yS The Great Downshire Handicap 



sanguine about the result, and as a rule he is far from 

 a sanguine man; and yet, after having been freely 

 backed at 3 to 1, Fortunatus went out to tens — indeed, I 

 am told that a friend of the stable, who declined to be 

 put off, took 1 ,000 to 80 just before the flag fell. Against 

 Puzzle, on the other hand, you could not get an offer at 

 the finish, and it is an open secret that some of her 

 party have not been seen since the race. They *' went 

 for the gloves," and some very dirty hands remain 

 uncovered. It is a mystery of the most curious descrip- 

 tion, and one which no one seems able to fathom.' 



Dick had hstened to the extract with a smile on his 

 face, and when Cecil put down the paper he spoke. 



' There's a key to the mystery, all the same,' he said, 

 ringing the bell. ' Send little Hughes here,' he added, 

 when the servant appeared. 



Little Hughes, the lad whom Cecil had befriended, as 

 we have seen, presently appeared, looking very shy and 

 nervous, and touched his forehead to his patron. 



' Now, my boy,' Dick said, ' tell these gentlemen what 

 you know about Fortunatus.' 



' Please, sir,' the boy began, ' that day you were here 

 last I went up to the plantation in the afternoon. I 

 often used to go and lie there and read, and watch the 

 rabbits and birds. And that afternoon — I think I must 

 have been asleep in the sun — I w^as quite close to the 

 side, a little way in, and I heard Barrick and a strange 

 man talking. He woke me, I think, by striking a fusee, 

 and I heard him say that Fortunatus must not win the 

 race.' 



* Barrick' s the boy that did the horse, isn't he ? ' 

 Cecil interpolated, and Dick nodded. 



' And then, sir,' little Hughes continued, ' the other 



