150 SPORTING ISRAELITE 



hunt races on Soberton Down — one of those spots that 

 seems set aside by nature for the training — as well as 

 decidino- the merits — of the different animals that had 

 to compete for the several prizes. We were joined on 

 the road by the sporting Israelite, mounted on a good 

 hack ; and chatting, as we trotted along, about who was 

 to be the winner in a particular race, I laid a bet Avith 

 him of five pounds, that resulted in my favour. We rode 

 home together, but not a word was said about the bet, 

 and he joined us at a hasty-got-up dinner at the first inn 

 we arrived at. The cloth being cleared, and the bottle 

 going round, to which all of us did ample justice, 1 took 

 occasion, from some observations that fell on the day's 

 amusement, to hint that I had won five pounds of him, 

 and requested, in polite terms, that he would give me the 

 money ; instead of doing so, he denied the bet, and in the 

 course of the altercation that ensued, in which 1 may 

 have led him to guess at my ulterior purpose, he smiled 

 contemptuously, and called me a smock-faced boy. 



It was true I had not yet cultivated those ornaments to 

 the visage of which he possessed an exuberant growth, 

 thouo;h not to the extent of the great millionaire of the 

 present day ; but, believing that I had already reached to 

 man's estate, the insinuation roused my irritability, and, 

 jumping across the table, I insisted upon his paying me, 

 or leaving the room. He declined to do either, as parting 

 Avdth his money was quite contrary to his creed, and the 

 alternative he disputed my power to enforce. I felt that 

 I had right on my side, and I also felt that I had the 

 majority of the room on my side, and that he was no 

 Avelcome visitor. I therefore took hold of his collar, and 



