CHAPTER XIII

A SENSATIONAL DERBY STRUGGLE

Is it for sordid pelf that horses race? Or can it be the glory that they go for? Neither; they know the steed that shows best pace Will get his flogging all the sooner over!

_Reflection at a Racecourse.--H. B. J._

The Duchess, seeing that her plot was foiled by the unexpected arrival of Mr Bhosh, made the frantic endeavour to hedge herself behind another bet of a million sterling to a monkey that _Milky Way_ was to come off conqueror--but in vain, since none of the welshers would concede such very long odds.

So, wrapping her features in a veil of feminine duplicity, she advanced swimmingly to meet Mr Bhosh. "How lucky that you have arrived on the neck of time!" she said. "And you have ridden all the way from town? Tell me now, would not you and your dear horse like some refreshment after so tedious a journey?"

"Madam," said Mr Bhosh, bowing to his saddle-bow, while his optics remained fixed upon the Duchess with a withering glare. "We are not taking any--from _your_ hands."

This crushing sarcasm totally abashed the Duchess, who perceived that he had penetrated her schemes and crept away in discomfiture.

After this incident _Milky Way_ was subjected to the ordeal of trying her weight, which she passed with honours. For--very fortunately as it turned out--the twenty-four hours' starvation which she had endured as left luggage had reduced her to the prescribed number of _maunds_, which she would otherwise have infallibly exceeded, since Mr Bhosh, being as yet a tyro in training Derby cracks, had allowed her to acquire a superfluous obesity.

Thus once more the machinations of the Duchess had only benefited the very individual they were intended to injure!

But it remained necessary to hire a practical jockey, since Cadwallader Perkin was still lamenting in dust and ashes at home, so Mr Bhosh ran about from pillow to post endeavouring to borrow a rider for _Milky Way_.

Owing, probably, to the Duchess's artifices, he encountered nothing but refusals and pleas of previous engagement--until, at the end of the tether of his patience, he said: "Since my mare cannot compete in a riderless condition, I myself will assume command and steer her to victory!"

Upon which gallant speech the entire air became darkened by clouds of upthrown hats and shouts of "Bravo, Bindabun!"

But upon this the pertinacious Duchess lodged the objection that he was not in correct toggery, and that, even if he still retained his tall hat, it would be contrary to etiquette to ride the Derby in a frock coat.

"Where are his racing colours?" she demanded.

"_Here!_" cried Mr Bhosh, pulling forth the cream and sky-blue silken jacket and cap from his pockets, and, discarding his frock coat, he assumed the garbage of a jockey in the twinkle of a jiffy.

"I protest," then cried the undaunted Duchess, "against such cruelty to animals as racing an overblown mare so soon after she has galloped from London!"

"Your stricture is just, O humane and distinguished lady," responded the judge, who had conceived a violent attachment to _Milky Way_ and her owner, "and I will willingly postpone the race for an hour or two until the horse has recovered her breeze."

"Quite unnecessary!" said Bindabun. "My mare is not such a weakling as you imagine, and will be as fit as a flea after she has imbibed one or two champagne bottles."

And his prediction was literally fulfilled, for the champagne soon rendered _Milky Way_ playful as a kitten. Mr Bhosh ascended into his saddle; the other horses were drawn up in single rank; the starter brandished his flag--and the curtain rose on such a race as has, perhaps, never been equalled in the annals of the Derby.

The rival cracks were named as follows:----_Topsy Turvey_, _Poojah_, _Brandy Pawnee_, _Tiffin Bell_, _Tripod_, _Cui Bono_, _British Jurisprudence_ and _Roseate Smell_. The betting was even on the field.

_Poojah_ was a large tall horse with a nude tail, but excessively nimble; _Tripod_, on the contrary, was a small cob of sluggish habits and needing to be constantly pricked; _Tiffin Bell_ was a piebald of goodly proportions; and _Roseate Smell_ was of same sex as _Milky Way_, though more vixenish in character.

Not long after the start Mr Bhosh was chagrined to discover that he was all behindhand, and he almost despaired of overtaking any of his fore-runners. Moreover, he was already oppressed by painful soreness, due to so constantly coming in contact with the saddle during his ride from London--but "in for a penny, in for a pound of flesh," and he plodded on, and soon had the good luck to recapture some of his lost ground.

It was the old fabulous anecdote of the Hare and the Tortoise. First of all, _Topsy Turvey_ was tripped up by a rabbit's hole; then _Roseate Smell_ leaped the barrier and joined the spectators, while _Tripod_ sprained his offside ankle. Gradually Mr Bhosh passed _Brandy Pawnee_, _Cui Bono_, and _British Jurisprudence_, until, on arriving at Tottenham Court Corner, only _Tiffin Bell_ and _Poojah_ remained in the running.

_Tiffin Bell_ became so discouraged by the near approach of _Milky Way_ that he dwindled his pace to a paltry trot, so Mr Bhosh was easily enabled to defeat him, after which by Cyclopean efforts he urged his mare until she and _Poojah_ were cheek by jowl.

For some time it was the dingdong race between a hammer and tongs!

Still, as the quadrupeds ploughed their way on, _Poojah_ churlishly refused to give _place aux dames_, and _Milky Way_ began to drop to the rear. Seeing that she was utterly incompetent to accelerate her speed and therefore in imminent danger of being defeated, Chunder Bindabun had the happy inspiration to make an appeal to the best feelings of the rival jockey, whose name was Juggins.

"Juggins!" he wheezed in an agonised whisper, "I am a poor native Indian, totally unpractised in Derby riding. Show me some magnanimous action, and allow _Milky Way_ to take first prize, Juggins!"

But Mr Juggins responded that he earnestly desired that _Poojah_ should obtain said prize, and applied a rather severe whipsmack to his willing horse.

"My mare is the favourite, Juggins!" pleaded Mr Bhosh. "By defeating her you will land yourself in the bad odour of the _oi polloi_. Have you considered that, Juggins?"

Juggins's only reply was to administer more whip-smacks, but Chunder Bindabun persevered. "Consider my hard case, Juggins! If I am beaten, I lose both a _placens uxor_ and the pot of money. If, on the other hand, I come in first at the head of the winning pole I promise to share my entire fortune with you!"

Upon this, the kind-hearted and venial equestrian relented, warmly protesting that he would rather be a _proxime accessit_ and second fiddle than deprive another human being of all his earthly felicity, and accordingly he reined in his impetuous courser with such consummate skill that _Milky Way_ forged ahead by the length of a nose.

Thus they galloped past the Grand Stand, and, as Mr Bhosh gazed upwards and descried the elegant form of the Princess Petunia standing upon the topmost roof, he was so exalted with jubilation that he elevated himself in his stirrups; and waving his cap in a chivalrous salute, cried out: "Hip-hip-hip! I am ramping in!"

"Then," I hear the reader exclaim, "it is all over, and _Milky Way_ is victorious."

Please, my honble friend, do not be so premature! I have not _said_ that the race was over. There are still some yards to the judge's bench, and it is always on the racing cards that _Poojah_ may prove the winner after all.

Such inquisitive curiosity shall be duly satisfied in the next chapter, which is also the last.