BILLY'S AMBITION 157 



after he had starved himself to his satisfaction, he 

 found he could ride five pounds under weight ; so, 

 going to the other extreme, he rapidly made it up, 

 and three days before the races a mean between 

 the two systems was adopted. A private trial at 

 catch-weights was carried out with the secrecy of 

 a conspiracy, and it was hinted that some touting 

 had been perpetrated. 



The momentous morning came, and men and 

 horses were on the field of action, the locality of 

 which had only been disclosed by advertisement 

 the previous day. The heavy-weight race and a 

 yeomanry race had been run, and sixteen of the 

 twenty-two entered for the twelve-stone race were 

 starters, and their jockeys were weighing out. To 

 the great disappointment of every one, Tom Telfer 

 was among those who had not put in an appear- 

 ance, and we heard he was suffering from a bad 

 chill likely to keep him in bed for some days. Billy, 

 I knew, secretly feared him, but on the other hand 

 had been counting on him as a pilot to show the 

 way by '' taking the nearest road," as he himself 

 put it. 



Of course, *' Royal's " jockey came in for a fair 

 share of scrutiny, and he was surrounded by a 

 small ring of criticising spectators as he was hoisted 

 into the saddle by old Batters. He had a few words 

 with Miss Florence before leaving the paddock, when 

 he said : " I hope you won't behave like Mrs. Freddy 

 Browne. She tells me she has driven twenty-two 

 miles to see the race, and dare not cast an eye over 

 the country, for her man is riding, and she cannot 

 suffer to look on, but will sit with her back to the 



