"Not me," replied the little jockey grimly.
A snigger rippled through the crowd.
"What you done with your old friend this time, Monkey?" somebody asked. "Laid him out again lately?"
"No such luck," the other answered. "He's beat it."
"Where is he then?"
The little jockey tossed his head backward.
"Gone back to God's Own Country to find his birf certificate. No flowers by request."
The reference was to the fact that Monkey's old-time enemy, the vanquished of Cannibal's National fifteen years before, Chukkers, the greatest of cross-country riders, was an American citizen of uncertain origin.
The thrust was received with a fresh outburst from the hilarious crowd. Monkey Brand's relations with his "old friend" were well known to all.
The little jockey prepared to dismount.