212 The Best Fourteen-Hander in England. 



could only find a boy to ride her, but that he only knew one whom 

 he would trust on her back, and that was his lad. He told me 

 candidly that he had backed her for io/.,at 10 to i, and he hinted 

 that he did not think it very fair on my part acting as I had done. 



I could see that the man really thought the rnare would be very 

 near winning ; and as I moreover saw that I was in a position 

 where I could hardly help myself, I turned sharp round to him and 

 said, " Now, I'll tell you what I'll do. You shall run the mare 

 just as if she was your own ; I shall have nothing to do with her 

 till after the race. If you win, I shall claim the cup, and the stakes 

 you may divide between the young farmer and yourself j and to 

 show how little I think about your mare, I shall bet you io/. our 

 mare beats her." 



His answer proved that I had taken the right course. " Done," 



he said directly. " By , sir, you're a gentleman. Now I'll 



run the mare, and win you the cup ; she can do it, but with only 

 one lad on her back, and she shall. And as to your pony beating 

 her, why you never had one in your stable like her." 



I had put him a little on his mettle, and this was just what I 

 wanted. I bade him good night, and went to look at the list of 

 entries which were now posted up in the long room of the inn. 



Fifteen ponies were entered, and as the money was all down 

 we could reckon on fifteen starters. Among the list I saw the 

 names of cracks from many parts of England. A Cambridge pony 

 and one from Belper, were the favourites j but I was told by many 

 that a little mare from Wiltshire, in whose veins the blood of the 

 renowned " Mat of the Mint " flowed, would win the cup. I 

 casually asked how about The Rejected and Bessy Bedlam the 

 former our own pony, the latter the new mare in whom I had 

 become so unexpectedly interested. There was a rush at me 

 directly, with offers of 8 to i against either of them. I backed 

 Bessy Bedlam for io/. on these odds; and now thought I had 

 invested quite enough on about the wildest and most hazardous 

 speculation I had ever touched in my life. 



On turning to leave the room, I met my old friend, who had been, 



