MODERN BETTING ILLUSTRATED, ETC. 193 



price," so much valued by bettors. As race 

 follows race the same routine is repeated, so that 

 a flutter of excitement is kept up till the pro- 

 gramme is exhausted. Winners over the first 

 race take heart and go on speculating, while 

 men who have lost make an effort to retrieve 

 their bad fortune by extending their investments, 

 and thus the game continues till the last race of 

 the day has been decided. 



There are men constantly engaged in betting 

 who in their own circles are not suspected of 

 doing so. Some of them do so by the aid of 

 friends who possess a knowledge of the business, 

 others steal into the bookmakers' offices, and 

 looking about them fearful of being observed, 

 whisper their business to the layer of the odds 

 or his clerk. The lame and halt, the blind and 

 dumb, the rich and the ragged, daily rub shoulders 

 in quest of fortune in the betting arena. Men 

 with well-ventilated boots and guiltless of linen 

 under-garments pass their shillings or half-crowns 

 into the jewelled hand of the bookmaker, who at 

 once rattles off an entry to his clerk : " 6 to i 

 Gold for the Fortunatus Stakes." 



A score, perhaps, of such poverty-stricken 

 gamblers could not among them muster clothes 

 of the value of the albert chain and pendant hung 

 from the watch of the bookmaker's penciller. 



Racing to-day spreads itself over a wide field, 

 and to witness the decision of such races as the 

 Derby or St. Leger Stakes, the Chester Cup, 

 the City and Suburban Handicap, or the Royal 

 Hunt Cup at Ascot, tens of thousands will 

 assemble between the classes and the masses, 

 each person seemingly more interested than the 



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