Making the Running 253 



bridge and other racing centres, the result being that 

 the 10,000/. had gradually but surely vanished ; nay, 

 more than 10,000/. had gone, for at onetime after Ascot, 

 where he had been lucky, Cecil was handsomely ' to the 

 good,' the consequence being that at the next meeting he 

 had taken to betting in hundreds instead of in ponies and 

 tenners, and as this meeting was a shockingly bad one for 

 backers, his winnings and a good deal more had disap- 

 peared. He had been on such good things, too ! The 

 number of seconds he had run was something too frightful 

 and exasperating for contemplation. If Thunderbolt had 

 only got home instead of being beaten a head by an out- 

 sider no one had ever heard of before, a brute that nobody 

 backed for a shilling, it would have made a difference of 

 over 3,000/. to him ; and, as everybody said. Thunderbolt 

 ought to have won in a canter ; but the boy wanted to be 

 clever and win by a head, in consequence of which, 

 having stopped his horse, he could not set him going 

 again, and was just beaten. What agonising moments 

 were those until the number went up ! That week sadly 

 reduced the account, and since then things had gone 

 persistently wrong, a visit to the Lawn Club and an 

 evening's baccarat having cost the best part of 500/. 

 Of course he had no business to bet and gamble like this 

 — he felt it all the time ; he was an earthenware vessel 

 swimming down the stream with brazen pots, and was 

 sure to be broken ; but some fellows seem to have such 

 luck, and why should not he have his turn ? Surely it 

 must come ! So we all think ; but though it may be on 

 its way, we are too often done for and out of the game 

 before it reaches us. 



What Cecil was having for breakfast, or rather what 

 had been served, it is impossible to say, for the covers 



