"He's handicapped heavily," said Mr. Hallam. "It will be extraordinary if he can last out such a severe race after all he has gone through."
"Wonderful pluck," said Duncan Fraser. "Always had."
"I want to hear how he arrived in time. It will be interesting. He must have had a race for it," said Ella.
"And won on the post. I hope he'll win this race," said Duncan.
The horses were almost out of sight as they passed some trees but the colors could be seen dodging between them. When they were in full view again Handy Man led, with Milkmaid, Picket, Fright, and Sparrow close behind. Bandmaster came next, alone, followed by the rest. Seven had fallen and there was a long tail.
Handy Man was a grand jumper and Dan Rowton a good rider. The pair seemed to get on well. So far the horse had not made a mistake.
The last mile and a half was a severe test, the jumps being all stiff, and the pace began to tell.
A thorn hedge faced the field at this point. Handy Man flew it safely, so did Milkmaid, Fright, and Sparrow, but Picket came down with a crash, rolled over, flung his rider out of danger, and was struggling to rise as Alan on Bandmaster came along. It was an awkward, dangerous situation; a less experienced horseman might have lost his head. Alan, however, was accustomed to act quickly in emergencies. He pulled his mount to the left and just cleared the struggling horse. Picket, however, was so near Bandmaster that he put him out of his stride; this caused loss of ground and he fell back.
Eve noticed the danger and gave a slight cry of alarm, followed by a sigh of relief as she saw Bandmaster safe.
"A narrow squeak," said Harry. "Nobody but a good rider would have escaped."