St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1893-09-30

! ! :
.NH.zZ1piI2 + is all verv wei
4 lnH4/ItljiIH for Dives, revel
H. NVkN/2iIlGS ing in Purpl
yM N-NZ!lIIhH' and fine linel
N lKXM W and farin,
ln Nxl sump tn ousl.
(HUHkS, every day. witt
W - everythin,
about him calculated to make lif
pleasant, to sit in his armchair AM
talk in a grandiloquent way about tn
0owardicc of the suicide.
II Dives had been in my shoes on I
certain night in the merry month o
Nav, some few years ago. and felt th'
pangs of hunger IS felt them, fancy
somehow he would be strongly inclinet
tomodify his opinions
Hungry? was hungry! And when n
two o'clock in the morning, havinl
tramped it from Cambridge. flung my
self down on the grass just outside th'
grand stand on Newmarket Heath,
felt 50 utterly done up. faint and ex
hausted. that would have gladly vel
coined death in any shape or form u
that moment
Well born. and my early days passet
In the lap of luxury, there lay like Z
dog, hungry II had neither had bite mol
sup for twenty-four hours) with ne
money to buy food, and without q
friend or relative in the world TO lend
me helping hand: and yet Dives and
his friends would have called me q
coward had put IN end to my wretch
ed existence.
1t was lucky that had not the
means to do so-not even . pocket
knife-that memorable Nay night,
otherwise the trainers when they came
on to the Heath with their horses in
the early morning would have -
suredly found something that they
would not have cared about looking at
twice.
Bodily exhaustion. Is . rule, pro-
duces sleep, but very often, IL it is too
pronounced, it has = precisely opposite
effect So it proved in my case. Faint
and weary, as I was, the repose l 50
much needed hatly declined to come
tony rescue.
So lay awake. thinking. thinking
always thinking; now Of the past, now
of the future for I was still young,
and, downtrodden as was. still capa-
bic of building castles in the air.
1t was ono Of these palatial edifices
found myself building now, odd
though it may seem.
One of the trainers 1t the headquar-
tiers of the turf had taken me up and
given me position Of trust in his es-
tablishmcnt. One of our horses had
won the Cesarewitch and Cambridge
shire, and !, beside standing In" with
the stable when they backed him, had
won . 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 of into q tranquil doze, when all
Of q sudden the sound Of human voices
in the distance and the unmistalxa ble
tramp Of horses feet fell upon my ear.
I: would not be daylight for 1t least IN
hour yet Who could they be?
Now, I was well-versed in turf mat
ters-in fact, to speak the truth, 1t was
in q great measure ny partiali<p for
the sport of kings that had brought me
to the position found myself in; con-
sequcntly on bringing my mind to bear
on the subject very quickly solved
the riddle-or thought l had, at all
events. Yea had, felt sure.
The only possible excuse for . trainer
bringing his hor ses on to the Heath 1t
this hour of the morning was to bring
on . trial. and what was moro . very
important ono.
The time of year, too, Just ten days
before the Derby, was oil in favor Of
my theory. Yes. it was . Derby trial
that was coming OF, felt convinced,
and what WAS more I meant 70 witness
il.
How chuc!xled to myself As I cTawled
along the grass like a snake until I
Of sight, when I ventured to peep out
There. standing exactly opposite the
racecourse itself, were five horsemen.
One I recognized immediately dark rs
il was rs . wcll-known trainer who had
. 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 n he can with the old horse.
and il you can hold him all the way on
the young 'un. beat him 1t 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, ] cr1wled on al
tours 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: l
Oas just beside il.
That was the only difference between
as
A faint yellow light just appeared on
the horizon. denoting that daylight
would soon be with ms, when . 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 OF" heard him exclaim.
ns the sound OF horses RallOpinG could