46 STABLE SECRETS. 



first position of Catch-me-who-can in the betting, occasional 

 inquiries were made about his stable companion Sunshine, and 

 in the aggregate a considerable sum was invested upon him at 

 a long shot." 



Mr. James Sloper, be it remarked, was distinguished for 

 tl long shots/' By way of a change — in order that there might 

 be no grounds for a groundless charge of unexceptionable mono- 

 tony — Mr. James Sloper had* now and then, pressed the hair- 

 trigger of a certainty at a short range j but as a principle — as 

 a slender wire which moved his public acts as a jmblic trainer 

 of a great public stable — Mr. James Sloper preferred giving 

 rise to public astonishment by hitting the bull's eye at a distance 

 commonly called " long." His pride was most gratified — to say 

 nothing of more substantial benefits — in creating a sensation 

 which the representatives of the press generally described as 

 "astonishing the Ring." In carrying out this principle, Mr. 

 James Sloper took particular care to make few, if any, excep- 

 tions to the rules by which he was governed. As he frequently 

 observed to his confidential adviser — his inner man — " I never 

 allow my feelings to interfere with my interests." 



Be it, therefore, chronicled that Mr. James Sloper never 

 permitted his feelings to interfere with his interests. 



In the course of this sunny spring afternoon at " Tattersall's " 

 no " good money " against the best tried two-year-old out 

 escaped the quiet vigilance of Bill Smoothy and his several 

 agents ; and, singular as it might have seemed, certain books 

 appeared never quite full against " the crack." But then, of 

 course, a good bet is never half made until well edged, and the 

 backers of Catch-me-who-can were merely edging their money 

 — merely securing that enviable position figuratively termed 

 " standing on velvet." 



As the shades of evening closed around the pump in 

 Tattersall's yard on this sunny day, heralding the advent of 

 summer with incense of flowers and music of birds, and the fox 

 in the centre was thrown in the form of the Egyptian monster 



