A VISIT TO A VETERAN. 223 



better than most ; but I think Tom Cannon and 

 some of the others are as good as they were." 



"Well, it is pleasant to think that these 

 races you have just won have been among the 

 most steady and straightforward on record, and 

 after public trials that let anybody who cared to 

 know judge for himself what the horse could do. 

 I have not any sympathy with a win when the 

 horse has been pulled, and run unfit, and dodged 

 about to hoodwink handicappers. You can't 

 have felt quite comfortable about the Cam- 

 bridgeshire, though — a three-year-old, with nine 

 stone on his back, up that hill, and with a more 

 than respectable field to beat, too ? " 



'' I knew what a good horse he was, and was 

 tolerably certain about it. I watched the race 

 from the Eed Post, and saw that my horse was 

 lying in a good position and going well." 



'' Was it true that Watts hit the horse 

 such a sounding stroke that he frightened 

 Lucy Glitters and made her swerve on to 

 Tristan? I have seen that stated," I interrupt 

 to inquire. 



" Not true at all, I should say," William 

 Day answers. " I don't believe the boy hit him 

 once. I did not see it, and there was certainly 

 no mark of it on the horse, nothing but a touch 

 of the spurs — naturally after such a close finish. 



