238 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



suit. ** My word and all," as my Yorkshire 

 friends say, it was exciting. Believe me, I did 

 not have a penny on the race, and in my time I 

 have stood to win or lose biggish sums for a poor 

 reporter such as I am, without (so far as I would 

 admit to myself) turning a hair. But this 

 particular contest fastened itself on me, and I 

 should have been a most unhappy man indeed if 

 Flying Fox had been beaten by one of the 

 Yankees. That the Fox would be beaten I 

 never believed for a moment beforehand, but I 

 was a trifle nervous about the start — all manner 

 of things may happen then — and once I was a 

 little disturbed in my innards — viz., when 

 Scintillant, admirably ridden by F. Wood, 

 seemed to me to hold an off-chance of upsetting 

 the favourite. If Jarvis's colt had done that, I 

 wouldn't have minded so much ; still, such a 

 turn-up would have been a bit of a shock. 

 What I desired was that Flying Fox might beat 

 Caiman, and, as I say, though I never doubted 

 before the start, nor after it, all the same, I was 

 in a ferment of excitement to which I have been 

 long a stranger, and I do not want any more 

 races like this. 



The winner's reception was something truly 

 remarkable. The crowd rose at him. People 

 who pride themselves on not showing excitement, 

 people, too, who had not a bet on the race, 

 cheered, yelled, roared, waved things, threw up 

 their hats, and kept at such vagaries till the 

 Duke's colt was in the paddock. As for the 

 outside crowd, they fairly went off their heads 

 and wanted to take limbs off horse and jockey — 

 in a friendly way, mind you, but they didn't care 

 what they did take so long as they might collar 



