16 TALES OF FIKK AND SILK. 



trying to get back into the saddle again. But The Screw — 

 always a bad horse to mount — declines to allow him to do so, 

 and circles round and round him. "Stand still, you fool, 

 and we shall catch them yet ! " 



" HaAv ! haw ! " comes from hard by, and Captain Bleater 

 is conscious of a grinning yokel sitting on a fence and 

 watching the proceedings with intense amusement. 



"Here, come and hold this horse, my man, while I get 

 on ! " sa3's Captain Bleater. 



" Haw ! haw ! haw ! " is the only reply. 



" Wo ! stand still, 3^ou brute. Don't sit grinning there, 

 you blockhead, but come and help me." 



" Haw ! haw ! Why, I've got a croon on Muster Foswith, 

 you feul," replies the rustic. 



Captain Bleater does eventually get loaded up, but does 

 not finish the course. Enterino- the straidit for home, Wolds- 

 man makes his effort, but The Gaiety Girl soon shakes him 

 off, and canters in an easy winner from Dublin, who comes 

 Avith a rush at the finish, and just secures second place. 



"No need for the objection, old man," says Charlie, as he 

 leads in his friend; "but I'll just go and have a word with 

 Bleater.'' 



" How do you feel ? " he says to that worthy, who comes in 

 a few minutes later. " None the worse for your spill, I suppose ? " 



Bleater starts as he hears the voice, and turns aside to 

 misaddle. 



" I think he would have won if he'd stood up," continues 

 Daventry, "unless, of course, something else happened. I 

 never saw a horse so much like The Screw," he adds. " By 

 the way, when are you going to pull him out again ? " 



Bleater turns towards the dressing-room with an oath. 



"Well, good-bye!" says his tormentor. "Better luck 

 next time 3^ou come north." 



Captain Bleater has "put up the shutters." 



