"I should like to try him for the race on the fifteenth, if it could be managed, Dick."
"The race!" exclaimed the Viscount, staring.
"I 've been wondering if you could—get me entered for it," Barnabas went on, rather diffidently, "I'd give anything for the chance."
"What—with that brute! my dear fellow, are you mad?"
"No, Dick."
"But he's unmanageable, Bev; he's full of vice—a killer—look at him now!"
And indeed at this moment, as if to bear out this character, up went the great, black head again, eyes rolling, teeth gleaming, and ears laid back.
"I tell you, Bev, no one could ride that devil!" the Viscount repeated.
"But," said Barnabas, "I've bet your friend Captain Slingsby that I could."
"It would be madness!" exclaimed the Viscount. "Ha! look out! There—I told you so!" For in that moment the powerful animal reared suddenly—broke from the grip of one ostler, and swinging the other aside, stood free, and all was confusion. With a warning shout, the old groom sprang to his head, but Barnabas was beside him, had caught the hanging reins, and swung himself into the saddle.