A Good Day 41 



useful to us — to anticipate, let me remark that it 

 started at 100 to V2, and won in a canter — our hacks 

 were ordered for half-past eight next morning, so that 

 we could have one of those delightful mornings on the 

 Bury Hills which are among the chief pleasures of the 

 sport at headquarters ; and to fill in the time till we 

 were ready for the game of ' whiskey poker,' which was 

 to wind up the evening, nothing could be better than a 

 story from the Major. No one knew ' the ropes ' more 

 perfectly than he. His judgment of a yearling was a 

 surer guide to future results than the price it may have 

 fetched at auction ; for not once, or twice, or thrice, his 

 prescience has been vindicated when he has vowed he 

 would not have in his stable a youngster that has been 

 knocked down for thousands, and when, on the other 

 hand, he has noted as a good-looking colt or filly, sure 

 to win races, some creature that has been led round and 

 round the ring before any one responded to the inquiries 

 of Mr. Tattersall : ' Any advance on 150Z. ? ' It had 

 seemed to us, the younger members of the party, that 

 there never could have been a time when the Major did 

 not know all about racing, and the story of his inex- 

 perienced days promised to be diverting. The Major 

 began : — 



* I dare say you fellows don't know it, but you talk 

 a language about horses that is Hebrew to an outsider. 

 You don't mean to do so ; it isn't silly swagger or side ; 

 it comes simplest to you, that's all. Well, it was because 

 my friend Wennington did this that I missed all his 

 good things the first day I ever went racing, and finally 

 turned up trumps. Wennington was a cousin of mine, 

 and there were several reasons why he wanted to do me 

 a good turn if he could — he's my brother-in-law now, 



