Part 55 (1/2)

'I'll see what I think of hi a horse rammed down his throat like that

'If you don't like him you don't like me,' says Maddie 'So mind that, Joe Moreton'

Just as she spoke there was a stir in the crowd, and old Jacob ca a horse with a sheet on, just as easy-going as if he'd a day to spare One of the stewards rode up to hi so late

The old chap pulls out his watch 'You'll stick to your advertised tih, time to pull off this here sheet and my overcoat, time to overnor'

Most of the riding mob was doith the racehorses, a distance or so fro over twoyard and stand was pretty well empty, which was just what old Jacob expected

The old ular, declaring a pound overweight for fear of accidents He gets down as quiet and easy as possible to the starting point, and just in tioes the starter's flag, and 'Off' was the word Starlight and the Dawsons were down there waiting for hiainst Darkie I lay Darkie' 'Done,' says Starlight; 'will you do it in tens?' 'All right,' says the 'book' 'I'll take you,' says both the Dawsons, and he entered their naht before at the hotel; and as no one knew anything about Darkie, and he had top weight, he hadn't many backers

Chapter 43

Mr Dawson drove pretty near the stand then, and they all stood up in the drag I went back to Aileen and Gracey Storefield We were close by the winning post when they cao another time round

The Sydney horses were first and second, the diggers' favourite third; but old Rainbow, lying well up, was co They passed close by us What a sight it is to see a dozen blood horses in top condition co! How their hoofs thunder on the level turf! How the jockeys' silk jackets rustle in the wind they make! How h the air! No wonder us young fellows, and the girls too, feel it's worth a year of their lives to go to a good race Yes, and will to the world's end 'O you darling Rainbow!' I heard Aileen say 'Are you going to win this race and triuht it will be! I didn't think I could have cared for a race so much'

It didn't seeain, and the struggle was on, in good downright earnest One of the Sydney horses began to shake his tail The other still kept the lead Then the Turon favourite--a real gaan to show up

'Hotspur, Hotspur! No Bronzewing has it--Bronzewing It's Bronzewing's race Turon for ever!' the crowd kept yelling

'Oh! look at Rainbow!' says Aileen And just then, at the turn, old Jacob sat down on hi, passed him, and collared Hotspur 'Darkie! Darkie!' shouts everybody 'No!

Hotspur--Darkie's co--Darkie--Darkie! I tell yer Darkie' And as old Jacob made one last effort, and landed him a winner by a clear head, there was a roar went up froht have been heard at Nulla Mountain

Starlight ju yard The steward says 'Dis down before he heard that He takes his saddle in his lap and gets into the scales 'Weight,' says the clerk Then the old fellow e's box 'I declare Mr Benton's horse Darkie to be the winner of the Turon Grand Handicap, Bronzewing second horse, Hotspur third,' says he

Well, there was great cheering and hollering, though none knew exactly whose horse he was or anything about him; but an Australian croays likes to see the best horse win--and they like fair play--so Darkie was cheered over and over again, and old Jacob too

Aileen stroked and petted him and patted his neck and rubbed his nose, and you'd raly thought the old horse knew her, he seeentle-like

Then the Coistrate's wife, and some other ladies wanted to see the horse that had won the race So he was taken over there and adot quite crusty

'It's an odd thing, Dawson,' says the Commissioner, 'nobody here knows this horse, where he was bred, or anything about hier could have seen hie he'll be to have missed all the fun!'

'He's a horse you don't see every day,' says Bill Dawson 'I'll give a couple of hundred for hiht off'

'Not for sale at present,' says old Jacob, looking like a cast-iron iht,' says Mr Dawson 'What a shoulder, what legs, what loins he has! Ah! well, he'll be weighted out now, and you will be glad to sell him soon'

'Our heads won't ache then,' says Jacob, as he turns round and rides away

'Very neat aniht 'Worth three hundred in the shi+res for a hunter; if he can jump, perhaps more; but depends on his -field, Dawson, you know'