68 KINGSCLERE 



and returned to Kingsclere, and became an ill- 

 conditioned loafer. Walter was always ' a bad egg,' 

 as the phrase goes. On one occasion Porter came 

 home after seeing the horses at work, and was 

 informed that the young ruffian had assailed a 

 female member of the household with a torrent of 

 foul language. ' Master,' furious for once, jumped 

 upon his hack, caught the blackguard in the road, 

 and gave him a horsewhipping, without abatement, 

 over a T.Y.C. — full measure ! 



There was no telegraph station at Kingsclere in 

 1869. and the touts had therefore to wire their 

 1 information ' abroad from Overton or Newbury. 

 Walter had collected his troop of assistants, mounted 

 them, and placed them at different points of the 

 road to carry the message forward when the trial 

 was over. Porter saw the fellow in his shirt-sleeves 

 on a hack, waiting for the verdict, and also when he 

 was galloping off to despatch the news of the result. 

 So much for the tout and his band of toutlings. 

 That the ' intelligence ' itself, such as it was, had an 

 influence on the betting market goes without saying. 

 The intelligence of a trial, however obtained, or not 

 obtained at all but a piece of fraudulent invention, 

 will always produce that effect. And yet it is not 

 usual for a trainer to make known even to a limited 

 circle of his friends, much less to the spies, the 

 relative weights at which the trial horses run. 

 However, the trial in question took place, and a 

 report of it communicated through the channels of 

 information which Walter controlled, and, whether 



