THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER 337 



structures ready, all except the one beyond the winning- 

 post, which is of later date. 



To me all these initial operations were naturally full 

 of interest, but there remained the personal trouble 

 what on earth to do for the future of myself and 

 family. 



Here again the Disraeli motto " Forti nihil difficile " 

 was very helpful perhaps because it was Disraeli's motto. 

 Had it not been, there are many quotations in a similar 

 sense, such as " Virtus repulses nescia sordid ce," and so 

 forth, but they might not have appealed to me. 



Anyhow there came a time when no man has ever owned 

 less than I did, and being one of the " have-nots," I can 

 truly say I never thought for one moment that I had any 

 grievance against those who " have." I was as impecuni- 

 ous as the most destitute person to whom a Bolshevist 

 might in these days appeal ; but that did not for a moment 

 shake my faith in the conditions of life in a country like 

 ours. I only blamed myself and my own luck. It did 

 indeed seem hard luck, after all one had hoped. 



Towards the autumn of 1891 it happened that The 

 Sportsman wanted a new man as " The Special 

 Commissioner. ' ' 



That I could be that man I never doubted, and for many 

 reasons I should delight in the work, which had from the 

 first interested me so much when Fred Taylor did it. 

 And yet and yet was this to be the end of my 

 career ? 



I am sure none of my colleagues of the last twenty- eight 

 years will misunderstand me when I reproduce the query 

 that troubled me at that juncture. I had loved racing 

 and horse-breeding for its own sake and as my special 

 hobby, never thinking to make it a means to a material 

 end ; and now I was up against the idea that it was to 

 be the means the business means to an end, beyond 

 which I could look no further. 



Well, well, there are few indeed probably none who 



