“Do you think any other horse has a chance of beating The Pirate? I heard something about May Morn.”
“Never mind what you hear; that’s May Morn; looks like having a big chance, don’t it?” said Nat, pointing to a horse that was coming round. “Hullo! why that’s Captain Brereton and be damned to him. What is that he is on? something that can gallop a bit,” he added, as he saw another horse that had just come on to the course. “Is that one of yours, Mr Crotty?” he called out to that gentleman who was standing some yards off.
Kildare had been brought into the camp the night before, and Jack was giving him his first gallop on the racecourse.
Crotty and Jack had determined that they would not try to keep the secret of the horse’s recovery any longer, as it would be difficult to do so; and they had already backed it for as much as Gideon’s friends could pay. Even a tyro like Mr Gideon could see that the game little horse was of a very different class from the plater May Morn.
“That, Mr Gideon! why that is Captain Brereton’s Kildare; you ought to know the horse. And now what price Kildare? what price Bill Bledshaw?” shouted Mr Crotty, and he burst into a peal of mocking laughter, in which a knot of men, his and Jack Brereton’s friends, who were standing near him joined.
“The little horse is not much the worse for your kind attentions,” he added.
“Curse ’em, but they have done us,” said Nat Lane between his teeth.
Mr Gideon turned pale. The mocking laughter of Crotty and his friends maddened him. He was almost ruined, for the money he had staked represented pretty nearly all that he had in the world; his only hope was that still The Pirate might somehow win, and this hope was a very feeble one.
Shout after shout of laughter came from the men on the course, who seemed all to have been let into the secret by Crotty, and followed by the jeers of their enemies Mr Gideon and Nat Lane got into a cart and were driven back to Kimberley.
Mr Gideon and Nat Lane had several very anxious conversations before the day of the race, but their upshot was nothing but talk. It was impossible for them to hedge, and they could only trust in the chapter of accidents, which, however, did them no good.