THE LAST EVENT. 331 



making arrangements with hackmen to take them to the course ; 

 while practised parties of hon vivants were displaying a world 

 of intelligence or instinct in packing champagne baskets with 

 layers of ham, chicken, brandy, beer, Boker's bitters, segars, 

 and soda-water, to regale themselves with during the dry stages 

 of the afternoon. The race was set for three o'clock, and the 

 course being three miles off, at one the town began to move 

 toward the track ; at two it was pretty nearly deserted, and at 

 three it was as silent and abandoned as at midnight. All the 

 roads leading to the track streamed with pedestrians and vehicles, 

 and the line condensed toward the gateway into a choked col- 

 umn that could move onward and in, only by the most tedious 

 series of instalments. 



On reaching the inside, the arena presented a most brilliant 

 spectacle, and I do not remember having seen so many people 

 together for a race, except at the celebrated meeting of Fashion 

 and Peytona, on the Union Course, L. I. The two long public 

 stands were densely crowded, the field was filled with vehicles 

 and saddle horses, and even the trees that from a distance over- 

 looked the track, drooped heavily with the weight of human 

 fruit. The track itself, however, under better government than 

 those of ISTew York, was kept clear of all intruders, except in 

 that portion known as the home stretch ; to which exclusive 

 section the members of the club, and such privileged strangers 

 as had provided themselves with ten-dollar badges, were ad- 

 mitted. 



THE RACE. 



At length the bugle sounded the signal for the horses to be 

 stripped. Upon this every body pressed forward to secure eli- 

 gible places ; every neck was stretched to its utmost length. 

 Even the gamblers in the alleys underneath the public stands 

 undoubled their legs from beneath their faro tables, locked up 

 their double card-boxes, stopped the snap of their roulettes, and 

 slipped the little ivory ball in their vest pockets to run up stairs 

 and become innocent lookers-on. 



TVagers on the contestants had a small revival, in consequence 

 of this eruption from the betting quarter, and the odds on Lex- 

 ington went up again to the mark of $100 to $80. It was very 



