Delphi Complete Works of Arthur Morrison

by Arthur Morrison

  “And now,” Mr. Telfer went on, “I’m in such an uneasy state that I want your advice and assistance. Quite apart from the suspicious — more than suspicious — circumstances I have informed you of, I am certain — I know it without being able to give precise reasons — I am certain that some attempt is being made at disabling Janissary before Thursday’s race. I feel it in my bones, so to speak. I had the same suspicion just before that Two Thousand, when Matfelon was got at. The thing was in the air, as it is now. Perhaps it’s a sort of instinct; but I rather think it is the result of an unconscious absorption of a number of little indications about me. Be it as it may, I am resolved to leave no opening to the enemy if I can help it, and I want to see if you can suggest any further precautions beyond those I am taking. Come and look at the stables.”

  Dorrington could see no opening for any piece of rascality by which he might make more of the case than by serving his client loyally, so he resolved to do the latter. He followed Mr. Telfer through the training stables, where eight or nine thoroughbreds stood, and could suggest no improvement upon the exceptional precautions that already existed.

  “No,” said Dorrington, “I don’t think you can do any better than this — at least on this, the inner line of defence. But it is best to make the outer lines secure first. By the way, this isn’t Janissary, is it? We saw him farther up the row, didn’t we?”

  “Oh no, that’s a very different sort of colt, though he does look like, doesn’t he? People who’ve been up and down the stables once or twice often confuse them. They’re both bays, much of a build, and about the same height, and both have a bit of stocking on the same leg, though Janissary’s is bigger, and this animal has a white star. But you never saw two creatures look so like and run so differently. This is a dead loss — not worth his feed. If I can manage to wind him up to something like a gallop I shall try to work him off in a selling plate somewhere; but as far as I can see he isn’t good enough even for that. He’s a disappointment. And his stock’s far better than Janissary’s too, and he cost half as much again! Yearlings are a lottery. Still, I’ve drawn a prize or two among them, at one time or another.”

  “Ah yes, so I’ve heard. But now as to the outer defences I was speaking of. Let us find out who is trying to interfere with your horse. Do you mind letting me into the secrets of the stable commissions?”

  “Oh no. We’re talking in confidence, of course. I’ve backed the colt pretty heavily all round, but not too much anywhere. There’s a good slice with Barker — you know Barker, of course; Mullins has a thousand down for him, and that was at five to one, before Herald went amiss. Then there’s Ford and Lascelles — both good men, and Naylor — he’s the smallest man of them all, and there’s only a hundred or two with him, though he’s been laying the horse pretty freely everywhere, at least until Herald went wrong. And there’s Pedder. But there must have been a deal of money laid to outside backers, and there’s no telling who may contemplate a ramp.”

  “Just so. Now as to your nephew. What of your suspicions in that direction?”

  “Perhaps I’m a little hasty as to that,” Mr. Telfer answered, a little ashamed of what he had previously said. “But I’m worried and mystified, as you see, and hardly know what to think. My nephew Richard is a little erratic, and he has a foolish habit of betting more than he can afford. He and I quarrelled some time back, while he was staying here, because I had an idea that he had been talking too freely outside. He had, in fact; and I regarded it as a breach of confidence. So there was a quarrel and he went away.”

  “Very well. I wonder if I can get a bed at the ‘Crown’ at Redbury: I’m afraid it’ll be crowded, but I’ll try.”

  “But why trouble? Why not stay with me, and be near the stables?”

  “Because then I should be of no more use to you than one of your lads. People who come out here every morning are probably staying at Redbury, and I must go there after them.”

  III

  THE “Crown” at Redbury was full in anticipation of the races, but Dorrington managed to get a room ordinarily occupied by one of the landlord’s family, who undertook to sleep at a friend’s for a night or two. This settled, he strolled into the yard, and soon fell into animated talk with the hostler on the subject of the forthcoming races. All the town was backing Janissary for the Stakes, the hostler said, and he advised Dorrington to do the same.

  During this conversation two men stopped in the street, just outside the yard gate, talking. One was a big, heavy, vulgar-looking fellow in a box-cloth coat, and with a shaven face and hoarse voice; the other was a slighter, slimmer, younger and more gentlemanlike man, though there was a certain patchy colour about his face that seemed to hint of anything but teetotalism.

  “There,” said the hostler, indicating the younger of these two men, “that’s young Mr. Telfer, him as whose uncle’s owner o’ Janissary. He’s a young plunger, he is, and he’s on Janissary too. He give me the tip, straight, this mornin’. ‘You put your little bit on my uncle’s colt,’ he said. ‘It’s all right. I ain’t such pals with the old man as I was, but I’ve got the tip that his money’s down on it. So don’t neglect your opportunities, Thomas,’ he says; and I haven’t. He’s stoppin’ in our house, is young Mr. Richard.”

  “And who is that he is talking to? A bookmaker?”

  “Yes, sir, that’s Naylor — Bob Naylor. He’s got Mr. Richard’s bets. P’raps he’s puttin’ on a bit more now.”

  The men at the gate separated, and the bookmaker walked off down the street in the fast gathering dusk. Richard Telfer, however, entered the house, and Dorrington followed him. Telfer mounted the stairs and went into his room. Dorrington lingered a moment on the stairs and then went and knocked at Telfer’s door.

  “Hullo!” cried Telfer, coming to the door and peering out into the gloomy corridor.

  “I beg pardon,” Dorrington replied courteously. “I thought this was Naylor’s room.”

  “No — it’s No. 23, by the end. But I believe he’s just gone down the street.”

  Dorrington expressed his thanks and went to his own room. He took one or two small instruments from his bag and hurried stealthily to the door of No. 23.

  All was quiet, and the door opened at once to Dorrington’s picklock, for there was nothing but the common tumbler rim-lock to secure it. Dorrington, being altogether an unscrupulous scoundrel, would have thought nothing of entering a man’s room thus for purposes of mere robbery. Much less scruple had he in doing so in the present circumstances. He lit the candle in a little pocket lantern, and, having secured the door, looked quickly about the room. There was nothing unusual to attract his attention, and he turned to two bags lying near the dressing-table. One was the usual bookmaker’s satchel, and the other was a leather travelling-bag; both were locked. Dorrington unbuckled the straps of the large bag and produced a slender picklock of steel wire, with a sliding joint, which, with a little skilful “humouring,” turned the lock in the course of a minute or two. One glance inside was enough. There on the top lay a large false beard of strong red, and upon the shirts below was a pair of spectacles. But Dorrington went farther, and felt carefully below the linen till his hand met a small, flat, mahogany box. This he withdrew and opened. Within, on a velvet lining, lay a small silver instrument resembling a syringe. He shut and replaced the box, and, having rearranged the contents of the bag, shut, locked and strapped it, and blew out his light. He had found what he came to look for. In another minute Mr. Bob Naylor’s door was locked behind him, and Dorrington took his picklocks to his own room.

  It was a noisy evening in the Commercial Room at the “Crown.” Chaff and laughter flew thick, and Richard Telfer threatened Naylor with a terrible settling day. More was drunk than thirst strictly justified, and everybody grew friendly with everybody else. Dorrington, sober and keenly alert, affected the reverse, and exhibited especial and extreme affection for Mr. Bob Naylor. His advances were unsuccessful at first, but Dorrington’s manner and the “
Crown” whisky overcame the bookmaker’s reserve, and at about eleven o’clock the two left the house arm in arm for a cooling stroll in the High Street. Dorrington blabbed and chattered with great success, and soon began about Janissary.

  “So you’ve pretty well done all you want with Janissary, eh? Book full? Ah! nothing like keeping a book even all round — it’s the safest way— ‘specially with such a colt as Janissary about. Eh, my boy?” He nudged Naylor genially. “Ah! no doubt it’s a good colt, but old Telfer has rum notions about preparation, hasn’t he?”

  “I dunno,” replied Naylor. “How do you mean?”

  “Why, what does he have the horse led up and down behind the stable for, half an hour every afternoon?”

  “Didn’t know he did.”

  “Ah! but he does. I came across it only this afternoon. I was coming over the downs, and just as I got round behind Telfer’s stables there I saw a fine bay colt, with a white stocking on the off hind leg, well covered up in a suit of clothes, being led up and down by a lad, like a sentry — up and down, up and down — about twenty yards each way, and nobody else about. ‘Hullo!’ says I to the lad, ‘hullo! what horse is this?’ ‘Janissary,’ says the boy — pretty free for a stable-lad. ‘Ah!’ says I. ‘And what are you walking him like that for?’ ‘Dunno,’ says the boy, ‘but it’s gov’nor’s orders. Every afternoon, at two to the minute, I have to bring him out here and walk him like this for half an hour exactly, neither more or less, and then he goes in and has a handful of malt. But I dunno why.’ ‘Well,’ says I, ‘I never heard of that being done before. But he’s a fine colt,’ and I put my hand under the cloth and felt him — hard as nails and smooth as silk.”

  “And the boy let you touch him?”

  “Yes; he struck me as a bit easy for a stable-boy. But it’s an odd trick, isn’t it, that of the half-hour’s walk and the handful of malt? Never hear of anybody else doing it, did you?”

  “No, I never did.”

  They talked and strolled for another quarter of an hour and then finished up with one more drink.

  IV

  THE next was the day before the race, and in the morning Dorrington, making a circuit, came to Mr. Warren Telfer’s from the farther side. As soon as they were assured of privacy: “Have you seen the man with the red beard this morning?” asked Dorrington.

  “No; I looked out pretty sharply, too.”

  “That’s right. If you like to fall in with my suggestions, however, you shall see him at about two o’clock, and take a handsome rise out of him.”

  “Very well,” Mr. Telfer replied. “What’s your suggestion?”

  “I’ll tell you. In the first place, what’s the value of that other horse that looks so like Janissary?”

  “Hamid is his name. He’s worth — well, what he will fetch. I’ll sell him for fifty and be glad of the chance.”

  “Very good. Then you’ll no doubt be glad to risk his health temporarily to make sure of the Redbury Stakes, and to get longer prices for anything you may like to put on between now and tomorrow afternoon. Come to the stables and I’ll tell you. But first, is there a place where we may command a view of the ground behind the stables without being seen?”

  “Yes, there’s a ventilation grating at the back of each stall.”

  “Good! Then we’ll watch from Hamid’s stall, which will be empty. Select your most wooden-faced and most careful boy, and send him out behind the stable with Hamid at two o’clock to the moment. Put the horse in a full suit of clothes — it is necessary to cover up that white star — and tell the lad he must lead it up and down slowly for twenty yards or so. I rather expect the red-bearded man will be coming along between two o’clock and half-past two. You will understand that Hamid is to be Janissary for the occasion. You must drill your boy to appear a bit of a fool, and to overcome his stable education sufficiently to chatter freely — so long as it is the proper chatter. The man may ask the horse’s name, or he may not. Anyway, the boy mustn’t forget it is Janissary he is leading. You have an odd fad, you must know (and the boy must know it too) in the matter of training. This ridiculous fad is to have your colt walked up and down for half an hour exactly at two o’clock every afternoon, and then given a handful of malt as he comes in. The boy can talk as freely about this as he pleases, and also about the colt’s chances, and anything else he likes; and he is to let the stranger come up, talk to the horse, pat him in short, to do as he pleases. Is that plain?”

  “Perfectly. You have found out something about this red-bearded chap then?”

  “Oh, yes — it’s Naylor the bookmaker, as a matter of fact, with a false beard.”

  “What! Naylor?”

  “Yes. You see the idea, of course. Once Naylor thinks he has nobbled the favourite he will lay it to any extent, and the odds will get longer. Then you can make him pay for his little games.”

  “Well, yes, of course. Though I wouldn’t put too much with Naylor in any case. He’s not a big man, and he might break and lose me the lot. But I can get it out of the others.”

  “Just so. You’d better see about schooling your boy now, I think. I’ll tell you more presently.”

  A minute or two before two o’clock Dorrington and Telfer, mounted on a pair of steps, were gazing through the ventilation grating of Hamid’s stall, while the colt, clothed completely, was led around. Then Dorrington described his operations of the previous evening.

  “No matter what he may think of my tale,” he said. “Naylor will be pretty sure to come. He has tried to bribe your stablemen, and has been baffled. Every attempt to get hold of the boy in charge of Janissary has failed, and he will be glad to clutch at any shadow of a chance to save his money now. Once he is here, and the favourite apparently at his mercy, the thing is done. By the way, I expect your nephew’s little present to the man you sacked was a fairly innocent one. No doubt he merely asked the man whether Janissary was keeping well, and was thought good enough to win, for I find he is backing it pretty heavily. Naylor came afterwards, with much less innocent intentions, but fortunately you were down on him in time. Several considerations induced me to go to Naylor’s room. In the first place, I have heard rather shady tales of his doings on one or two occasions, and he did not seem a sufficiently big man to stand to lose a great deal over your horse. Then, when I saw him, I observed that his figure bore a considerable resemblance to that of the man you had described, except as regards the red beard and the spectacles — articles easily enough assumed, and, indeed, often enough used by the scum of the ring whose trade is welshing. And, apart from these considerations, here, at any rate, was one man who had an interest in keeping your colt from winning, and here was his room waiting for me to explore. So I explored it, and the card turned up trumps.”

  As he was speaking, the stable-boy, a stolid-looking youngster, was leading Hamid back and forth on the turf before their eyes.

  “There’s somebody,” said Dorrington suddenly, “over in that clump of trees. Yes — our man, sure enough. I felt pretty sure of him after you had told me that he hadn’t thought it worth while to turn up this morning. Here he comes.”

  Naylor, with his red beard sticking out over the collar of his big coat, came slouching along with an awkwardly assumed air of carelessness and absence of mind.

  “Hullo!” he said suddenly, as he came abreast of the horse, turning as though but now aware of its presence, “that’s a valuable sort of horse, ain’t it, my lad?”