Evening star., 1924-07-26

ond 1 forgot Peggie and her white
face and burning eyes:
Look now. Peyton" cried Look
closelyr
They're mixed up!- he answered.
CLOSE packed-now-yes.b by Cad,
| see the light cap coming out-coming
out!-she's in 'front.'.
The great crowd saw too. and the
roar deepened and spread. A big
man, taller than Peyton, suddenly
took his field glasses from his eyes.
and laughed.
She's lengths ahead now. by Cad"
he said with q snap of his lips
| Lengths! And they aren't the dis
tance! She'll win in common can
terri
The roaring Of the crowd began to
be mingled with laughter--the laugh
| ter that comes from folk who see
happening exactly what they want
| to happen. 1t was like one great
Homerio shout, from the big packed
| stands. the paddocks and rings, the
scething multitudes on either size
the course. i stretched myself to full
height and looked. Ripping Ruby
| at the distance was. so far as l could
| judge, six lengths in front OF JACK
meteor. All over but the shouting!-
and the shouting had begun and was
| increasing In volume with every
"Peggie" said. ,"Peggie! :
shrs It was aenn IN It that very second-i, must
have been as I spoke that last trt,
umphant word-that the internal
thing happened. Rippling Ruby was
then some thirty or forty yards from
the winning-post, lengths in front or
Jack Cade, who, however, was com
ing on in great style in her rear,
though far too late to overhaul her;
just behind him was Hedgesparrow'
with F'lotsam and couple OF outsid-
ers at her heels; the rest of the
field was failing off.
How the thing was done no VII
ness or bystander was ever able to
tell clearly-but suddenly from out
| the close-packed crowd on the lower
side of the course an object which
said such as saw 1t, looked like
cricket ball. was flung in front Of the
filly. There was a binding nash,
RUBY vent down as il shot through
the heart, Quivered, lay still, while
Medderfeld, thrown headiong, stag
gered on to his knees and then col,
lapsed in a motionless heap. And
over Ripping Ruby fell Jack Cade.
and over him Hedgesparrow. and
F1otSam, steered wide of the stfus-
Cling mass. went on and passed the
The next thing that knew. was
that Peyton and 1, fighting like tigers,
were in the middle of bowling and
shouting mob, forcing our way to the
flly's side. The crowds from either
side had surged on to the course
we were mixed up with them ana
with the police-for some minutes
the whole thing was hell. saw
men that I recognized also fighting
like demons to get near or to re-
store order; Jifferdene-Camperdale-
Bradgett detectives - stable boys.
And all round us some men were
cursing and some were speechless
with rage, and some were holding
blood-stained handkerchiefs to their
cheeks and here and there man lay
dead and in the clearer spaces some
stretched fingers, as if to clutch the
miscreant
We fought our way to the filly at
last She was dead as a stone and
the bright green belt and the gold
set ruby had vanished. And Peyton
laid a sore-shaking hand on my arm.
THE Chinaman's won, Cranage!" he
whispered. Now the girl! Go
back to her!"
went back, still fighting my way
yard by yard, to Peggie. She had
heard by then, and without word
to her, 1 took her arm and led her
away, out of the paddock, across the
course. and. in silence, across a quiet
stretch of the down-land beyond.
There was lane. shaded, unfre-
Quented, opening of that, and we
turned into it. and / put my arm
round her. She burst into welcome
tears at the touch Of my hand
and it was in the midst of these tears
that we kissed each other for the
THE END.