BOTTLE RACING. 19 



a little chicken hazard in their rooms closed the 

 evening. After a time, a new freak seized them : this 

 was to get the old corks from the mess- waiter : each 

 took one, and after throwing them into the river, they 

 stationed themselves on the bridge, and the cork that 

 first appeared beyond the arch won. This took 

 wonderfully, and they were joined by many more, of 

 which number I was fool enough to make one, and 

 proposed in lieu of matches to make up sweepstakes. 

 This was carried unanimously. I then proposed, 

 instead of racing corks, to substitute racing bottles, 

 and this was also carried nem. con. Each tied his 

 colour round the neck of his bottle, and some nine 

 or ten started — 2s. ^d. entrance. As we found, 

 however, that one of the party was decidedly more 

 lucky than the rest, and that, in short, he generally 

 won the stakes, it struck me there might be some- 

 thing in the bottle, as well as in the luck ; so I 

 examined it privately, and found that both the shape 

 and weight of the successful bottle were very diffe- 

 rent from the others. I took the hint, and, after 

 looking over some hundreds at a wine-merchant's, 

 selected one that looked to me like a fast one — 

 thin as paper, light as a feather, and very conically 

 shaped. I started this the next day, and won in 

 a canter by twenty lengths ; won again, and again ; 

 in short, the late winning bottle was Meux's horse 

 and dray to the American trotter Confidence and 

 a match cart. After a time, some one smoked the 

 thing, and it was decided that my bottle should 

 not be allowed to start again. Relying however 

 on shape and make, I proposed a Handicap, agreeing 

 that my bottle and the late winning one (which 

 nearly always came in second) should each carry 



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