LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4751, 23 July 1883, Page 4

LITERATURE.

— ♦ «HB MAKESHIFT COLT — A TALK OF TB-E DEBBY. (London Society.) (Concluded.) I found, on inquiry, that I had, curiously «nough t drawn " the field " in a big sweep•takes at the Brush aad Palette. As tho Makeshift Colt was a num* unknown to the lints, it hod not been put among those drawn, And consequently it bolonged to me as owner of the field tickat. " That's yours, thin, onjw»j," laid Jimmy, referring to tho sweep. I accepted this dmwing, for my own pait, as sn omen of succosb. I was thoroughly with Jimmy now. I had little enough money, but I quickly fold or pawned every available article that I owned, even going so far as to raisw money upon tho t\?w bits of furniture and ■tndio effeots tha< I I><v3. I r.i .de up a purje of about forty *• .vnroigns, whi .;h really represented every Stic* ..t rag in my possession, except what I etoud upright iv. Then my Irish monitor *nd myself proceeded to ■visit certain bookmakers. A remark that the first of them made to us was substantially repeated by the rest. " Never heard of your fanoy till this morning. Gave a hundred against him to one or tiro parties that oamo to got on him. Had to look up tha Guide to see if there was Buoh a horse at all. Bat can't givo quite the long price agaiu. Hake it eighties to one for you." I pat on thirty pounds at these odds, and I also II plaoel " the colt at fifteen to one, putting on seven pounds in that way. Jimmy was enraptured ; for if the oolt carried off the event I should win £2500 — a mint of money in our eyei. Ha had himself put on all ho could raise— how much exactly I do not know. " It's a foine toime we'll be having presently," ho said ; " won't the boys open their eyes whtm you an 1 me shows our pile ? An' see whs-t a bnao of operations we'll have. Be the mothsr n? Moses we'll be millionaires yit! Good lu?i 'o the ooult!" I confess I t d my misgivings, although the gambling »• ■ •>• Jmd come oeer me and impelled me to ri :ny little all upon this horse. ffo me it was a ?;rand coup iiadsod. It meant to muoh, you Bee ; for either 1 should come •at an aotual capitalist, possessor ef a sum that to me seemed almost boundless wealth— •' a base of operations," as Jimmy called it — or I should be completely and utterly broken. Xou may imagine the state of mind I was in —at one moment seeing a simply golden prospect before me, anon seized with the dinmallest doubts and fears. And the following day my exoiteinent grew hotter yet ; for in the papers the Makeshift Oolt was now, for the first time, quoted in the betting, and apparently he had come into favour, as the prise against him had fallen to forties to one. Still more reassuring was the fact that two ■porting papers gave the Makeshift Colt as one of their three probable winners. The ■eoret was a secret no longer. I now got into a wild delirious eostaey of .expectation. You can well imagina how I felt. I went so far as to telegraph to that relative of mine, alleging ilvat I was in want and had sore need of his help. I also borrowed some fire pounds here and there, end " cracked it on " with the Test. My relntivo evidently enislt a rat, however. He was a maa of the world, as the phrase goeß, and had a low opinion of me, whioh I am now open to confess was not ■wholly unwarranted. He wired in reply : — " Believe you want to bot on Derby. Wi'l lend ten pounds, but not until Saturday morning, when expect it." However, on showing his telegram to tho landlord of the Brush and Palotte, that worthy publican readily advanced me the ten pounds. I thus "Bold" my kind relative, you will observe, through the instrumentality of the general guide, philosopher, and friend of good Bohemians. At lost came tho eventful inomiDg, and Jimmy and I found ourgolvoß in a brake with some dozen olhevj, driving from our " pub " down to Epsom. I nesd not say that I had put on the balk of my ten pounds, getting forty to one, and eight to one for a " shop." A long prioe still ; but the colfc had not come into general favour muoh, and, indeed, actually started at little below those oddi. Ah ! I don't think I shall ever forget that day. So, sir! The fearful agitation I was in has impressed every detail of it indelibly on my memory. Consider. I stood to win three (housar.rf pounds, whioh meant to me a wife, a homr, ►übstance, comfort, respectability, a business. On the other hand, a black abjsa of woe esonied to open to my imagination. We stood on tho hill oppo site the grand stand, and watched the preparations for theraoe. Jimmy the boisterous had suddenly quietened down into a grim, whifco-faced, eager-eyed, silent spectator. I Was so agitated that I had to lie on the turf ; my head Bvram round, my heart palpitated forcibly, I shook all over as if I had a palsy.

Among the mass of horses marshalling into rank for tho start we had e>-69 but one. Among the many hues of their jockeys' silk? we sought out the colours that signified our particular choice. Purple and blaak — there they were; and we gazed at them feverishly, for the noble animal that bora them carried also all our hopsa and feara. They are off ! The race baa bogua, and the decision of my fate is at hand. I gee the brilliant bod of colours stream past and away, I hear tho intense murmur of the crowd, and I Bband, as a gambler stands, awaiting tho cast of tho die. Oh my God! haw it all comes back to mo, though ten eventful years have passed since that day! Surely euch a terrible agitation of mind as shook me then is macinnoa — madness, neither more aor less. The field comeß ■weeping round " the Oornor," tailed off into extended line; and down the hill towards home come the horses, in one last tremendous effort- A jockey, whose colours are scarlet and yellow, bright and vivid, leads the way, working with bit and spur and whip, and seeming to carry his steed on beneath him. Two others are close behind ; but their colours are strange to my straining eyes. Great Heavens ! Whsra's the Makeshift Colt? Where is the racer to whom I have pinned my faith ? As the foremost horses come in sight I hear the tremendous frenzied roar that bursts up from the mighty concourse of spectators. For a moment my heart seems to stop beating ; it is death to me to hear that shout : " Oremorne ! Oremorne ! Oremorne wins !" But no ! Out from the ruok of horses behind, just as they co.se down from Tattenham Corner, ono draws to the front — a dark hone, brown or bleck, ridden by a pokey in colours that are a heaven of hope to my sight. Oh ! on, Black and Purple ! On, 2/fakeshift colt ! The dark horse forges ahead, passes the two behind the foremost, lies on the flank of red and yellow; even in all my terrible excitement I notice a dropping in tho roars of tho mighty crowd, a sort of falter or perplexity — for few know what horse Black and Purple rides. I hear a man near me hoarsely exclaim «• What the horae is that ?" I know and I leap up in a mad thrill of delight. As the striving racers flash before us, I see two far in front of all the rest. Bed and Yellow is doing all he knows, but, oh his flank, drawing up to him oloser and closer, nearer and nearer, forging ahead till they ride neck and neck, oomeß my noble Black and Purple ; he is coming up ! he is passing Bed and Yellow ! he is gaining a foot in every yard ! Ho wins !he wins ! Black and Purple for ever !

Tht raw is over. The fierce turmoil of shouting thousand's boils up around us ; the two hones have pasted the post ao olobb together that no one knows whioh has won ; we wait some moments in agonised suspense, tQI the numbers go up upon the board. At last they appear— l, Oremorne ;2, Makeshift Colt ; 8, 1 know not what, for I sink almost fainting on the ground. Half a neck haa dona it. Had our horse put on the spurt; a moment sooner he would hare won ; had the course been ten yards longer the deoiiion would hare been reversed. Oh, if — if— if— and I have lost ! O'Hooligan is beside me ; he stands with hia hands thrust down deep into his pockets, his face is pale, and his lips Mb together; he gazes vacantly into the distance. " Shot in the baok again !" he murmurs ho&Tsely, with an oath. " Cotno on, me bhoy. Bouse yerself ! Gome an' let's liquor, any way." I crawl dejectedly after him to the tent, for my mouth is as dry as a limeburnor's wig. Well, that event waß the turning -point in my life. That bad luok haa been the making of me. I will tell you how in as few words as possible. £ awoke the next morning in the most utterly depressed and dispirited condition. I had a raoking headache, of course, for, equally of course, I had gob most consumedly drunk after the race ; porhapß that waa natural under the circumstances. Mind and body were in torture. I felt gloomy enough to do something dreadful ; I was utterly ruined ; I had no prospects ; everything i hud possessed was mine no longer; I > I not oven the meaoi lef t to earn my subsistence with. In a day or two more my very bed would bo levied, *nd I should bo turned into the

slrcet. My mind wa» ft little confused, you 8eo ; I bad totally forgotten one thing, and it was lucky I had, perhaps. Not until late in the day did I roineuiber that I had backed the Makeahiffc Colfc for a place So overwhelming was my misery at losing the £3000 I had reckoned on, ond losing it by suoh a narrow squeak, that I had claan forgotten the saving bet. I had turned into the Brush and Falette moodily to seek what golaoe I might find there. Suddenly some sovereigns were thrust into my hand, and I was told the money waa the second prize in the sweepstakes, wheroin I hud drawn "tho field," as you may remember. Ah, it was a fino revulsion o£ feeling I then experionoad ! I oheered up wondorf ully when I recallacted how I really etood. Things were by no meauo bo black as I had thonght ; as a matter of fact, I had actually won over a hundred pounds. That drove me baok from the drink jußt in time. More, it lsd me to refleot. I conceived a disgust at gambling and botting from that time, and I resolved never to take to the Banao courses again. I believe it was t,he luckiest thing in the world that the horse I backed was beaten by Cremorne. If it had won, Bnd I had landod that; big prize, I should huve been a confirmed gambler all my days. Of that lam oortain. I Bhould have come to eventual smash, when there was no possibility of recovering from it. And, likely as not, I should have draggod 017 poor Luoy into the mire wilh ma. That very day after the Derby, bb I wa9 reading tho aocounts in the paper of how the great race had so noarly bean carried off by the rankest of rank outoidew, my eyes lit upon an advertisement. It was a call for emigrants to go out to New Zealand. That decided me. I had £160 in hand, and with it resolved to emigrate. I re- i Bolvad to throw gentility to the winds, to quit the dangerous Bohemia of London, to givo up my foolish dr«an-.s of an artistio profession, and to try wbat mauful indmtry might do for mo at the Antipodes. I resolved to conquer my own failings, to ooncentrate my onergics, and to seek fortune in a new land.

Within a month I had bidden a hopeful farewell to Lucy, had been the raoipiont of a farewell supper at the Brush and Falette, and was an "assisted emigrant" in tho steerage of the good ship Baugitiki, bound for Auokland. Of course I hod hardiih times at first. Who hasn't? Chopping firewood, mending and making roads, carrying n hod, driving cattle— these were some of my. occupations ; and little enough could I earn at them. But by-and-by my old profession stood me in good service. Ono day I accidentally overheard an hotel-keeper stating his wish to have a signboard on his house. He lamented his inability to find a man who could paint it properly, and said he would willingly stand fivo pounds for what he wanted. I offered to do the job, if materials were found me, and, after some demur, I was allowed to try my hand Bpeonlativoly. Before I had finished the sign the satisfied " boss " commissioned me to decorate hit saloon. Orders oame in upon me thiok and fast for similar work, and I soon found myaelf earning six or eight pounds every week. Well, to make s long story short, within a few months I wsb foreman of a house-fitting firm in the city, and, before a year was gone, I waa a partner in tho concern and doing a thriving business. In three years from the time of my leaving England I was able to send money home to Lucy. Tho dear girl come out at once, and is now my wife. 1 have prospered amazingly. At home I could never have been more than a picturedealer's hock. Here I hold no inconsiderable position in the city, my business as a houeedecorator having gone ahead, and absorbed into it various kindred branches of trade. Ferhapa I cannot oall mjself a gentleman any longer. On the other hand, lam not a broken down Bohemian. Look at my family, sir, at my prosperity ! Look at this shop of mine in Queen t tree>t, and »ay, have I not cause to be thankful that the Makeshift Colt did rot win tho Derby ? That's my story.