BACKING THE DOUBLE. BY GROSVENOR BUNSTER.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1375, 6 August 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

BACKING THE DOUBLE. BY GROSVENOR BUNSTER.

" Yes," said Jack Hathaway, as we sat after dinner, over our wine, "I've good reason to remember the Chester year. I backed the double my boy, and won a wife and £10,000 at one swoop. That set me on my legs, and Lord knows, I needed the lift. Light a cigar, and I'll tell you how I worked the Oracle."

" When you first knew me, I suppose I might have been considered as unlucky a dog as ever blundered blindfold through life. Among my own people, even as a boy, I was nicknamed 'Mischance.' I was always in a scrape, either of my own • earning or somebody else's. And as I grew up, my ill-luck seemed to be the more persistent. I was plucked at Sandhurst, and really for no-fault of my own. When I got a commission, dashed if I wasn't nearly cashiered the first six months,- because I hinted to my colonel that although he was a cad, I should be happy to accommodate him at five and twenty paces. Of course, I got into debt, -and had to sell out, and you know what a mess I made of squatting. Yes, ill-luck and nothing else dogged me from my birth up to the Chester year, when, as I have told you, I won £10,000 and a wife. To put it straight, old man, I am superstitious enough to believe that ill-fortune deserted me, when first I set eyes upon the girl who has made me the proud and happy man I am to-day." Here Jack paused to glance at the portrait of his wife which hung over the mantel. It was easy to read in his face that the husband was still the lover, and that constant association had not, in his case, "staled the infinite variety" of his ardor. And indeed there is small wonder, for his wife is one of the most charming women in Melbourne.

"Well," proceeded Jack, "I came down from that confounded back block speculation, three months before the races, worth justj ust £700. I began to realise more vividly than ever before, that I was on the verge of genteel starvation. I had no profession, no trade, no ability to earn my living in the ordinary way. I had prospects, it is true, but my grandmother, from whom they came, was a tough old dame of seventy-six, and as likely as not to outlive me. Altogether I was very glum over the outlook. I thought I'd go to Borneo, or Texas, or Oregon, and try my luck, in that vague and haphazard style in which fellows of my stamp do that kind of thing— when all these ideas were put to flight by a simple adventure, out of which grew my good fortune and happiness. You remember that gray mare I owned some time back. She's at grass now, and shall never work again, anyhow as long as I live. Well, one day I was taking it out of her on the long beach at Brighton. She was as fresh as paint, and I was in a humor for a spin. Well sir, we were having our game together, when I heard screams and shouts. I pulled up, and there, some three hundred yards from the shore, I beheld a boat keel up, and two people struggling in the water. If you believe me the mare gazed as earnestly as I did, and when I faced her to the water she answered my heel gallantly. Out we swam, and not a bit too soon. Maybe you've noticed that my wife's hair on the left side does not smooth down. Well that is because I caught her by the hair as'she was sinking. Her brother, a mere boy then, clung to the boat, and told me, plucky little chap, never to mind him. And so I laid the insensible girl across the mare's "brave shoulders, and set her to the shore. God bless her — I believe with Henry Ward Beecher, that there must be another life for these gallant creatures. I laid the girl on the beach, and returned for the boy. The mare was as ready as ever. I tell you, old man, when I had both of these youngsters safe, I threw my arms around the animal's neck, and kissed her muzzle, as I might the lips of a woman I loved. For you see, if it hadn't been for her, I should have been compelled to look on helpless, since I couldn't swim a stroke. Therefore, to all intents and purposes, the mare ought to have the credit. She has her reward anyhow, and my wife and children never miss a day without paying her a visit. Well, the lad told me where they lived. I got a waggonette, and we carried the lady home, and of course there was the fuss, and gratitude, and that sort of tiling to stand. I had to leave my address, and in the evening, the young lady's father and elder brother called at my lodgings to thank me and all that sort of thing. And of course I had to go next day, to see how the lady got on, and stayed to dinner, and listened to the sweetest voice in the world, as its owner murmured her gratitude, and to sum up, fell over head and ears in love with Miss Marion Standish. Not that the romantic episode which led to my first acquaintance with her influenced my feelings. On the contrary it rather guarded me against sentiment. But the good sense, the tact, not to speak of the looks of the lady, did my business. And so thenceforward, I was a pretty frequent visitor at " Limehouse."

And now I believe you wilTlaugh. But what I tell you is sober truth. Miss Standish possessed a blue mountain parrot, one of the most comical birds I ever came across. You've read Barham's "Jackdaw ofßheims." Well, this parrot often reminded me .of that wicked creature. To look at him, as he cocked his bright little .eye at you, it didn't need much imagination to believe that he was thejnearoation of the evil one himself. Well^ Sir, if you believe me, this blessed parrot, so soon as he made my acquaintance, was unceasing with his cry " Back the Double ; back the double." He'd picked up the phrase somehow from young Standish's friends ; for they used to hang him in the billiard room, where, likely enough, there was plenty of turf talk among the visitors.

The persistence with which this blessed bird kept repeating "back the double" had just such an effect upon me as a popular air which one hears constantly droned out in the streets from a Übrrel organ. All day long this parrot's ittiration, " back the double," filled my ears ; nay, even at night time, in my dreams, I was haunted by this monotonous cackle "back the double." It was like Poe's raven»'s eternal chant of " Never More."

You can understand that the result of this echo upon my thought was to lead it to its significance. I had never hitherto indulged much in turf speculation. But now, prompted *t>y this blessed parrot's suggestion, I took to ajjuidying the odds. I had some £700 to my Credit. Why not chance two or „|hree hundred of my capital? The idea, once created, never left me. Old man, I backed the double, and of course got swinging odds, for I got some sporting bets on, as you may guess.

53$ B

•' Gratitude is a sentiment that is not superior to common sense, at any rate with your paterfamilias. I need not tell you that with dear Marion it led to love. But Mr. Standish, I fancy, would have preferred to pay over a thousand or two, rather than to consent to his daughter's marriage with a gentel pauper like myself. He did not say as much, but he managed to hint it, and although I had the mater with me, and of course the youngster I had saved, I had two formidable objectors in Mr. Standish senior and? Mr. Standish junior. The irony of fate' old man ! It was only the other day I was enabled to save Master Frank from insolvency by backing his bills. _

Of course I told Marion of my taking the advice of her parrot. She did not laugh at me, but like all women said that there was more in these sort of things than we might think, and hinted, dear goose, that Providence might even exhibit its influence through the agency of a parrot. Upon my word, I had been wound up so much by the bird's stwnal "Back the double," that I was more than half inclined to believe in the darling's idea. Anyhow I got some more money on the double, feeling very much as though that blessed parrot were on my shoulder, and urging me on to my destruction.

"We made a merry party to the races — the whole four days ; and when I tell you that I picked up as much as I stood to lose on the Maribyrnong and minor flutters, you may believe me that I enjoyed myself thoroughly. And when Chester waltzed in for the Derby, and I saw what chance he had for the cup, there and then I told Marion that life would be insupportable without her, and that so soon as I scored the double with the Cup, I meant to ask the old man for her hand.

The evening before Cup day I spent at Limehouse. Will you believe it, that blessed parrot kicked the bucket, his last words being "Back the double." Whatever had happened to the bird I know not ; but I was witness to hia demise, and rather think that it arose from an overgorge of seed cake. Anyhow his expiring utterance was " Back the double." I protest to you that I felt cheered and encouraged ; although Marion shook her shapely head, and said it "was a bad sign for a prophet to die before the time came around for the realisation of his foretelling.

If ever man's nerves were subjected to a strain, old man, mine were upon the following day. You see, I felt that all in all to me hinged upon the event. My heart swelled, as I noted how Chester's price had risen, and how the keen visages of the Ishmaelites were no longer their usual expression of insolent and vulgar triumph. And in Marion's pale and anxious face I read that she too, shared my eager hopes. For well she knew, the darling, that upon the decision of the Cup race rested our mutual hopes.

You remembeJ the Race. Heavens ! to think that upon a horse should lie a man's and woman's happiness. Yet so it; was. A horse introduced me to my wife ; a horse won my wife to my arms, As the cries thickened the air " Chester, Chester, Chester wins ;" as, with fast closed eyes, I listened to the rush up the straight ; as I realised with that quick thought which upon momentous occasions come to us, that now or never, I was a made man, my senses reeled, and I should have fallen had it not been for Marion, who, with a bolder courage than my own had watched the event, and first wdispered " you have won the double.

I don't think that I am particularly weak minded, but I tell you Sir, that my success slightly interfered with my reason. I am sure I drank more champagne than was good for me. Stay — perhaps it was good for me ; for under its influence I ventured to speak to old Standish concerning my passion for his daughter, and told him there and then what I had won "on the double." With some affectation of reluctance he consented to my assuming the position of a suitor for his daughter's hand, and so far a point was gained. And when, as five months following news came to me that grandmother Hathaway had died, and I came into my snug £30,000 things were fixed properly.

You see that stuffed parrot in the case yonder. You smile ; for you guess that blessed parrot was* the inspiration which led me to back Chester for the double. And now old man, if you please, we'll adjourn to' the ladies and coffee.

The Covering of tie Gorilla.— The hairj coat of the gorilla consists of long, thick, straight or stiffly curved bristles, and also of shorter, thinner and curled woolly hair. On the crown of the head the hair is somewhat stifi, from twelve to twenty millimetres in length, and it becomes erect under the influence of anger. "While the sides and. fore part of the chin are only clothed with short, stiff hairs, they grow thickly on the back part of the chin like a beard or forelock. The hairs which turn outward from the sides of the face and on the neck are thirty or more millimetres in length. On the shoulders" the hair is from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty millimetres long, hanging down on the upper arms and the back. In the middle of the upper arm the hair is from fifty to seventy millimetres long, growing downward as far as the bend of the elbow. At this point it generally begins to grow in an upward direction. On the back of the forearm it again grows downward. In the middle of the forearm, on its inner side, a parting of the hair takes place, as one portion goes in the front of the radius, while the other portion turns behind the ulna. On the back of the wrist a tuft of curved hair tarns upward; a middle tuft goes directly back, and the lower tuft, also curved, tarns outward. On the back of the hand the hairs turn toward the finger. On the breast and belly the hairs are Bhoriter and grow more sparsely. On thebreasf their direction is, as a rule, upward and outward. On the belly they converge from the ribs toward the centre of the navel. On the thighs the hairs are about one hundred and sixty millimetres long, and here, as on the lower part of the leg they tend outward, while on the back of the foot they grow toward the toes. On the back shoulders and on the thigh and leg the bristles are slightly curved. This quality increases the general impression of shagginess and fleeciness which is produced by the hairy coat of these creatures. The woolly hair does not grow very thick and is not much matted.

Photographing a Shot. — It is some tims since we gave particulars as to the method adopted by Dr. Mach, of Prague, forseenring a photograph of a projectile in the course of its flight, and it seems that Salcher and Eeigler have obtained similar photographs, many , of which show, in a remarkable manner the head of condensed air which precedes the shot. Ttis this head of condensed air which makes it almost impossible, even for-the most skilful Irifleman, to hit an eggshell suspended by a longish thread; and doubtless it is this ° head " of condensed air which first wounds when an. animal is hit by a rifle shot.