56 TALES OF PINK AND SILK. 



account to him for his doings during the ten years that had 

 passed. 



And a hard struggle he had to describe, for nowhere had 

 he been able to obtain employment at first, though trainer 

 after trainer was appealed to. At one time he was reduced 

 to selhng face cards, then he found employment with a gipsy 

 dealer, then with a horse-breaker, and finally got taken on as 

 temporary lad in Mr. Grantham's training stables. The 

 temporary job became a permanency ; then came the riding 

 of gallops, the promise of race-riding shown by him in trials, 

 and finally the first mount in public, which, though it did not 

 earn him winning brackets, soon brought him another. Five 

 mounts in that year, only one of which was a winning one, 

 was followed by nearly fifty the next, eleven of which Avere 

 successful ; while over a hundred came to his share the 

 following season, and he succeeded in steering a score or 

 more horses first past the post. This year he had got as 

 much riding as he wanted, and with better horses under him 

 he stood a fair chance of being among the first half dozen 

 winning jockeys of the year. Then he told of his trials and 

 temptations ; but thanks to the teaching of Mr. Talbot he had 

 been able to steer a straight course amid the quicksands of a 

 difficult profession without a mishap. 



" And what do you think of Toreador's chance three days 

 hence ? " asked Mr. Talbot, for that was the horse that Morgan 

 was to ride in the great race for the Cup. 



" They have not dealt very leniently with him as regards 

 weight," said Morgan, " but he's as game as a pebble, and will 

 wear his horses down, I have no doubt. It's his gameness 

 which takes the public's fancy, sir, and, as perhaps you know, 

 he was favourite till yesterday. However, there has been a 

 disposition to lay against hhn by somebody, and he and Miss 

 Muffit are at the same price in to-day's paper. 



" It Avill be an important race for me, sir," he went on. 



