THE BLUE RIBAND. 65 



dark man, "witli a hooked nose ; and possessing the strongly- 

 marked attributes of one belonging to the house of Israel. 



" Too good for your book," responded a tall, aristocratic- 

 looking bystander, who, in a subsequent Derby, now long since 

 run for, but rendered memorable from the attempted fraud 

 attending the result, cleared the turf of the most ignoble set 

 of blacklegs that ever ventured within the precincts of the 

 ring. 



" Vill he vin ? " rejoined the Jew with his restless, suspicions 

 eyes glancing from the handsome features of the Napoleon of 

 the turf to me. 



" I think so," was the answer, in a cool, decided manner, 

 conveying anything but an apparently gratifying impression 

 upon the mind of the questioner. 



"S' help me, — if he does," returned he, "I don't know 

 There's all the monish to come from ! Vhy, the Bank of Eng- 

 land couldn't pay it !" 



The bell now rang for saddling, and, as if desirous of 

 showing as soon as possible the perfection of condition into 

 which he had brought the flower of his stable, John Sellusall 

 relieved Spanky from his position at my head, and he and Harry 

 Dale proceeded at once to strip me. Robert, however, appeared 

 determined to have, as he expressed it, " a finger in the i)ie," 

 for he busied himself as much as either of the others, and 

 seemed, in the agility of the helper, to temporarily forget the 

 dignity pertaining both to his high office and position in the 

 social scale as head of the family of the Tops. Removing his 

 hat, he extracted from its interior a silk handkerchief of motley 

 colours, and, shaking it out, applied it vigorously to my neck, 

 shoulders, body, and loins ; and follo^\dng in the wake of Spanky's 

 coarser rubber, I have no doubt that he was then carrying out 

 a long-contemplated intention of giving me the last polishing 

 touch for the Derby. 



With regard to my symmetry, condition, and pretensions for 

 the prize, many and diversified were the opinions expressed | 

 but in most such cases conflicting interests usually regulate 

 them. Men rarely speak of us as we are, their judgments being 



r 



