"We'll see—after," replied Boy.
They passed out of the Paddock Close on to the Downs.
"How's he coming on?" asked Jim.
"Monkey Brand says he's streets better than Cannibal," replied the girl. "We've never had anything to touch him in my time." This was one of few subjects on which the girl sometimes would flow. "Of course he's young for a National horse—only five, and she's in her prime. But he's got the head of an old horse on the body of a young one. Nothing flurries him—once you can get him going."
"And the trouble is there's only one person who can get him going," mused the young man.
"I don't know about that," she answered tartly. "He's only run the once in public. And that time he ran rings round his field. Albert was riding—not me."
They were nearing the brow.
A man was labouring up the hill in front of them.
Old Mat pulled up, and the pair jogged up alongside him. The trainer nodded quietly at the heavy figure in front.
"He's out," he wheezed. "On to it pretty quick, too. Heard we're goin' to gallop Fo'-Pound and he's come to see what he can see."