160 KACECOURSE AND COVERT SIDE. 



only one arrived ; and when I heard of Capper's 

 mysterious faculty for finding winners — always, 

 as the little barber said, on the afternoon of the 

 race — my suspicions were aroused. 



''On the afternoon of a day in the Good- 

 w^ood w^eek I discovered the plot. I sent my 

 man Harvey to watch Capper's farm. Capper 

 was posted on a ladder by the chimney, his 

 brother was in a big tree not far ofi", and another 

 fellow was sitting astride of a tree nearer the 

 road. Suddenly the brother discharged his gun, 

 and down came a pigeon. He slid down, his 

 brother after him ; they picked up the bird, 

 examined it, and in a minute were in their cart 

 driving down to the Fox and Hounds, where 

 Capper declared his " fancy " and rooked his 

 friends. The wretched bird had to run the 

 gauntlet of three guns, and the chances w^ere one 

 of them would account for him." 



"Still I don't quite see " one of the 



guests broke in. 



"But you will see in a moment," Swaynton 

 continued. "I told Hunter how things were, 

 and begged him, after the big steeplechase, to 

 send his birds as usual, wdth the wrong name od 

 the tissue paper. He promised to do so, and 

 said, moreover, that he would send birds 

 peculiarly marked, in order that the little scheme 



