Year: 1865




A few years ago, and in the Spring
time, there stood befouc lonely
public house, beside the high road,
which runs from London to Sails
/ bury, two men in earnest conversa-
tion. They were both slight of build
and small OF stature, but there was
difference in the age, it might bc,
thirty years, the younger being ap
parently not more than twenty. 1t
was still early in tho morning, and a
mist which had begun to fall soon ar
ter sunrise, made objects at q hun
tred yards distance indistinct, though
it did not entirely conceal them.


Eve could scarcely have better
morning for the purpose" said the
elder of the two men.


"If there should be any one about
here by chance who might happen to
know me, he is not likely to he able
to see much. Now mind how YOU
ride the mare, and do your very best
with her, rs if you were riding for
the stakes. l shall start the horse
at the top Of his speed when we gel
10 Klinkman's Folly, and keep him at
it as far as the Three Fires"


II suppose you will time the dis.
tance?"


"No. il is not worth while. dom
know the distance; and besides, /
know there is not one among the lot
that will run which could keep neal
the horse in such trial as we are
going to have"


! Without exchanging any further
remarks, they both went through the
garden to the back of the house to
the stables when the trainer took q
key from his pocket, and, after care
fully examining the paddock, to see
if any attempt had been made to tam.
per with (which, from the pre-.
caution he had taken, he would have
discovered instantly-he unlocked it,
and entered the stable, followed by
the jockey, to whom he had been Civ
ing the instructions just related.


The stables belonging to the trainer
were several miles distant. BY some
means it had leaked out that the mare
he had entered for the Derby was q
"hicr" Rumors of her speed and
endurance were circulated among the
few, which if true, were such as to
make her victory well nigh secure,
whatever the condition of the ground
might he on the day of the race
Consequently, q man might be seen
emitting turf very busily in one place
whenever the horse appeared to take
their exercise; III another q gypscy' s
wife was always assiduous at the tail
.of their travelling. cart, in making
baskets or brushes, his son i'm lead
ing the poor beast that drew it to get
what little food it could find on the
down, while he himself lurked about
with a dog at his heels, as If looking
out for a stray rabbit. Besides these,
as the time drew near for the race
which takes half London out of doors,
there were others who found their
way to the place where Dawlin's S
horses cook their eXercise-tramps
who seemed to find the down kind
OF "enchanted ground" for they al
ways appeared asleep il anybody
happened to come among them when
they were lying behind the furz and
other bushes, though, If they were,
seen without their being aware of it
the spectators who did not know what
they were doing there, would have
been very much surprised at seeing a
beggar with a field glass 1t was to
a!oid inquisitiveness Of gentry of this
kind that Dawkins had quietly re.
moved the mare Stella from his sta
bles to the inn referred to, in order
to give her final trial. No one in
the stable knew where she had been
taken to, and the only one who could
speak of her Performance was Lester,
the jockey who had been selected TO
ride her at the forthcoming races.


When the mare was brought out Of
the stable, the first Inspirations of the
fresh morning air seemed to intoxi-
cate her; she reared and plunged
with the playfulness ofa kitten, while
the slightly older horse regarded her
graceful bounds with an attentive
gravity, and a critical expression
that was almost human like, very
much as though he were the manager
of an opera, watching the perform.
ance of ballet dancer, whose ser
vices he thought Of engaging.


The trainer knew better than to at
tempt to produce greater sobriety in