought to bet on 

 it. And so ought you, Lambert." That was enough, 

 and Lambert took 400 to 200, I sharing in. 



Months later Hawkins crossed Lambert again. 

 ** By-the-bye," he asked, " did you and Hodgman 

 back that man Tichborne ? " 



" Yes. We took 400 to 200." 



" Then hedge it. I was wrong. He's an im- 

 postor. I know just about enough to hang him." 



112 



