212 The Course, the Camp, the Chase 



had ever compassed before. The race was run exactly 

 to suit him, for I lay off with him, and the other 

 jockeys — thinking that as " Baccarat " was running so 

 much out of his distance, that he need not be taken 

 into account — made a slow race of it, all waiting on 

 each other. The result was, that I was able to creep 

 gradually up, come with one run and win by a neck, 

 with a head between the second and third. The story 

 of the bread got out, and it was quite commonly believed 

 that this was the cause of the horse winning so far out 

 of his distance ? It was a three days' meeting, and I 

 was confidently assured that on the last day nearly 

 every horse that ran had a loaf of bread offered him, 

 but the talisman failed to answer in every case. 



The spirit of gambling is strong in Spaniards, and 

 my friend, Don Heredia, was like the rest of his nation. 

 One evening we were at the Casino in Cadiz, and Heredia 

 went upstairs to the roulette tables, where, before long, 

 he lost what money he had with him. He came to 

 where we were sitting, and begged us to lend him more, 

 but we were inexorable, for even if he won at first he 

 would generally continue till all was gone. It so 

 happened that a sweepstakes on a race for the succeed- 

 ing day was declared invalid, and the stakes were returned. 

 Heredia received back a sovereign, and promptly returned 

 to the tables to try his luck again with the coin. As 

 he did not come back for some time, I went upstairs 

 to see how he was faring, and found him playing with 

 piles of notes and gold in front of him, while he gleefully 

 called out for me to see what he had won. 



Going to the table, I made a grab at the pile of 

 notes, and, seizing a handful, thrust them into my pocket. 



