AN ECCENTRIC CHASE. 237 



feeling of satisfaction I joined the group by the lire and 

 lighted a cigarette. 



" Who's going to win at Gloucester ? " presently in- 

 quires Herries. 



" King Pippin," Caplett replies. " A certainty I 

 should say. You can't get 2 to i this afternoon, and 

 it'll very likely be 6 to 4 on him when he starts. 

 Ophelia's gone wrong. Here's Russford, ask him," he 

 continued, as the owner of the favourite made his ap- 

 pearance. " You're going to win next week, aren't you, 

 Russford ? " Caplett inquires. 



" I fancy so. I'm backing him myself, and it seems a 

 good thing. There was nothing to beat but Ophelia, 

 and she's out of it," he answers, and the response makes 

 me begin to feel rather uncomfortable. We are ac- 

 customed to share our good things freely when we know 

 anything at the Smoking Room, and I have not the 

 slightest wish to keep to myself what, since Monday 

 evening, I have looked on as my brilliant scheme. 



" Why shouldn't INIuffin Boy win ? He beat you at 

 the Epsom Spring Meeting at even weights, Russford ? " 

 I suggest, remembering this much of what Leonard had 

 said. 



" Quite so. But King Pippin, who wasn't nearly fit 

 then, was never in such form as he is now, and Muffin 

 Boy has steadily gone off all the year," Russford 

 answers, and I remember that this was not by any 

 means what Leonard had said. 



^' Then you think Muffin Boy can't win ? Harford's 



