A Lucky Mistake 231 



' Well, sir, all I can say is that's the message I 

 received, and I did what I was told,' Smith answered. 

 ' If it's a mistake, it's one on the right side ! ' 



' But ' Ashdown began. 



' There are no " buts '" about it, sir. The money's 

 won, and if Eoquelaure had got the race, I should have 

 asked you for it, you may be sure,' Smith said. 



' Well, I can't understand it. It's the most in- 

 comprehensible mistake I ever heard of ! ' Ashdown 

 exclaimed. 



' I really don't know whether it is,' Cranleigh broke 

 in. ' There's no doubt, my dear chap, you do write 

 about the most villainous hand in England. I shouldn't 

 wonder if in your scrawl one word doesn't look very 

 much like the other. An "E," for instance, is very 

 easily mistaken for " Pr " in almost anybody's fist ; then 

 the next letter's "0,"' and the next has a tail to it. As 

 you write it, I should bet that the letter would be quite 

 as much like a "j" as a ''q "—you'll never pretend 

 that you dotted a " j " in your life ? Then " uel " isn't 

 unlike " ect," for there again you'd never think of 

 crossing a " t." The last few letters of any word you 

 write always come out a series of more or less indefinite 

 scratches — I can quite understand a mistake being 

 made.' 



Smith had been making marks in his book. ' There's 

 no doubt that anybody might mistake " Pr " for " K," and 

 still more ''Pro" for " Eo " — I dare say you're right, 

 sir, but that's how I received the message, and there's 

 the letter I had written to you, with the cheque inside.' 

 As a matter of fact, however, the explanation was simple. 

 The telegraph clerk had been unable to make out the 

 word in the message, but he kept his wits about him, and 



