The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-04

pleasant, to Sit IN his armchair ano
talk in a grandiloquent way about the
cowardice of the suicide.
If Dives had been in nay shoes on q
certain night in the merry month o.
Nav. some few years ago, and felt the
pangs of hunger as l felt them, fancy
somehow he would be strongly inclined
to modify his opinions.
Hungry was hungry! And when al
two o'clock in the morning, having
tramped it from Cambridge. 1 flung my
self down on the grass just outside the
grand stand on Newmarket Heath,
felt 80 utterly done up. faint and ex-
hausted. that would have gladly vel.
coined death in any shape or form at
that moment.
Well born. and my early days passed
in the lap Of luxury, there lay like a
dog, hungry Il had neither had bite nor
sup for twenty-four hours) with no
money to buy food. and without a
friend or relative in the world to lend
me helping hand; and yet Dives and
his friends would have called me a
coward had put an end to my wretch
ed existence.
1t was lucky that I had not the
means to do so-not even a pocket
knlfe-that memorable May night,
| otherwise the trainers when they came
on to the Heath with their horses in
the early morning would have as
suredly found something that they
would not have cared about looking at
twice.
Bodily exhaustion, as q rule, pro-
duces sleep, but very often, if it is too
pronounced, it has precisely opposite
erect. So it proved in my case. Faint
and weary, as was, the repose 1 SO
much needed fatty declined to come
to my rescue.
So lay awake, thinking. thinking
always thinking; now of the past, now
of the future for / was still young,
and, downtrodden as was, still capa-
BILE Of building castles in the air.
1t was one of these palatial edifces
l found myself building now, odd
though it may seem.
One of the trainers at the headquar-
tiers Of the turf had taken me up and
given me position of trust in his es-
Enlistment. One of our horses had
won the Cesarewitch and Cambridge
shire, and I. beside standing in" with
the stable when they backed him, had
won a small fortune by supporting him
at long odds, for the double event, on
my own account. The whole thing
seemed so real that l felt for the mo-
ment quite buoyant and happy, and
should in all probability have shortly
gone off into tranquil doze, when all
of sudden the sound Of human voices
in the distance and the unmistakable
tramp of horses feet fell upon my ear
Il would not be daylight for at least an
hour yet. Who could they be?
Now, 1 was well-versed In turf mat
ters-in fact, to speak the truth, it was
in a great measure my Partially for
the sport of kings that had brought me
to the position 1 found myself in; con-
sequently on bringing my mind to bear
on the subject, very quickly solved
the riddle-or thought 1 had, at all
events. Yes, had, felt sure.
The only possible excuse for trainer
bringing his hor ses on to the Heath at
this hour of the morning was to bring
off trial, and what was more a very
important one.
The time of year, too, just ten days
before the Derby, was all in favor of
my theory. Yes, it was Derby trial
that was coming off, l felt convinced,
and what was more 1 meant to witness
it.
How I chuckled to myself as crawled
along the grass like snake until
reached the rear of the stand, well out
of sight, when l ventured to peep out.
There. standing exactly opposite the
racecourse itself, were five horsemen.
One recognized Immediately dark as
it was as a well-known trainer who had
a prominent Derby favorite under his
charge; the other four, three of whom
were mounted on thoroughbreds,
hooded and clothed, were evidently
jockeys.
The morning was still. and I could
hear every word the trainer uttered.
You know what to do now, don't
you?" said he, addressing jockey who
was astride chestnut with two white
hind legs. Frank will make the pace
as hot as he can with the old horse,
and if you can hold him all the way on
the young 'un, beat him at the finish,
or even run him close, the Derby's all
over but shouting. So now cut away.
my lads, down to the starting post. I'll
stop here. exactly opposite the judges
box. and Bob Joyce will start you"
Not another word was said. The
trainer took up his position. the others
cantered away down the course, and
last, but not least, / crawled on all
fours from my hiding place. and crept
along under cover of the darkness until
had taken the trainer in flank.
He was in front OF the judges box; /
was just beside it
That was the only difference between
US.
A faint yellow light just appeared on
the horizon, denoting that daylight
would soon be with us, when a slight
noise in the distance caused his cob to
prick his ears and the trainer to turn
his head sharp to the left, and peer into
the darkness
THEY'RE off" I heard him exclsim,
as the sound of horses galiopiDg could
now be plainly heard
On they came nearer and nearer.
Crack, went a whip. Some one was
calling on his horse for an effort
The next instant the three horses
flashed past US; the chestnut with the
white hind legs first
The trainer gave his thigh q triumph
ant smack, as he exclaimed: BY