76 THE LIFE OF A EACEIIORSE. 



"Winged moments are ever on tlieir flight. Tliere is no let, 

 clieck, or stop for time. 



The day — with me it seems but yesterday — at last came 

 when I took a preliminary walk, hooded and clothed, on the 

 soft, spongy fallow field, in the rear of the stables, erected in 

 the immediate vicinity of the stand, on the Doncaster Com- 

 mon. A clustering crowd gathered about and around me, and, 

 as usual, scarcely two opinions were expressed alike concerning 

 the anticipated result. One thought " I could not scramble 

 through the dirt ;" another, that " hard ground was known not 

 to suit me." Some believed " I should run in front to the Red 

 House, where I must shut ujo;" others, "that I could stay to the 

 distance, but not a yard further." A few entertained the lively 

 faith, that "to cut out the work from the beginning to the 

 finish, and win from end to end as I liked, would only be a 

 gentle pipe-opener for me." I saw, however, more than one 

 sneer at either this expression of sanguine trust in my capacities, 

 or the vivid colour of the anticipated result; there might have 

 been a third and more certain cause. 



A bell rang, and, as it did so, a buzz of human voices 

 hummed upon the wind. Stripped, rubbed over, and saddled 

 once more, eight stone seven fell like a bird upon my back, and 

 Ned, the old lemon-visaged jockey, again settled himself in 

 his seat, to ride me to the post. Not the most trivial attention 

 had been omitted, and, as I walked and cantered before the 

 assembled thousands, loud and general were the praises which 

 my appearance produced. 



The field I had to meet was composed of eight, each and all 

 of whom I had beaten in my preceding engagements but one, 

 and that one an outsider, whose hopeless chance of success 

 revealed itself the moment he stood denuded of his clothes. It 

 will readily be believed, therefore, how high I stood in the 

 betting, and, had it not been for the stable commission, still 

 covertly at work, the odds, at starting, instead of being six to 

 four against me, would probably have been five to four on 

 me. 



As we were marshalled in order by the starters, and stood 



