THE RACE
Slowly the month rolled by, and every day brought the fatal races
nearer, till at last only a week separated us from them. With each
departing day a greater nervousness took possession of me. I tried to
reason it out, but without success. As far as I could see, I had nothing
very vital to fear! I might lose the esteem of the grey heads of the
township, it was true, and possibly get into trouble with my father--but
beyond those two unpleasantnesses I was unable to see that anything
serious could happen to me.
Since giving him my promise I had only once set eyes on Whispering Pete.
To tell the truth, I felt a desire to keep out of his way. At the same
time, however, I had not the very slightest intention of going back on
my promise to ride for him. At last, one morning, I met him riding
through the township on a skittish young thoroughbred. As usual he was
scrupulously neat in his dress, and, when he stopped to speak to me, his
beady black eyes shone down on me like two live coals.
'You're not going to throw me over about that race are you, Jim?' he
said, after we had pulled up our horses and saluted each other.
'What should make you think so?' I answered. 'When I give my word I
don't go back on it as a general rule.'
'Of course, you don't,' he replied; 'I know that. But I heard yesterday
that the folk in the township had been trying to persuade you to
withdraw your offer. The time is drawing close now, and I shall have the
horse up here to-night. Come over in the evening and have a look at him,
and then in the morning, if you're agreeable and have nothing better to
do, we might try him against your horse Benbow, who, I take it, is the
best animal in the district. What do you say?'
'I'm quite willing,' I answered. 'And where do you intend to do it?'
'Not where all the township can see, you may be sure,' he answered,
with one of his peculiar laughs. 'We'll keep this little affair dark. Do
you know that bit of flat on the other side of Sugarloaf Hill?'
'Quite well,' I said. 'Who should know it better than I?'
'Very well, then; we'll have our trial spin there.' Then bending towards
me he said very softly, 'Jim, my boy, it won't be my fault if we don't
make a big haul over this race. There will be a lot of money about, and
you've no objection, I suppose?'
'None whatever,' I answered. 'But do you think it's as certain as all
that? Remember it's a pretty stiff course, and from what I heard this
morning, the company your horse is likely to meet will be more than
usually select.'
'I'm not the least afraid,' he answered 'My horse is a good one, and if
he is well, will walk through them as if they were standing still.
Especially with you on his back.'
I took this compliment for what it was worth, knowing that it was only
uttered for the sake of giving me a bit of a fillip.
'I shall see you, then, this evening?' I said.
'This evening. Can you come to dinner?'
'I'm afraid not,' I answered; and with a parting salutation we separated
and rode on our different ways.
When I reached the corner I turned and looked back at him, asking myself
what there was about Whispering Pete that made him so different to other
men. That he _was_ different nobody could deny. Even the most
commonplace things he did and said had something about them that made
them different from the same things as done and said by other people. I
must confess that, while I feared him a little, I could not help
entertaining a sort of admiration for the man. Who and what was he? He
had been in the township now, off and on, for two years, and during the
whole of that time, with the exception of myself and a few other young
men, he had made no friends at all. Indeed, he used to boast that he had
no sympathy with men above a certain age, and it was equally certain
that not one of the elderly inhabitants of the town, from my father and
old McLeod downwards, had any sympathy or liking for him.
When I had watched him out of sight, I rode on to the McLeods'
selection, and, having tied up my horse, entered the house. Sheilah, I
discovered, was not at home, having ridden out to their back boundary to
see a woman who was lying ill at one of the huts. Old McLeod was in the
stockyard, branding some heifers, and I strolled out to give him a hand.
When we had finished we put away the irons, and went up the path to the
house together. On reaching the dining-room, a neat and pretty room,
with Sheilah's influence showing in every corner of it, the old man
turned and put his hand on my shoulder. He was a strange-looking old
chap, with his long, thin face, bushy grey eyebrows, shaven upper lip,
and enormous white beard. After looking at me steadily for a minute or
so, he said, with the peculiar Scotch accent that time had never been
able to take away from him,--
'James, my lad, it is my business to warn ye to be verra careful what
ye're about, for I ken, unless ye mend your ways, ye're on the straight
road to hell. And, my boy, I like ye too well to see ye ganging that way
without a word to so stay ye.'
'And what have you heard about me, Mr McLeod?' I asked, resolved to
have it out with him while the iron was hot. 'What gossip has been
carried to your ears?'
'Nay! nay!' he answered. 'Not gossip, my laddie. What I have heard is
the sober truth, and that ye'll ken when I tell ye. First an' foremost,
ye've been card-playing up at the house on the hill yonder these many
months past.'
'That's quite true,' I replied. 'But I can also tell you that I have not
seen or touched a card for close upon five weeks now; and, if I can help
it, I never will do so again. What else have you been told about me?'
'Well, lad,' he said, 'I've heard that ye're going to ride in the races
out on the plain yonder next week. Maybe that'll not be true, too?'
'Yes. It's quite true; I am.'
'But ye'll think better of it, laddie. I'm sure of that!'
'No! I have no option. I have promised to ride, and I cannot draw back.'
'And ye'll have reckoned what the consequences may be?'
'I think I have!'
'Well, well; I'm sorry for ye. Downright sorry, laddie. I thought ye
had more strength of mind than that. However, it's no care of mine;
ye'll have your own day of reckoning I make no doubt.'
'I cannot see that what I do concerns anyone but myself,' I answered
hotly.
He looked at me under his bushy eyebrows for a second or two, and then
said, shaking his old head,--
'Foolish talk--vain and verra foolish talk!'
By this time my temper, never one of the best, as you already know, had
got completely out of my control, and I began to rage and storm against
those who had spoken against me to him, at the same time crying out
against the narrowness and hypocrisy of the world in general. Old McLeod
gravely heard me to the end, visibly and impartially weighing the pros
and cons of all I said. Then, when I had finished, he remarked,--
'Ye're but a poor, half-baked laddie, after all, to run your head
against a wall in this silly fashion. But ye'll see wisdom some day. By
that time, however, 'twill be too late.'
Never has a prophecy been more faithfully fulfilled than that one. I
have learned wisdom since then--learned it as few men have done, by the
hardest and bitterest experience. And when I got it, it was, as he had
said, too late to be of any use to me. But as that has all to be told in
its proper order, I must get on with my story.
Leaving the house, I mounted my horse again and rode off in the
direction I knew Sheilah would come, my heart all the time raging within
me against the injustice of which I considered myself the victim. What
right had old McLeod to talk to me in such a fashion? I was not his son;
and, poor fool that I was, I told myself that if I liked I would go to a
thousand races and ride in every one of them, before I would consider
him or anyone else in the matter. But one thing puzzled me considerably,
and that was how he had come to know so much of my private affairs.
Since it had been kept such a profound secret, who could have told him
about my gambling, and my promise to ride Pete's horse in the
steeplechase? So far as I was aware, no one but Sheilah knew, to whom I
had told my whole story. Could she have revealed my shortcomings to her
father? In my inmost heart, I knew that she had not said a word. But I
was so angry that I could not do justice to anybody, not even to
Sheilah herself. God help me!
For an hour I rode on; then, crossing a bit of open plain, I saw Sheilah
ahead, mounted on a big brown horse, coming cantering towards me. When
she made out who I was, she quickened her pace, and we were presently
alongside each other, riding back together. Angry as I was, I could not
help noticing how pretty her face looked under her big hat, and how well
she sat her horse.
'You seem put out about something, Jim,' she said, when I had turned my
horse and we had gone a few yards.
'I am,' I answered, 'very much put out. Sheilah, why did you tell your
father what I told you the other day?'
'What have I told him?'
'Why, about my playing cards at Whispering Pete's, and my resolve to
ride in the steeplechase next week?'
'I have not told him, Jim. You surely don't think I would be as mean as
that, do you?'
'But how did he come to hear of it?' I asked, ignoring the last portion
of her speech. 'He taxed me with it this morning, and was kind enough
to preach me a sermon on the strength of it.'
'I have not said a word to him. You seem to have a very poor opinion of
me, Jim.'
'You must admit that it's strange he should have known!'
'Don't you think he may have heard it in the township?'
'Your father's not given to gossiping among the township folk; you know
that as well as I do, Sheilah!'
'Then you still think, in spite of what I have told you, that I did tell
him? Answer me, straightforwardly, do you think so?'
'If you want it in plain English, without any beating about the bush, I
do! There, now I have said it.'
For a moment her face flushed crimson, then her eyes filled with tears
and she looked another way, thinking I should not see them. As soon as I
had spoken I would have given all I possessed in the world to have
recalled those fatal words; but my foolish pride would not let me say
anything. Then Sheilah turned to me with a white face.
'I am sorry, Jim,' she said slowly, 'that you should think so badly of
me as to believe me capable of telling you a lie. God forgive you for
doubting one who would be, if you would only let her, your truest and
best friend on earth.'
Then giving her horse a smart cut with her whip, she set off at a
gallop, leaving me behind, feeling just the meanest and most
contemptible cur on earth. For two pins I would have made after her, and
licked the very dust off her boots in apology. But before I could do so
my temper got the better of me again, and I turned off the track, made
for the river, and, having forded it, rode home, about as miserable a
man as could have been found in the length and breadth of Australia.
When I reached the house it was hard upon sundown, and old Betty was
carrying in dinner. I turned my horse into the night paddock, hung my
saddle and bridle on the peg in the verandah, and then went inside. The
old woman met me in the passage, and one glance at my face told her what
sort of state I was in. She drew me into the kitchen in her old
affectionate way, and, having got me there, said,--
'Jim, boy, it's ye that must be very careful to-night. Your father's
been at his old tricks all day, and he's just quarrelsome enough now to
snap your head off if you say a word. Don't cross him, lad, whatever you
do.'
'All right, old girl,' I answered, patting her weather-beaten cheek,
and going past her into my room. Then, having changed my things, I went
into the dining-room, where my father was sitting with a book upon his
knee, staring straight before him.
He looked up as I entered, and shut his volume with a snap; but for some
time he did not utter a word, indeed it was not until our meal was well
nigh finished that he spoke. Then he put down his knife and fork, poured
himself out some whiskey, drank it slowly, with his eyes fixed on me all
the time, and said,--
'Pray, what is the meaning of this new scandal that I hear about you?'
'What new scandal?' I asked; for I did not know what false yarn he might
have picked up.
'This story about your having promised to ride a horse in the
steeplechase next week?'
'It is perfectly true that I have promised,' I answered. 'What more do
you want me to tell you about it?'
'I won't tell you what I want you to tell me. I'll tell you what I
command, and that is that you don't as much as put your leg over any
horse at those races.'
'And, pray, why not?'
He filled himself another glass of whiskey and sipped it slowly.
'Because I forbid it at once and for all. That's why!'
'It's too late to forbid it now. I have given my promise, and I cannot
draw back.'
'You both can and will,' he said hotly. 'I order you to.'
'I am sorry,' I answered, trying hard to keep my temper. 'But I have no
option. I _must_ ride.'
He staggered to his feet, and stood for a moment glaring down at me, his
fingers twitching convulsively as he rested them on the table.
'Listen to my last word, you young dog,' he cried. 'I tell you this on
my word of honour. If you ride that horse, you leave my house there and
then. As surely as you disobey me, I'll have no more to do with you.'
I rose to my feet and faced him. My whole future was trembling in the
balance. Little I cared, however.
'Then, if I understand my position aright, I am to choose between your
house and my word of honour. A pretty choice for a father to give his
son, I must say.'
'Don't dare to bandy words with me, sir!' he cried. 'Take your choice.
Give up that race, or no longer consider this your home. That's all I
have to say to you. Now go.'
I left the room and went out into the yard. Then, leaning upon the slip
rails of the horse paddock, I reviewed the situation. My world was
toppling about my ears. I had quarrelled with old McLeod, I had plainly
told Sheilah that I disbelieved her, and now I was being called upon to
break my plighted word to Pete or lose my home. A nice position I was
in, to be sure. Look at it how I would, I could come to no decision more
plain than that, in persisting in my determination to ride, I was doing
what is generally called cutting off my nose to spite my face. On the
other hand, I had given my word, and was in honour bound to Pete. On the
other I--but there, what did it all matter; if they could be obstinate,
so could I, and come what might I would not give in--no, not if I had to
resign all I possessed and go out into the world and begin life again as
a common station hand. It's all very well now to say what a fool I was.
You must remember I was young, I was hot-headed, and as if that were not
enough, I came of a race that were as vile-tempered as even the Tempter
of Mankind could wish.
After a while I crossed the creek and went up the hill to Whispering
Pete's abode. I found him in his verandah, smoking. As soon as he saw me
he rose and shook hands. One glance at my face must have told him that
something was wrong, for he immediately said,--
'You look worried, Jim. What's the matter?'
'Everything,' I answered. 'My promise to ride that horse for you has got
me into a rare hot-bed of trouble.'
'I'm sorry for that,' he replied, offering me one of his splendid
cigars, and pushing up a chair for me. 'But never mind, you're going to
win a pot of money, and that will make them forgive and forget, or I
don't know my world. I've got the weights to-day. My horse has to carry
twelve stone. What do you ride?'
'A little under eleven,' I answered.
'Then that should make it about right. However, we'll arrange all that
to-morrow.'
'Has the horse arrived yet?'
'No,' he answered. 'But I'm expecting him every minute.'
For a while we chatted on, then suddenly my host sat upright, and bent
his head forward in a listening attitude.
'What do you hear?' I asked, for I could only distinguish the rustling
of the night wind in the leaves of the creepers that covered the
verandah.
'I thought I heard a strange horse's step,' he answered, still
listening. 'Yes, there it is again. I expect it's my animal arriving.'
A few moments later I could plainly distinguish the clatter of a horse's
step on the hard beaten track that led up to the door. How Pete had
heard it so long before I could not imagine. Presently a dark form
appeared against the starlight, and pulled up opposite where we sat.
Pete sprang to his feet and went forward to the steps.
'Is that you, Dick?' he cried.
'My word, it is,' came back a voice from the darkness. 'And a nice job
I've had of it.'
'Well, then, follow the track round to the left there, and I'll meet you
at the stables.'
The horseman did as he was ordered, and when he had disappeared, Pete
turned to me and said,--
'If you would care to see the horse, come with me.'
I accordingly rose and followed him through the house to the back
regions. When we reached the stables we found the stranger dismounted
and in the act of leading a closely-rugged horse into a loose-box, which
had evidently been specially prepared for his reception. Pete followed
him, and said something in a low voice, to which the man, who was a
tall, weedy individual, murmured some reply. Having done so, he spat on
the floor with extreme deliberation, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
'Now, let us have a look at him,' said Pete, signing to a blackboy to
strip him of his clothing. The boy did as he was ordered, and for the
first time I saw the horse whose destiny it was to change the whole
course of my life.
He was a fine-looking, bright bay, with black points, standing about
fifteen hands, long and low, with short, flat legs, large, clean hocks,
good thighs, and as sweet a head and neck as any man ever saw on a
horse. Long as was the stage he had evidently done that day, he looked
as fresh as paint as his big eyes roamed about and took in the lamp-lit
box which was ever so much below what a beauty of his kind deserved.
Somehow it seems to come natural to every Australian, man or woman, to
be a lover of a good horse, and I know that, as I looked at that
beautiful beast, all my regrets were forgotten and my whole soul rose in
longing to be upon his back.
'What do you think of him?' said Pete, who had been closely watching my
face. 'Isn't he a beauty, and doesn't he look as if he ought to be able
to show the animals about here the way to go?'
'He does, indeed,' I answered. 'But don't you think it seems a waste of
good material to bring a horse like that up here to take part in a
little country race meeting.'
'I want to show the folk about here what I can do, my boy,' he said, and
dropping his voice lower even than usual, he continued, 'Besides, as I
told you to-night, the race will be worth more than a little. Between
ourselves, I stand to win five thousand over it already, and if you've
got any savee you'll have a bit on him, especially as you're going to
ride him yourself, and therefore know it must all be fair, square, and
above board.'
'I intend, all being well, to back him as far as my means will permit,'
I said. 'And now, with regard to this trial, is that to come off
to-morrow morning?'
'No! I think not. The horse is not ready for it. The day after
to-morrow, perhaps, at three in the morning, on the flat behind the
Sugarloaf Hill. Is old Benbow anything like well?'
'As fit as possible,' I said. 'If your horse can give him a stone, I
shall be quite satisfied.'
'Well, bring him over and we'll try. The result should give us some idea
of how this chap can go.'
'By the way, you've never told me his name.'
'He is called The Unknown, if that tells you anything.'
'Not much,' I answered, at the same time giving a final glance at the
beautiful animal now undergoing his toilet. He had only one blemish as
far as I could see, and I had to look him over pretty closely to find
it, and that was a small, white mark on the point of the bone of his
near hock. It caught the eye, and, as I thought, looked unsightly. Just
as we were leaving the box, Pete, who was behind me, suddenly stopped,
and turned angrily on the man sponging the horse's legs.
'You clumsy fool,' he cried, 'are you quite without sense? One more
piece of forgetfulness like that and you'll spoil everything.'
What it was that he complained of I could not say, for when I turned
round he was carefully examining the horse's off fore knee, but the man
he addressed looked woefully distressed.
'Attend to that at once,' said Pete, with an ugly look upon his face.
'And let me catch you neglecting your duties again, and I'll call in the
One-eyed Doctor to you. Just you remember that.'
Then taking my arm, Pete drew me across the yard back to the house.
There I took a glass of grog, and, after a little conversation, bade him
good-bye.
It was a lovely night when I left the house and started for home. A
young moon lay well down upon the opposite hilltop, and her faint light
sparkled on the still water of the creek. Now and again a night bird
hooted in the scrub, and once or twice 'possums ran across and scuttled
up into the trees to right and left of my path. My thoughts were still
full of my awkward position, but I would not alter my determination a
jot; I had only one regret, and that was my conduct towards Sheilah.
From the place where I stood by the ford I could see the light of her
bedroom window shining distinctly as a star down the valley. I watched
it till my eyes ached, then, with a heavy sigh, continued my walk up the
hill, and, having reached the house, went straight to bed.
On the morning appointed for the trial I was up before it was light, had
saddled old Benbow, whom I had kept in the stable for two days, so that
he might be the fitter for the work which would be required of him, and
was at the Sugarloaf Hill just as the first signs of dawn were making
their appearance. I had not long to wait before the others put in an
appearance--Pete mounted on the handsome black I have elsewhere
described, and the man he had called Dick on The Unknown. We greeted
each other, and then set to work arranging preliminaries.
'You had better get on The Unknown, Jim,' said Pete, 'and let Dick,
here, ride Benbow. I'll give you a lead for the first half of the
distance, then Dick can pick you up and take you on to the end. That
should tell us pretty well what the horse can do, I think.'
I changed places with the man, and for the first time realised what a
compact horse The Unknown was. The course was then pointed out to me,
and the groom went on to his place to wait for us. The sun was just in
the act of rising, and already the magpies were making day musical in
the trees above us. A heavy dew lay upon the grass, and the air was as
cool and fresh as the most luxurious could desire.
'Now,' said Pete, gathering up his reins preparatory to business, 'when
you're ready we'll start.'
'I'm quite ready,' I said, taking my horse in hand.
With that we walked back a yard or two, and turned round. No sooner had
we done so than Pete cried, 'Go!' As the word left his lips the two
horses sprang forward and away we went. The wind whistled and shrieked
past our ears--the trees and shrubs came into view and fell behind us
like objects seen from the windows of an express train--but I was only
conscious of the glory of the gallop and the exquisite action of the
beast beneath me. By the time we had picked up Benbow, Pete's horse was
done. Then I took the other horse on, and at the appointed tree had
beaten him easily, with a couple of lengths to spare. After that I
gradually eased him down and returned to the others, his head in the
air, his ears pricked, and his feet dancing upon the earth as if he were
shod with satin instead of steel.
'What do you think of him now that you've tried him?' said Pete, as I
came back to where he and his companion were standing waiting for me.
'I think he's as good as he's handsome,' I replied enthusiastically,
'and if he doesn't make the company he is to meet next week sing
small--well--I don't know anything about horses.'
'Let us hope he will. Now, Dick, change saddles and then take him home,
and be sure you look after him properly.'
The animal and his rider having disappeared round the hill, we mounted
our horses again and made our way back to the river. As we went Pete
gave me an outline of the scheme he had arranged for backing his horse.
I had understood all along that he intended to make it a profitable
speculation, but I had no idea it was as big as he gave me to
understand it was.
At last the day before the races arrived. For nearly a week before the
township had been assuming a festive garb. The three hotels, for the one
grog shanty I have mentioned as existing at the time of the Governor's
visit so many years before, had now been relegated to a back street, and
three palatial drinking-houses, with broad verandahs, bars, and elegant
billiard and dining-rooms, had grown up along the main street, were
crammed with visitors. Numbers of horsey-looking men had arrived by
coach from the nearest railway terminus, a hundred miles distant, and
the various stables of the township were filled to overflowing. The race
week was an event of great importance in our calendar, and, though the
more sober-minded of the population professed to strongly disapprove of
it, the storekeepers and hotelkeepers found it meant such an increase of
business, that for this reason they encouraged its continuance. The
racecourse itself was situated across the creek, and almost directly
opposite the McLeod's selection. It consisted of a plain of considerable
size, upon which the club had made a nice track with a neat grand stand,
weighing-shed saddling-paddock, and ten pretty stiff jumps.
I rose early on the morning of Cup Day, and had finished my breakfast
before my father was out of bed. I had no desire to risk an encounter
with him, so I thought I would clear out before he was astir. But I was
bargaining without my host; for just as I was setting off for the
township, he left his room and came out into the verandah.
'Of course you know what you're doing,' he called to me.
I answered that I did.
'Well, remember what I told you,' he replied. 'As certainly as you ride
that horse to-day, I'll turn you out of my house to-night. Make no
mistake about that!'
'I quite understand,' I answered. 'I've given my word to ride and I
can't go back on it. If you like to punish me for keeping my promise and
acting like a gentleman, well, then, you must do so. But I'll think no
more of you for it, and so I tell you!'
'Ride that horse and see what I'll do,' he shouted, shaking his fist at
me, and then disappeared into his room. I did not wait for him to come
out again, but went down the track whistling to keep my spirits up.
Having crossed the creek I made my way up the hill to Whispering Pete's
house, reaching it in time to find him at breakfast with a man I had
never seen before. The first view I had of this individual did not
prepossess me in his favour.
His hair was black as--well, as black as Pete's eyes--but his face was
deathly pale, with the veins showing up blue and matted on either
temple. To add still further to his curious appearance, he had but one
eye and one arm. The socket of the eye that was missing gaped wide, and
almost made one turn away in disgust. But his voice was, perhaps, the
most extraordinary thing about him. It was as soft and caressing as a
woman's, and every time he spoke he gave you the idea he was trying to
wheedle something out of you.
Pete rose and introduced him to me as Dr Finnan, of Sydney, and when we
had shaken hands I sat down at the table with them. The Doctor asked me
my opinion of the season, the prospects of the next wool clip, my length
of residence in the district, and finally came round to what I knew he
was working up to all the time--namely, my opinion of my chance in the
race to be run that day. I answered that, having considered the various
horses engaged I thought I could just about win, and on inquiry, learnt
that the animal I was to ride had not started for the course, and would
not do so until just before the time of the race.
'And I commend your decision,' said the Doctor, sweetly; 'he is a
nervous beast, and the turmoil of a racecourse could only tend to
disturb his temper.'
After breakfast we sat and smoked for perhaps half-an-hour, and were in
the act of setting off for the racecourse, when a boy rode up to the
verandah and called to Pete to know if I were inside. On being informed
that I was, he took a note from his cabbage-tree hat and handed it to
me. It was from Sheilah, and ran as follows:--
'DEAR OLD JIM,--Is it too late for your greatest friend to implore
you not to ride to-day? I have a feeling that if you do, it will
bring misery upon both of us. You know how often my prophecies come
true. At any hazard, give it up, I implore you, and make
happy--Your sincere friend,
'SHEILAH.'
I crushed the note in my fingers, and told the boy to say there was no
answer. It was too late to draw back now.
Nevertheless, I felt I would have given anything I possessed to have
been able to do what Sheilah asked.
A little before twelve we left the house and went down the path to the
township, crossed the river at the ferry, and walked thence to the
course. Already numbers of people were making their way in the same
direction, while more were flocking in from the district on the other
side. The course itself, when we reached it, presented an animated
appearance with its booths and lines of carriages, and by the time we
entered the grand stand enclosure the horses were parading for the first
race. That once over we lunched, and then I went off to the tent set
apart for the jockeys, to dress. Pete's colours consisted of a white
jacket with black bars and a red cap, and I found one of his blackboys
waiting with them at the door.
As soon as I was ready I took my saddle and bridle and went down to the
weighing-shed in the saddling-paddock. Then, on my weight being declared
'correct,' set off in search of Pete and the horse. I found them under a
big gum-tree putting the final touches to the toilet of an animal I
scarcely recognised. Since I had last seen him a few important changes
had been made in his appearance; his mane had been hogged and his tail
pulled a good deal shorter than it was before. What was more, the
peculiar white spot on his hock had been painted out, for not a sign of
it could I discover though I looked pretty hard for it. I was about to
ask the reason of his altered appearance when the bell sounded, and the
Doctor cried,--
'All aboard. There's no time to lose. Be quick, Mr Heggarstone.'
Pete gave me a lift, and I settled myself comfortably in the saddle.
Then gathering up my reins I made my way into the straight. As I passed
the scratching board I glanced at it, and saw that three competitors
were missing; this left eight runners. One thing, however, surprised me;
the Unknown was only quoted at eight to one in the betting ring--the
favourite being a well-known Brisbane mare, Frivolity by name. The
Emperor, a big chestnut gelding, and Blush Rose, a bonny little mare,
were also much fancied. Nobody seemed to know anything at all of my
mount.
After the preliminary canter, we passed through a gate in the railings
on the opposite side of the straight, and assembled about a hundred
yards below the first fence. I was second from the outside on the left,
a big grey horse, named Lochinvar, being on my right, and Frivolity on
my left. There was a little delay in starting, caused by the vagaries of
Blush Rose, who would not come into line. Then the starter dropped his
flag, and away we went. For the first hundred yards or so it was as much
as I could do to keep my horse in hand; indeed, by the time I had got
him steadied we were in the quadruple enclosure, charging in a mass at
the first fence, a solid wall of logs placed on top of each other. Blush
Rose and a big bay named Highover, ridden by a well-known Brisbane
professional, were the first to clear it. I came third, with the Emperor
close alongside me. Where we left the ground on taking off and where we
landed on the other side I have no notion. I only know that we _did_ get
over, that the big post and rail fence came next, and that after that we
raced at the stone wall. At the latter two horses fell, and by the time
we reached the other side of the course, opposite the stand, two more
had followed suit. When we reached the quadruple again our number had
dwindled down to three--The Emperor, Blush Rose, and The Unknown. Then
as we passed through the gate in the quadruple picket fence, the rider
of The Emperor challenged me, and we went at the logs together neck and
neck. The result was disastrous; my horse took off too soon, hit it with
his chest and turned a complete somersault, throwing me against the
rails. I could not have been on the ground more than a minute, however,
before I was up again, feeling as sick as a dog, and looking for my
horse. A man had caught him and was holding him for me. Hardly knowing
how I did it, I scrambled into the saddle and set off again in pursuit
of the others. It seemed at first impossible that I could overtake them,
but I was always hard to beat, and gradually I began to draw a wee bit
closer. Little by little I decreased the distance until, at last, I was
only a few lengths behind them.
In spite of the distance he had had to make up The Unknown was still
full of running, so as fast as our horses could lay their legs to the
ground we rode at the last fence. With a blind rush the trio rose into
the air together, and came safely down on the other side. Then on we
went, amid a hurricane of cheers, past the stand, between the two lines
of carriages, and towards the judge's box. I have but an imperfect
recollection of the last hundred yards. I was only conscious that Blush
Rose was alongside me, that we were neck and neck, and that we were both
doing all we knew. Then, as we approached the box, I lifted my whip and
called upon my horse for a last effort. He responded gamely, and
half-a-dozen strides later I had landed him winner by a neck.