THE WHEEL WAGER 85 



they, as the hind-wheel of his lordship's carriage 

 happened to be uncommonly small. 



The acceptors of this singular wager were jubilant ; 

 so much so that the cause of their exultation 

 reached the ears of the ' canny ' March, who appears 

 to have been singularly dense on a matter which 

 would have occurred to others with less quickness 

 of perception. 



Until the day before the match did Lord March 

 dwell in blissful ignorance of the defeat awaiting 

 him. With his lordship, however, to be forewarned 

 was to be forearmed, and he therefore did that 

 which prudence should have dictated before — he 

 tried his Ixion with the wheel he was to use in 

 the match, and found him wanting. Here, then, 

 was a dilemma — his sporting or wagering acumen 

 was at stake, and not twenty-four hours wherein 

 to avert defeat ; what was to be done ? In his 

 distress his lordship appealed to an eccentric fellow- 

 sportsman, Sir Francis Delaval — whose name often 

 occurs in chronicles of the period — and he sug- 

 gested the 'skeleton' of a remedy, which his 

 lordship quickly put into form. He then applied 

 to a friend in the Board of Works for the loan of 

 a sufficient number of planks to make a pathway 

 upon the course where the match was to be de- 



