THE FORTUNA FILLY.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 813, 5 October 1905, Page 12

THE FORTUNA FILLY.

(By

HOWEL SCRATTON.)

CHAPTER XXV.— ( Continued J

“ I think it would bo the best way,” answered Dash, and so it was agreed. While they were watching the horses being got ready for the first race, they were joined by John Straight, his cheeix face beaming with pleasure. “I have just had a talk with Joe Tritton,” he said; “ and he tells me your filly goes like a smasher. I hope she will turn out to be one!” l '- Yes. I came in the train with him to-day, and he is going to buy Berncastler Doctor to lead her in hei work. “Hum,” said John Straight, “the old Doctor will do well enough for that, but when it comes to trying her, you will want a clock that will really tell yon the correct Greenwich time.” “ But I suppose it is hard to get a reliable trial horse?” asked Dash. “ You leave it to me,” chuckled old John; “I can find you something to try with when the time comes,” and he smiled knowingly. “What can you get for us?” asked

Delia. “ I should ask Sir Robert to let me lend you one of our good-class horses, and you will be able to find out exactly what sort of a chance you have got. But there is plenty of time to think about that.”

“ Is there anything that you fancy today, Mr. Straight?” asked Delia. “ Yes,” he answered, “ I think Phaeton will win; he is in the last race.” “Thank you, we will back him.” Phaeton won the Molecombe Stakes, as John Straight had anticipated, and then the delightful meeting came to an end. and carriages, char-a-bancs, and omnibuses hurried helter-skelter down the hill towards Chichester, leaving the great rolling downs and the lovely racecourse to pass the next twelve months in a solitude only to be broken by the occasional intrusion of a stray shepherd or a wandering golfer.” Sir Robert and Lord Thistleton started for Aix-les-Bains the next week, and spent a month there, having their daily morning baths and massage a Veau in the hot spring water, and driving out in the afternoon along the shores of the beautiful Lac de Bourget, or being carried in the cog-wheeled mountain railway to the summit of the mighty Mont Revard, from which can be obtained a view of the great snow-covered mass of Mont Blanc, forty miles away, but towering over the intervening mountains, like a great hulking schoolmaster playing football in a team of little boys. Then they would spend the evening at the theatre, or the Villa des Fleurs, and toddle off to bed at a respectably early hour. Dash went to Brighton on the Tuesday following the Goodwood meeting, travelling by a mid-day train which enabled him to reach the racecourse just in time to see Berncastler Doctor run. Tritton thought highly of the horse’s chance, but the opposition, which was limited to four horses, was of notoriously poor quality, and so odds of six to four had to be laid on the Doctor.

While Dash was in the ring, laying such sixties to forty as he could, the race was started, and he would not able to see any part of it, for the ring is so placed that its occupants might as well be at Timbuctoo as on the course, for all the view they get of the racing. However, Dash knew the horses were coming, from seeing that everyone in the stand had glasses up, and presently there was a shout of “The Doctor wins! the Doctor rolls in !” and above the heads of the bookmakers, who were standing against the rails, the black cap of Berncastler Doctor’s jockey, who was wearing Tiitton’s colours, could be seen to flash by. and there was the thumping of feet as the horse galloped past the winning post. Dash ran to the naddoek to meet his horse coming in, and Tritton remarked. “ That is all I wanted to know. The old horse is still in form, and your filly is sure to win a good race.”

Dash jumped into a cab and hurried to the station, for he wanted to catch the 3.40 train to town, so as to get to chambers before Twitterton left. Tn the meantime Mrs. Baines had taken Delia with her to Scotland, and. after a few days at North Berwick, they went on to St. Andrews, where they took rooms at the Grand Hotel, overlooking celebrated golf links, and the beautiful bav. with its long grey sands flecked by innumerable white gulls, stretching away with its fringe of bent-grown dunes to where the surging quicksands mark the month of the river Eden.

Mr. Twitterton and Dash also went to the City by the Sea as soon as the commencement of the Long Vacation released them from attendance at the Courts, and the month of August slipped pleasantly away; what with a strenuous round of golf between the men in the morning and a foursome with the ladies over the new course in the afternoon, and then putting on the ladies’ links after tea, until the light faded out of the sky, and it was time for dinner. September came, and the Doncaster meeting, and a glance at the pages Ol Ruff will tell that Samoa won the St. Leger in gallant style, and then the party re-assembled at Oakwood for partridge shooting. Dash heard regularly from Tritton, and the news of the Fortuna filly was very encouraging, for she had done as well in her training as anyone could wish. She had been contemptuously treated by the handicapper, for her two public appearances could not command any respect from him, and she had been allotted the bottom weight, of six stone, in the Cambridgeshire, in which race Helvellyn- was set to carry eight stone eight; his Hunt Cup failure having brought him down in the scale. CHAPTER XXVI. THE BOMAN CAMP. Dash went down to Poledown on a Friday night early in October to see his filly tried on the following morning. John Straight had been as good as his word about supplying the trying tackle, and Phantom City had arrived at the Sussex training stables the day previous. His departure from Cottington had been duly observed by the “ correspondents” of that stable, and notice of his having left his own quarters, and of the arrival of an unknown chestnut horse at Poledown were chronicled in the training intelligence of the sporting press. Delia, not ignorant of the proposed trial, was staying with Mrs. Vasher Baines at the Marine Hotel at Gatherstone, and it had been arranged that Dash was to go straight to the hotel after the trial, to report upon its results and to have breakfast with the ladies there. Dash reached Gatherstone late on Friday evening, and a small pony cart met him and conveyed him to Poledown, where he found Joe Tritton waiting to receive him. After a supper of kidneys and bacon, with a glass of whisky and apollinaris water, Mr, Tritton produced some cigars, and trainei* and employer sat down in a couple of arm chairs to discuss the future. “ My principal difficulty has been to get a good jockey for the filly,” said Joe Tritton, “ for it is hard to find a boy who has had any experience in big races, and can do the weight, who is not retained ; however, I was lucky enough to be able to engage young Pat Rooney; he rode Flannigan’s Pride when he Avon the Royal Hunt Cup, and he is about as good a boy as one could want.” “ I saw him at Kempton,” answered Dash; “but he was all over the place then.” “ Oh, yes; a little boy on a big yawning horse is not infallible, but he has grown' a good deal stronger since then, and besides, our filly does not want such a deal of riding.” “ All right, I should think the boy would do very well; at any rate, he is determined,” Dash said. “ Yes, he is determined, and he does not know what fear is—he has no nervesl” “ How are you going to try them tomorrow?” asked Dash. “ Well, I thought of setting the Phantom to give a stone. 1 don’t expect to beat him at that, but if the filly gets within a length or so, it will be pretty good business.” “ I suppose that would be putting Phantom City in the Cambridgeshire at about seven stone six?” asked Dash. “Yes; or seven—he might win with that, but if she happens to beat him, I should think you had a pretty good thing. Have you backed her at all yet?” “Yes,” said Dash, “I have had a commission out to take up the long shots. My agent, Mr. Nuthali, got a little money on at forty to one and a thousand to thirty, and he has backed her quietly to win about thirty thousand pounds. I think the money averages a little over twenty-five to one.” “A very nice little bet. too!” remarked the trainer. “ And I see she stands at twenty to one to-day.” “ I have arranged to Avrite to Nuthali one word, ‘ Go,’ if she wins her trial, and he is to continue backing her.” “Very good; and I hope it may be ‘go,’ ” said Tritton, pouring out a glass of whisky. Dash joined him in a nightcap, and then went to the neat little bedroom which he was to occupy, and dreamed of the Fortuna filly and Delia all night.

The next morning they were up betimes, and after having had a look at the horses in their stables, which were comfortable, but old-fashioned buildings, Mr. Tritton and Dash walked on to the down which was just ax the back of the house, and went to a spot on the edge of the ride, where the galloping ground was overshadowed by a high conical hill, on the summit of which there was an ancient Roman camp, to see the trial for the Cambridgeshire. Meanwhile, at Gatherstone, Delia had had a sleepless night, thinking of the impending trial which was to take place only five miles away, and at a quarter to six she could bear the suspense no longer, so, determining to see the trial herself, she jumped from her bed and dressed in a suit of tailor-made tweeds, with a short skirt and well-fitting little jacket. Then, having stuck a tam-o’-shanter on her head Avith many pins, she sallied forth from the Marine Hotel and started off on foot for Poledown. When she had gone three miles she began to think that perhaps there might be some short cut, and meeting a carter going to his work with a pair of farm horses, she asked him the nearest way to the training grounds. After some difficulty she was able to make the man understand what she wanted, and, scratching his head, he said, “ Yew go in at this ga-ate, and keep right along the hedge till yew git to the clump o’ trees. Then turn up by the big hedge and go on till yew come to planta-ation, then yew. cross Roman camp and go down the path to the hill, and yew will be there in no time.” She thanked the carter, and followed his instructions, which turned out to be perfectly correct; and alter floundering about in deep ruts for some time, she reached the plantation and was scon in the Roman camp. There Avas a high mound round the camp, Avith a deep foss outside, . and a smaller mound beyond, hanging right on the edge of the steep side of the hill. Delia Avalked along the inner mound and looked around her.

Behind she saAV the loav misty country, at the edge of which the still sleeping town of Gather stone rested beside a sparkling sea which shone with .the countless facets of a newly-cleft piece of marble, and the morning sun Avas just breaking through his fleecy blaiiket of clouds. All around in front of her was down-land, tumbled in great masses of Avide-spread rolling verdure as far as the eye could see. On the left, ranging above the little village, Avas the long, narroAV, flint-built house of PoledoAvn, with its nest of stabling beside it; and beloAV her she saw a string of horses, Avalking like so many ants along the valley, and she descried the two figures of Tritton and Dash, making for the broAV of the rising ground in front of her, and she recognised Dash, even at the distance that he was aAvay, and guessed Avho the other was. She looked for a path by which to descend, but she could see none, and the side of the hill Avas very steep, so she walked a little farther along the edge of the dyke, and suddenly came upon a man lying flat on the ground with his head just over the chalk bank, and a pair of large race glasses held to his eyes. He heard her footfall, and turned to see who Avas approaching, and started as he saw Delia.

“ Miss Ashingdon !” he exclaimed. “Good morning, miss; of course you don’t know me, but I know you well enough.” “I have never seen you before!” exclaimed Delia.

“ That is very likely, but I saw you at Kempton, and again at Alexandra Park, the. day John Straight claimed my filly.” “ I don’t know what you me'n ; I suppose you are speaking of the Fortuna filly; but I did not knoAV she be’ougefl to you!”

“ Oh, yes, she did, in a way. I ran her there; my name is Beal?—William Beale, of Epsom, and I entered the filly at the Palace just to oblige a man who turned out to be a dead wrong ’un afterwards. But the horses are coming—l came here on purpose to see what Avas going on Avhen I heard from my correspondent that Straight had sent Phantom City here, and I must not miss the trial !”

He fixed his glasses intently on three little dots Aldrich Avere making their way out of the hollow at a very smart pace.

“ That other chestnut leading. I suppose that’s the Doctor?” he muttered. Delia, Ai'lio could not distinguish much that was going on, was glad to have Beale’s help in reading the race to her. “Lor!” he exclaimed, “the Doctor can’t live with them; see, they have passed him, and he is tailed off already!” Delia did see that one horse Avas a good distance in the rear. “ The bay is going wonderful Avell!” he said again. “ She holds the Phantom all right. Look! she is coming right away from him!”

And there Avas no doubt now, for Delia could see, even Avithout glasses, that the bay filly had gone clean by the chestnut horse and was golloping past the trvo figures on the hill, seA r eral lengths in front.

“There!” said Whispers, “I kneAV it! I kneAA’ she Avas a real good mare. What a cruel bit of luck it Avas our losing her ! But never mind that iioav. She Avill win the Cambridge, and I must get a bit on her as quick as I can !” Delia ran round the old fortification to Avhere she thought that Dash Avould come up on his way to Gatherstone, and she had not left Mr. Beale far behind AA'hen another man’s voice fell on her ear, and this time it Avas a not-unknown one. “ Who on earth Avould have expected to see you here, Miss Ashingdon!” She turned and saAA r Hamilton Rolfe, and quickened her steps. Rolfe AA’as beside her in a moment. “ I suppose you are here on the same errand as I am, to see the filly tried?” he said. Delia looked at him fearlessly and said, “ Mr. Rolfe, after the way you behaved last time I saA\’ you, I would rather not speak to you again!” and she turned her back on him. “ Don’t be a silly little fool!” he cried, seizing her by the wrist. “ providence has put you in my path to-day! I told you once before that I meant to marry you. Noav, on those solitary downs, I tell you so again!” Delia tried to free herself, but he held hel like a vice. “Let me go!” she cried. “Dashwood Fynes is coming, and I hope he Avill kill you!” “ Don’t try to frighten me Avith your DasliAVOod Fynes! If he conies near me I will throAv him down the cliff!” Delia made one more violent effort to free herself, but, finding it useless, she dug the nails of her disengaged hand into the cheek of Hamilton Rolfe with the fury of despair, and the blood flowed down his face in three long red stripes. “You little devil!” he cried. “I’ll kill you, if you don’t do what I tell you !” “Dash! ! !” screamed Delia, and almost before the name Avas out of her lips, her lover appeared on the edge of the Avail and took in all that it Avas necessary to knoAV at a glance. He darted doAvn the ditch and up the other rampart, Avhere Delia Avas standing m the grip of her adversary, and seizing Rolfe by the neck he hurled him to the ground. “Kill him, Dash! Kill him!” screamed Delia. “I will kill him, never fear!” ansAvered Dash, between his teeth. Rolfe had risen to his feet and Dash rushed at him and sent two fearful blows, right and left, into his blood-stained face, and the bully reeled, but tried to hit back. Again Dash sent his left right on to Rolfe’s right eye, and closed it; but he Avas not satisfied, and rained blows upon him till he fell a battered heap on the ground. “Get up, you blackguard!” cried Dash. Rolfe looked at him through his bruises and blood, but made no sign of resuming the combat. “He’s foxing!” declared Mr. Beale, Avho. attracted by Delia’s cries, had joined the party. “I’ll soon teach him to fox!” cried Dash, beside himself Avith passion. “ Get up, I say, you scoundrel, or I’ll pick you up myself!” Still Rolfe declined to accept the invitation so pressingly offered, and, whether it may be considered a sportsmanlike action, or within the rules of fighting or no; as a faithful chronicler’s first duty is to set doAvn Avhat actually occurs, it’ must be recorded that Dash lost his patience, and seizing the prostrate Rolfe by the back of the collar, raised him /up into an erect position before him and proceeded to kick the hinder portion of his person Avith a force and precision which would have been the envy of an international footballer. While Dash Avas thus busily engaged, and Delia stood pale and trembling after her struggle, what time Mr. Beale was dancing round in a frenzy of excitement, shouting “ Give it him, governor, give it him !” yet another person had stolen unnoticed upon the scene, and waited patiently till Dash, exhausted Avith his efforts, threAV his bruised and beaten antagonist upon the ground. Then he stepped forward; a short, thick-set, laughing-faced man of about’ thirty-five: and walking up to Rolfe, where he lay upon the turf, placed his hand on his shoulder and said, “ I am a detective officer from Scotland Yard; my name is Inspector Rennard, and I hold a warrant for your arrest. Hamilton Rolfe, for forgery. Here is my warrant,” and he produced the paper which contained the authority of the sovereign for the arrest of his prisoner. and neatly adjusted a pair of handcuffs on Rolfe’s wrists.

“I don’t want any handcuffs! I'll go quietly,” said Rolfe. “ I think you’d better have them,” remarked the inspector, drily; “ you might change your mind about going quietly if you did not have these bracelets as. a kind of Mizpah between us.” “What’s the forgery about?”, asked Whispers. “Is it anything to do with Colonel Goring?” “ Yes, the very case!” said the inspector. “ Forging a power of attorney to sell his securities. The crime was committed in July, but the colonel only came back to England last week, and did not discover it till then.” “I am on in this scene!” said Whispers, jubilantly. “ That scoundrel there came and asked me to forge the papers for him before he mucked up courage enough to do it for himself. I can be a witness to that/’ “Thank you; I will take your name, please,” replied Inspector Rennard, taking his notebook from his pocket. “William Beale, Aluley Edris, Epsom. I am a tout, I am, and I’m not ashamed of it; and I don’t set up to be over particular, within a shade, but when a blackguard like that, calling himself a gentleman, comes and asks me to do his dirty work for him—why, that is outside my line of country; and I shall be glad to speak against him.” “Very well; you will be called to give evidence in a day or two before the magistrate, and when he is committed for trial we shall want you again.” “ I never thought I should want to go to the Old Bailey,” said Beale, “ but I shall enjoy it this time. Good day, I have some messages to send off,” and Whispers, taking off his hat politely to Delia, went down the hillside to the telegraph office at Poledown. Delia and Dash walked back through th? plantation towards Gatherstone, and by the time they got to the Marine Hotel Delia had so recovered her composure that Mrs. Baines did not observe that there was anything the matter with her; and not till she had heard the whole story of the morning events did she realise what danger Delia had been in. “ Nevei’ mind Rolfe,” exclaimed Dash, “ I must have a telegraph form. Here, waiter, bring me a form. The paper was brought, and he wrote—“‘Colville,’ London. • “ Go. “ Fynes.” And handed it to the waiter to be sent off. “ Now,” he said, “ we will have breakfast ! lam very sorry to be so late, Mrs. Baines, but we have explained how we were delayed.” “ Yes,” said Mrs. Baines “ and I only wish I had been with you to see that man get a thrashing. I hope he will get seven years, now!”

“ I hardly expect you will see him about again before that time!” answered Dash. “Oh!” cried Delia. “I Lope I shall never set eyes on him again. It frightens me to think of him!” “ Let’s forget all about him and talk about the Fortuna filly; 1 am very anxious to hear all about the trial, said Mrs. Baines. And so Dash and Delia gave an account of the gallop, and how the filly had done a great deal more than was expected of her, and how they were going to back her to win a fortune. CHAPTER XXVII. “ the royal edward” club. It was the Monday before the Cambridgeshire, and Dash had accepted Walter Nuthall’s invitation to lunch with him at one of the chief betting clubs, the “ Royal Edward,” and to receive a report of the progress of the Fortuna Commission. The “ Royal Edward” is an imposing edifice, situate in an elevated position at the corner of one of the streets which run down to the Strand, and from its upper windows commanding a view over the housetops of South London right away to the hideous towers of the Crystal Palace. Dash walked up the wide steps, and the swinging doors were pulled open by a hall porter in livery, which made him look exactly like a postman, and asked for Mr. Nuthall. “ Henry,” said the postman, addressing a tall, heavy-shouldered man, who was evidently a sort of assistant porter, and who, in lieu of a coat, wore a waistcoat with black calico sleeves, and silver buttons. “ Henry, go into the billiard room and tell Mr. Nuthall that a gentleman wants him.” Henry shuffled off down a narrow passage from which the sound of many voices came with an echo of the ring, for the settlement was in progress. Dash looked round him, and found that he was standing, in a circular hall which reminded him of nothing so much as the Temple of Vesta ; and he laughed as he thought of his friends, the bookmakers, as the virgins who tend the sacred flame on its altar. It had marble pillars and an arched and domed roof, while the floor was tesselated with coloured tiles. There was a little glass case in which the hall porter was wont to sit, and through the window of which he handed their letters to members and delivered messages. The hall was crowded with portmanteaux, travelling bags; rugs, and hat boxes, for most of the members were going to Newmarket as soon as they had transacted their business at the club. (To ~be continued.)