192 HOW I WON MY HANDICAP 



" Blind Hookey," and next morning the little pock- 

 pitted man came up and called me a " flat," and said 

 I'd fair thrown my winnings into the fire. He 

 didn't know much about what had gone on, and 

 when I told him " I knocked down close on £150," 

 he said he daren't send me back to Stockton. Well, 

 I stopped at Manchester altogether ; and during the 

 next two or three years I won heaps of races, 

 learned the " rope trick," and found out whose 

 " stable " every lad trained from. I won hundreds 

 of pounds, which, having all come over the " devil's 

 back," went the same way. I'm twenty-three now, 

 but I can't do " level time " any longer without six 

 weeks' training, although even yet, at 100 yards, 

 very few lads can " pull off their shirt " every day 

 in the week and lick me. I like the life very well 

 — it's free and easy ; but I wish Locker had ta'en 

 me back and made my matches. He's clever, he is, 

 and knows when to " let a fellow's head loose " 

 without halloaing. 



