Boy Woodburn Part 79

"Don't 'ave nothin' to do wi' me. That's my adwice to you. I'm Old Mat.

You oughter know that by this. No, I ain't goin' to walk round the course this year. As I says, the course don't change, but I does. If the course wants me to see it, it must walk round me. I've done the proper thing be the course this sixty year. Now it's the course's turn. _Good morning, Mr. Jaggers_. Yes, I see him, and he see me--only he look the other way. Pretty little thing, ain't he? Reminds me of that foreign chap went on the religious ramp in Italy. I seen his picture at Mr.

Haggard's. Savierollher, wasn't it? They burnt him; and I don't blame 'em. He was Jaggers's father I _'ave_ 'eard. Only you mustn't 'and it on, else you might get me into trouble."

He crossed the course, looked at the water opposite the Grand Stand, and examined the first fence lugubriously.

"Time was I could ha' hop it off one foot," he said. "Something's 'appened. Must 'ave."

Then he returned to the Paddock, pa.s.sing a bookie with uplifted hand of protest.

"Get away from me, Satan," he said. "Don't tempt an old man what's never fell yet."

"I know all about that, Mr. Woodburn," grinned the bookie.

"I got my principles same as them as 'asn't," continued the old man, marching firmly on. "You go and tell that to the Three J's, Mr.

Buckland. There they are be the Grand Stand. No, when I gets back to Mar there'll be nothin' to show her only a blank bettin' book." He stopped quite suddenly and dropped his voice to a whisper: "Anything doin', Mr. Buckland?"

His little following roared.

"Favourite fours. Nothing else wanted, Mr. Woodburn," said the amused man. "It's just the day for the mare."

"Fours," said the old man. "Price shorter nor ever I remember it since Cloister's year. It's a cert. for the Three J's. What about my little ride-a-c.o.c.k-horse, Mr. Buckland?"

The bookmaker referred to his card.

"Four-Pound-the-Second," he said. "Give you forties."

"Forties!" guffawed Old Mat. "A young giraffe like him, dropped this spring in the Sarah desert under a cocoanut shy. Four _hundred_ and forties I thought you was goin' to say. 'Ark to him!" He appealed to the delighted crowd. "Offers me forties against my pantomime colt, and ain't ashamed of himself. I'd ha' left him at home in the menadgeree along o'

the two-'eaded calf and the boy with blue hair if I'd known."

"He's a powerful great horse, Mr. Woodburn," smiled the bookie.

"Hoss!" cried the outraged old man. "'Ave you seen him? He ain't a hoss at all. He's a he-goat. Only I've shave the top of him to took you all in. He's comin' on at the 'alls to-night after the race. Goin' to sit on a stool and sing _The Wop 'em Opossum_, specially composed by me and Mar for this occasion only."

He lilted on his way.

By noon the Paddock was filling, and the Carriage Enclosure becoming packed.

People began to blacken the railway embankment, to gather in knots all round the course at likely places, to line the Ca.n.a.l.

In the crowd you could hear the dialects of every county in England mingling with accents of the young countries beyond the seas.

At noon the Duke and his party crossed the Paddock.

"You won't join us, Mat?" he called. "I've got a saloon on the Embankment."

"No, sir, thank you," said the old man. "Mat's corner in the Grand Stand'll find me at home as usual come three o'clock."

The Duke paused. He was still hunting the trail.

"If you see Boy before the race, tell her we'll be glad if she cares to join us."

The trainer shook his head.

"Thank you kindly, your Grace. She always goes to the Stand by the Ca.n.a.l Turn when Chukkers is riding."

There was a chuckle from the bystanders.

"He's ridin' this time' all right, from all I hear," said the Duke grimly.

"You're right, sir," answered the old man. "Last night he was countin'

his dead in his sleep. The policeman what was over his door to see no lady kidnap him for his looks heard him and tell me."

The jockey, who was pa.s.sing at the moment, stopped.

"Say it agin," he cried fiercely.

The old trainer was face to face with one of the only two men in the world to whom he felt unkindly.

"Ain't once enough, then?" he asked tartly.

The jockey walked on his way.

"Ah, you're an old man, Mr. Woodburn," he called back. "_You_ take advantage."

"I may be old, but I am _white_," called the old man after him, his blue eye lighting.

"Oh, come, come!" cried the Duke, delighted, as he hurried after his party. "Where's Mrs. Woodburn?"

Chukkers joined the two J's, who were hobn.o.bbing with some of Ikey's Own under the Grand Stand.

Monkey Brand and Joses stood together on the outskirts of the group.

Jaggers, austere as the Mogul Emperor, approached the tout.

"You're a monkey down, Joses," he said, cold and quiet. "The Putnam horse is starting."

The other smiled.

"He's starting, sir," he said. "But he's not winning."

Jaggers blinked at him.

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean the race isn't lost yet, and mayn't be--even if the mare don't win."

He moved away, and Monkey followed him.