Too Clever 189 



show what she was made of. Jovial, too, was inspected, 

 and found to be looking wonderfully fit and well; so 

 much so that the fact of a public fancy for him, and his 

 having been backed at the comparatively short price of 

 100 to 6, was quite explicable. The light-weight of the 

 Cesarewitch entry was not seen, or, if Moss and Dane 

 passed her box, they failed to notice her, and no one 

 drew their attention to the creature. 



That the party was up betimes next day need scarcely 

 be said. It was a beautiful morning ; the sun lighted 

 up the lingering flower-beds on the lawn, and when the 

 three rode out beyond the gates, the larks sprang up from 

 the dew-bespangled grass and ascended, singing joyously, 

 with the beams glinting on their wings. An old hare 

 lobbed off leisurely as they cantered past her form, and 

 a big covey of partridges which rattled up and off 

 suggested that this must be a good game country. 



The horses that were to be tried had already reached 

 the downs when the trio arrived, the scheme of the trial 

 having been settled the night before. Neither Jovial nor 

 The Caliph was in the gallop, nor had Weekes included 

 the light-weight. Smeuse and Brown Shoes, both five- 

 year-olds, were each to carry 8 st. 7 lb., as that admitted 

 of the trainer's nephew, a successful jockey, riding the 

 Cesarewitch entry for his uncle ; Past Master, a speedy 

 horse in the stable, was put in to make a pace with a 

 light lad on his back, and a two-year-old that seemed to 

 have a remarkable capacity for staying, and with which 

 Weekes thought he might win the Feather Plate over 

 the Cesarewitch course, was also to run, with a tiny boy 

 on his l)ack, who, saddle and all, was well under 5 st. 



The two miles and a quarter course was in the shape 

 of a horseshoe, so that the observers could see the start 



