206 RACECOURSE AND COVERT SIDE. 



him could not be beaten had finished a bad third. 

 These and other misfortunes had overtaken 

 Flutterton, and with the morning here described, 

 the last day of the fortnight, the only chance of 

 " getting home " had come. 



The carriage containing our friends v^as one 

 of the rank making slow progress up the incline, 

 a wheel track over the downs, to the course. 

 Horses, hooded and sheeted, were heading for 

 the paddock, and the usual crowd of card-sellers 

 were as pertinacious as usual. In the paddock, 

 owners, trainers, and the familiar body of turfites 

 were in earnest converse, strolling about or 

 looking at their animals ; here and there in the 

 crowd the crimson, white, or blue of a jockey's 

 cap was to be seen ; groups were formed round 

 one or two of the favourites for the first race. 

 There was really nothing to be discovered more 

 than experience — as put into words by Tom Ball 

 when he looked over the card at the hotel — • 

 could point out ; that is to say, form pointed 

 strongly to the winners of three races, and the 

 rest were in the highest degree uncertain. A 

 hot favourite won the selling race which came 

 first on the card, and Tom Ball steered his own 

 two-year-old. Furze Blossom, home without an 

 effort for the race in which she was engaged. 



