THE FORTUNA FILLY.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 801, 13 July 1905, Page 11

THE FORTUNA FILLY.

HOWEL SCRATTON.)

(By

SYNOPSIS. Ihe story opens in the old fashioned Bennett’s Hotel in London, at which comfortable hostlery ■ there arrives Sir .Robert Ashingdon and his daughter Delia. Sir Robert is the owner or delvellyn, one of the favourites for the Jubilee Stakes to be run at Kempton . Park. £he sporting baronet gives a small dinner party at which tnere is present Dashwood Pynes, the favoured admirer of Delia, aud one Hamilton Rolfe, a . gentleman wno lives on his wits. During the evening John Straight, the trainer of Helvellyn, arrives and in course of conversation strongly reeeommends Sir Robert to purchase the Fortuna filly, after which the party breaks up. CHAPTER 11. THE GRASSHOPPER. Rolfe hailed a hansom which was idling down Dover-street, and jumping in, shouted to the driver. “ Ninety-three, St. James' Place, quick!” he cried. “Quick it is, sir,” replied the man, and in a few seconds he pulled up at the • door of Rolfe’s chambers. Rolfe rang violently at the bell, and at the same time opened the door with his latch key. The man-servant, alarmed at the fierce ringing, met him in the hall. “ I say, Warriner,” cried Rolfe, “ you know Lord Vange’s chauffeur, don’t you ?” Warriner said, “Yes, sir; I know him well.” “Very well, then, find him; tell him there is a tenner for himself if he will drive me to Sunbury in his lordship’s motor. It is most important—life or death—look alive.” Warriner seized a hat from the rack, and went in quest of his friend, whom he found without difficulty at a small club in the neighbourhood, where chauffeurs and other persons interested in the motor world are wont to meet in a room over a public-house, to discuss their adventures and prospects. Upon Mr. Rolfe’s project being made known to him, Wilson, the chauffeur, at first declined point blank to lend the car; but upon being told that it was a matter of life and

death, and that a tenner might be -earned, he at length consented, and in a short time was standing with his vehicle in St. James-street. Meanwhile Hamilton Rolfe had exchanged his dress coat and waistcoat for a loud check shooting jacket, and his white tie for a red one. He had donned a big fur coat over all, and had gummed on a pair of large black whiskers and turned down his moustaches. He wore a flat motor cap, and his eyes were adorned with goggles. “ This is the gentleman who wants you to drive him,” said Warriner to the chauffeur. Wilson raised his hand in salutation, and Rolfe took his seat beside him.

“ I want you to drive me to Sunbury as quick as you can, and there will be a tenner for yourself for your trouble,” said Rolfe.

“We shan’t be long over that job,” said Wilson. “ The streets are all clear, and I can get you there in five and twenty minutes.”

“It is half-past ten now,” replied Rolfe; “if you do the journey in half an hour it will do.”

The engine whirled, and the car darted through the gates of St. James’ Park, -down the Mall, up Constitution Hill, past Knightsbridge and the Albert Hall to Hammersmith, over the bridge and by Ranelagh gates and so to Richmond, travelling at a good thirty-five miles an hour, while the big acetylene lamps sent a glare like that of a searchlight down the road. Conversation was impossible, even if Rolfe had been in the humour to talk, but his own thoughts were too engrossing.

“ What a lucky chance!” he thought. Old John Straight would not recommend Sir Robert to buy the filly unless she were really something out of the common; for, as a rule, the baronet breeds his own, and as old John says, a trainer does not want to be bothering about breaking in a three-year-old in the middle of the racing season. No—depend upon it. this is a find ! Let me see,” he continued, “ the old man does not start until eleven forty-five, and the train is a" slow one, not getting in until twelve forty—that means at least twelve fifty before he can get to the place where Crowdon is staying! But the worst of it is, I don’t know at which public-house Crowdon is staying. I shall have to try them all—thank goodness T shall have nearly two hours to do it in.” The car rattled over Richmond Bridge and through to Hampton, and so on to Sunbury. “ Stop at the first pub or hotel where they have stabling,” shouted Rolfe. In a minute more they pulled up outside an old-fashioned country inn. The

doors were closed, but there were a few men outside yet. “ Is Mr. Crowdon staying here?” asked Rolfe. “ No, I never ’eard tell of ’im,” replied a yokel. “Go on, chauffeur,” said Rolfe, anxious not to waste time. They came to another house, near the gates of Kempton Park, and found several stable boys hanging about outside, some of them being plied with drink from flat bottles, which shady-looking men produced from their inner pockets. Rolfe shouted the same question. “No,” was the reply again; but one of the shady-looking gentlemen asked whether Rolfe meant the farmer who had come there with a bay three-year-old filly. “Yes, yes, that’s the man!” cried Rolfe “ Where does he put up?” “ I always charge half-a-crown for my information,” replied the man, slipping his flask back into his pocket. “ Here you are, then, fire away,” exclaimed Rolfe, drawing half-a-crown from his pocket amongst a handful of other coin. “ Was you very particular to see him to-night?” asked the tout exasperatingly.

“ Yes, I must see him at once. Out with the address; you’ve got your money.” “ Information is deafer after dark,” said the man. “Damn it all then, I’ll find him without you !” cried Rolfe, in a rage. “ Steady, sir, steady. I only want another half-dollar, and then I will tell you all I know.” “Catch!” cried Rolfe, throwing the required coin at the man. “ He is staying at the Grasshopper at Feltham Hill, about a mile from here, over the railway bridge and straight on,” shouted the man, and the words were scarcely out of his mouth before the car had started again. It was now eleven thirty-five, and as the motor crossed the railway bridge a train was drawing up in the station. “Ha, ha!” laughed Rolfe to himself, “ if Old John Straight had come by that train instead of visiting his pal, I might not have been in time; but as it is I have a full hour’s start, so that if there is any business to be done, I have plenty of time to do it.”

In a minute or two more they came to the sign of the Grasshopper, and found all the lights out except one, which flickered in a latticed window over the stables. Rolfe went beneath this window and threw a few pebbles at it. “Who’s there?” came a voice, and a red whiskered man’s head appeared at the window. “ I want to see Mr. Crowdon. Do you know whether he is staying here?” said Rolfe. “I am Mr. Crowdon. What do you want, and who are you?” was the man’s reply. “ I come from Mr. Phillips—he wants to make you an offer for the filly you have here ” shouted Rolfe. “ Stop a minute,” cried the man; “ I’ll come down.” In a minute or two steps were heard inside the stable and a light was seen through the window—then the door opened and the red whiskered Mr. Crowden appeared clothed in a shirt and trousers. Now it is perhaps needless to say that there was, so far as this transaction was concerned, no such person as Mr. Phillips. and Mr. Hamilton Rolfe was acting entirely for Mr. Hamilton Rolfe. “ What do you want at this time of night?” inquired Mr. Crowden. Then, seeing the motor car and the big fur coat, both of which suggested to him that his visitor was a person of some consideration. “Can I do anything to serve you, sir?” “ A friend of mine—Mr. Phillips—heard that von had a three-year-old filly for sale, and, as he is~going out of London to-morrow, he asked me to see her for him and buy her if I liked her and the price suited. I have been delayed by a breakdown of my motor car, and have only just got here, although I started some hours ago; but I should like to be able to tell him that I have seen the filly.” “ It’s a fnnnv time of night to look at a horse; and mind you, sir, this filly is not going for nothing; I want a pretty stiff nrice for her.” “ Well, my dear man, let me see her,” said Rolfe, looking at his watch, which showed the time as eleven forty-five, “ and I’ll soon tell you what I can give you for her.” “ Come in here, sir.” said Mr. Crowden : “ the filly is in a box in this stable.” Rolfe entered, and by the light of a stable lantern he was shown a big racing fillv. dark bay with one white hind heel, a lean varmint head, if I may use a doggy simile to a horse, as others have done before me, beautiful shoulders, big hips, with great length from hip to hock,

and great flat clean legs with nice round hoofs. Of course she was not in any kind of condition, but Hamilton Rolfe saw at a glance that he had to do with something out of the common, and he would have bought the filly “on his own ’ if he had seen her, even without the strong recommendation of John straight.

“Niceish filly,” said Rolfe; “but it will take a long time for Mr. Phillips to get her fit, if he buys her. How much do you want for her?” “ Mell, sir,” said Crowden, “ I know very little about these things, but I know my poor brother, who bred her, said she was the finest filly in England. What should you say to four hundred pounds?” “• Four hundred fiddlesticks!” replied Rolfe; “come, I will give you a hundred !”

No thank you, sir; I had Mr. Straight here to-day to look at her, and he almost promised to buy her for two hundred, but I did not say I would keep her for him ; and I would not take that price from anyone else, so you can have her for four hundred or leave her.” Rolfe pretended to be going away, and walked towards the motor muttering “Nonsense!” It is no nonsense, sir, I do assure you; and I don’t doubt I shall have two hundred at least from Mr. Straight in the morning, and so good-night!” and Mr. Crowden made as if to shut the door. ‘Stop a moment!” cried Rolfe. lheie was a sound of wheels coming along the road, and Rolfe had a strange feeling that he had better transact his business quickly. Mr. Crowden appeared once more at the stable door. “ What is the lowest you’ll take, to sell at once?” asked Rolfe, almost breathlessly, although he concealed his excitement from Crowden. “Three hundred pounds!” exclaimed Crowden, with an air of decision. The wheels were drawing nearer. “ Done with you !” exclaimed Rolfe,

and he drew a note ease from his pocket, and handed three one hundred pound notes to Mr. Crowden. “ The filly is mine,” he said. “Aes. sir, the filly is yours, sure enough; but I should like to know the name of the buyer, and where he lives.” “ It is for Mr. Phillips, of Croydon,” replied Rolfe; “everybody knows him!” “ Oh, I don’t doubt it,” replied Crowden ; “but if this filly is going to be trained, I should like to know where to look for her in the reports.” The sound of wheels grew nearer, and Rolfe said, “ Come now, I can’t wait any longer to-night, so let me have the filly— I will take her away now.” Crowden put a rope through the headstall that the filly was wearing, and handed it to Rolfe. “Here you are, sir; you can do what you like with her now, for she is yours.” Rolfe started to lead her out of the stable, but at that moment a fly stopped at the Grasshopper, and Mr. John Straight came round into the stable. “ What are you up to here, Mr. Crowden ?” he asked. “Oh, good-night, sir!” exclaimed Mr. Crowden. “ Here’s a gentleman from London who has come to see the Fortuna filly, and has bought her for fifty per cent, more than what you offered me. He gave me three hundred pounds for her!” “Stop a minute!” exclaimed Mr. Straight. “ Did you not say you would leave it over till Saturday?” “ Well, sir, now if I did, Laleham clock chimed midnight about five minutes ago, so that it is Saturday now anyhow, and I have got the money and parted with the filly.” John Straight concealed his anger and disappointment, and turning to Rolfe, who was keeping as much as he could out of the light of the lantern, quietly remarked : “ You’ve got a nice filly there, sir.” “Yeh,” lisped Rolfe, in a voice so different to his own, or, in fact, to any other human voice, that John at once knew it to be assumed, and he cast a piercing glance at the whiskered visage of the purchaser. Rolfe still wore his motor cap and big fur coat, but he had removed the goggles when he went into the box to look at the fillv, so that his keen black eyes betrayed him. and John Straight knew in a moment who it was who had stolen a march < upon him. < However, John was not the man to show bv word or gesture that he had ; seen through Rolfe’s disguise, so he turned to Crowden and said : < “It was a pity I did not get here first. 1 as I should have liked the filly: but I hone this gentleman will do well with i her.” Rolfe did not speak, but Crowden an- i swered. r “Oh. Mr. Straight, the gentleman has not bought her for himself, but for Mr. r Phillips, of Croydon, and I want him to tell me what stable she is going into.” ‘

“ Well, I will leave you to ask him al that,” said Mr. Straight shortly. “ ; am going home to bed; good-night, Mr Crowden.” “ Good-night, sir!” said Crowden, anc John Straight got into his fly and was driven to the friend’s house where he was staying. His feelings did not betray themselves, for John Straight, through long habit, had perfect control over hit features, but inwardly a furious fire was consuming him. He had felt, after leaving Bennett’s Hotel, that the bargain over the filly ought to be concluded the same evening, and instead of visiting his friend in London, as he had at first intended, he had gone direct to Waterloo and caught the 10.35 train, so as to settle the matter at once, but Hamilton Rolfe had over-reached him. “The mean cur!” he thought,.“ to think of his dining at Sir Robert’s table and taking advantage of him like that! I’ll be even with him, though, if I have to wait years for my chance.” So soliloquising, Mr. Straight reached his quarters, and was glad to hide his rage beneath the bedclothes. When Hamilton Rolfe saw that there was no danger of any repudiation of the sale, and that Crowden had taken the money, and acknowledged that the filly was sold, he thought it unnecessary to take her away that night, so he put her back in her box, and told Crowden that Mr. Phillips would send for her in the morning. CHAPTER 111. THE STADIUM CLUB. The automobile stood snorting and throbbing outisde the Grasshopper as Hamilton Rolfe turned away, and having given his instructions to Mr. Crowden, and Wilson sat in his seat at the wheel, ready to start as soon as the former should give the word. Rolfe lighted a big cigar and buttoned up his fur coat very deliberately, with an air- of great self-satisfaction, and once more hid his sinister eyes behind his goggles. . . “ That is settled all right, chauffeur,” he said; “and now you can drive me back to town again,” He then resumed his seat in the car, and after another exhilarating whirl through the crisp country air, they dashed along Piccadilly-street at breakneck speed and pulled up in St. Jamesstreet, safe and sound. Rolfe handed the promised tenner to Wilson, and with a curt “ Good-night,” turned round the corner and was back at his chambers in St. James’ Place in a couple of minutes; and, having changed back from his shooting coat to evening dress, he strolled into the Stadium Club at one o’clock as if he had not left London that evening. He found a knot of men in the billiard room discussing the prospects of the horses in the Jubilee, and seated upon the settee was young Bertie Fraser offering to open a book on the race. Bertie was not too sober, but nobody cared about that, for he was a popular youth with the tastes of a millionaire, and an allowances of five hundred a year to indulge them with. I want to bet on the Jubilee!—on the Jubilee I’ll bet!” said he, imitating the voice and manner of a ready-money bookie.

“What price Bluewater!” asked Hamilton Rolfe, naming an outsider which he had no intention of backing. “Bother Bluewater!” cried the amateur bookmaker. “ I want to lay the favourites; do you want to back one of the favourites ? Here, give me the special, someone ! I’ll call over the prices. Here y’are—Sixes Royal Crown. Eightses Hel—Hel—Helvellyn ! tenses Flan’gin’s Pride! Who’ll back one?” “ Will you lay me ten hundred to one against Helvellyn?” asked Rolfe. “ No! you blanky blighter, I said eightses that one!” “No bet!” said Rolfe, turning away in the expectation that his refusal of the bet would lead to the offer of a higher price. “Tell yon what I’ll do,” asid Fraser, hiccoughing. “ I’ll lay you eight hundred to one that horse, if you want to bet!” “ Eight hundred and fifty, if you like,” replied Rolfe calmly. Bertie Fraser slapped his book. “ Come on, then, my noble punter, eight hundred and fifty to one hundred it is!” Rolfe produced a small betting book and noted down the bet. “Want any more ?” asked Fraser, elated at his proud position as the club bookmaker. “Yes; if you like, I’ll take it again,” replied Rolfe. “ Four times! six times, ten times, if you like!” shouted Fraser, in a state of great excitement. “Ten times,” replied Rolfe, without moving a muscle. “Ten times it is!” vociferated Fraser. “ I bet you eight thousand five hundred

to a thousand against Helvellyn! You remember that- all you boys!” Rolfe put the bet down, amidst great excitement in the room, for bets of such magnitude were not often made in that club; and besides, it was well known that Fraser’s slender income did not justify him in laying them. “Have a drink now!” shouted Fraser. “ Here, marker, ring the bell.” The marker obeyed, and the waiter came in and received orders for drinks. , “ Anyone want to back anything else? asked Fraser, and there being no response, he closed his book and put it in his pocket. . _ _ “ I’ve got a blessed nice one-horse book,” he said; “ ancTnow I hope old blooming Helvellyn will break his ugly old neck !” . . Rolfe left shortly after this, feeling very well pleased with his night s work, he had bought a filly which old John Straight valued at a thousand for three, hundred pounds, and moreover, he had out-manoeuvred that astute trainer in the matter; aAid he had taken a bet of eight thousand five hundred to one thousand about Helvellyn, and hoped to be able to hedge to six to one on the racecourse, for he knew that when one of Sir Robert’s horses was brought fit and well to the post, the public would always support him. n , So that it was with a feeling of general satisfaction with the world that Hamilton Rolfe went back to his chambers. When he had left the club a few of the men remained with young Fraser in the billiard room, and they began to take that young man to task for betting so heavily. , , “ What do you want to go and make a one-horse book for?” asked Charley Blake - “you don’t know anything to go for, and Helvellyn may be at five or six to one to-morrow, and then you will have a job to get out.” . • i “T wish I hadn’t laid him, now, said Bertie; “but that chap Rolfe gives me the needle.” , , . “Well, if T were yon T would send him a note first thing and offer him fifty to be off your bets; say you don t know enough bookies to be able to get your hedging done.” i o>> “Would that be all right to dor asked Fraser. “Yes, if you write your note now, before vou hear anything more either way about the betting; and I will take the note round. I expect I shall catch Rolfe before he goes to bed,” answered Blake “ Rmht oh!” cried Fraser, Til write him the note.” So saying he went to a small writing table, and assisted by Blake, wrote a note to Rolfe explaining that he had acted precipitately in offering the bets, and suggested paying £SO or £IOO to be off, adding that he was not in a position to pay if he lost such a large sum as he had wagered. . , . “ There,” said Blake, I think that ought to manage it. Rolfe can t fee ill-used, because either he can get the

same bets elsewhere, or he came into the club and picked you up, because you are a drunken young swine,” and he patted Fraser on the shoulder affectionately. “Swine yourself!” said Fraser, squaring up to him. “Go on, Blake; don’t waste time now!” interposed the others, “take the note to Rolfe and see what he says.” Thus adjured, Blake left the club, and the rest played a game of snooker pool. In a quarter of an hour Blake returned, looking very crestfallen. “What did he say?” was the chorus. “ I saw Rolfe,” answered Blake, “ and he said he’d see Fraser damned first.” “ Very well,” said Bertie. “ I suppose I shall get the knock! Waiter, take orders for drinks!” and the waiter did his duty once more. CHAPTER IV. HELVELLYN. The sun shone brightly over the emerald turf of Kempton Park at half-past six on the Saturday morning which heralded in the Jubilee Day. Horses in thin sheets were walking about on the Round Course, and trainers ami jockeys were gathered together in little knots criticising the condition and action of the various animals. Mr. John Straight was there, waiting at the junction of the Round Course and the Jubilee Course, and Sam Player, the fashionable middle-weight jockey, stood beside him. Air. Straight had pn n pepper-and-salt suit with thick boots and trousers turned up, and he wore the square-crowned felt hat, without which he was never seen out of doors. Sam Player wore loose breeches and gaiters. “ Here he comes,” said Air. Straight, as two horses, each clothed in white sheets and ridden by stable boys, came down the road from'the stables, followed bv Teddy Buckle, the head lad. ’ “ What’s that a-leading him?” queried Sam, nodding in the direction of the horse which preceded Helvellyn. “ Phantom City,” replied the trainer. “ I don’t run him, although I have not scratched him in case anything should happen to the crack, but I shall strike him out this morning.” “ Nice ’orse, though,” muttered Sam Player, meditatively, “ and not a bad performer. I should think he would have run if you had not had old Hel?” “ He’s a good, fair horse,” replied the trainer; “but we’ve got something a bit better than that to stand on. Helvellyn can make rings round him!” “ So?” said the jockey, as he looked at Phantom City, who was a big chestnut, full of muscle, and walking so lightly that he would not crush an egg. “Look at this!” said John Straight, with pardonable pride, and Helvellyn strode past them. (To be continued.)