The Darley Arabian. 219 



proved it in a very decisive way over Richmond, when 

 she beat The Cure from " the Grey Stone in." Her 

 greatest feat of speed was, however, at Newmarket, in 

 her match with Queen of the Gipsies. It was made 

 at the Rooms over-night : and then, hke the rival 

 attorneys of old, when they raced, as the legend goes, 

 to Garrow's chambers, it became a question who could 

 get Nat, as both had him in their eye when they fixed 

 the weights. Mr. Jaques slipped up town first, and, 

 finding he had gone to bed, flung some gravel up at 

 his window. In a minute or two, Nat's solemn night- 

 capped head was seen from behind the blind ; and as 

 business was evidently meant, he opened the window 

 to inquire the cause. " Nat, I want you for a match 

 to-morrow." " Whafs the weight f " Seven stone 

 nine." " Then I can do it, sir. Good night r was the 

 whole of the colloquy ; and Nat resought his couch. 

 He had scarcely pillowed his head when the gravel 

 battery was heard to open once more with redoubled 

 force, and again he was on the floor. This time it was 

 Mr. O'Brien, almost breathless with haste ; and Mr. 

 Jaques, ensconced in the shadow of a wall hardly fifty 

 yards off, heard these '* Voices of the Night." " Nat, 

 I want you for a match to-morrow." " What for V 

 " The Queen of the Gipsies." " Against zvhat f 

 " Semiseria." "I'm engaged /" and down went the 

 window. Great was the dismay of " The Traverser" 

 on finding himself thus beaten by Yorkshire, when he 

 thought he had managed it so nicely ; but Nat had 

 vanished, and he had only the stars to consult on the 

 matter. In short, turf history can afford no parallel 

 to it except in the case of an eminent bill discounter, 

 when after having had his mare so specially prepared 

 for a great spring handicap, he learnt for the first time, 

 a season or two subsequently, from the lips of a 

 "young friend" (who did not know his 7!oni de course), 

 that the fact of his having specially sent " my horse to 

 knock that fellow's mare heels over head" was the 



