by S G Read
Gus settled down in the back of the chaise he planned to sleep while William was at the races, that way he would not be tempted to put a bet on himself, as he thought it was a mug's game. William nodded to him and, after looking to make sure nothing was coming, started to follow the others towards the racetrack. There was a steady stream of people even though it was an hour before the first race and he wondered where they were headed.
He soon found out, there was a bar with food and drink, all at high cost, for the punters to purchase. As they all looked wealthy, it seemed just the thing to do to get more money out of them for their day at the races. With only his five pound note and three pence William was not about to spend any money until he had bet on the first race and won. He had no idea what odds the horse would be at and, not being a betting man, he did not know a lot about it. He did know about starting prices and the odds you could get betting on the horse earlier, as long as you made sure they were not going to stitch you up with starting prices if the horse won.
The bookies were still setting up their stands, there were more than one and they all had their own little stand or box. Except for bookmaker who actually had an office in one of the buildings on the course. He helped to make the course more profitable and William smiled at that, this time he would be less profitable than he usually was, as William was going to win. Just to make sure that one of the other bookies did not stitch him up he decided to bet with the course bookie for the first race, that way he knew he would get paid out even if he ended up with starting prices.
He found a seat and sat down, pulling out his list just to make sure which horse he was going to back but he made sure no one else saw the list, as it was printed and then copied. Even the paper could be a giveaway as it was modern paper. He put that safely in his pocket, out of sight. While he stood there a man set up a large board in front of him and started writing the horses for the first race on it. William was pleased to see the name of his horse written down in front of him, later on the man added odds to the list.
Now William watched with interest and when he reached his horse and wrote 8 to 1 by it he multiplied his fiver by eight and ended up with £40. That was how much he thought he would end up with, although he had yet to do it. Soon after the odds were up and men were lining up to place their bets at both the course bookie and the other bookies who were dotted among the crowd, William came to a decision. It would be the full five which should earn him £40, he stood up, walked up to the course bookie and joined the queue.
Some were betting with pounds others with fivers but he did not see any bets smaller than a pound although some toffs used guineas instead of paper notes, whether it was to show off or it was all they had William did not know but it was still money. He reached the window and clearly said the name of his horse and how much he wanted to bet then walked away, with just a slip of paper. There, he had taken the plunge, all he needed now was for his records to be correct or he would be betting with three pence if he could find someone to take the bet.
He found an empty chair, as someone had already sat in the chair that he had been sitting in, he made himself as comfortable as possible and sat watching as the horses milled about prior to the start. When they race finally started he, like a lot of other people, were out of their chair to see what happened. High on a platform a man was commentating on the race but this was not modern commentating with a microphone, he was just using his voice and making it as loud as possible.
William had wondered why this chair remained empty, he found out, as now he found it very hard to see the race, all he could do was to listen to the man and hope that at the end of the race he announced Coronation as the winner. He would have liked to watch the race but was happy enough when the booming voice announced that Coronation had won. He returned to his chair so that the crowds might clear, before he went up to collect his winnings.
At the betting window the queue built up and he smiled, he was right to wait. He kept a firm hold of his piece of paper which would net him, hopefully, £40 but that was to be seen. He watched the queue diminish and then wondering how big the bets that were winning were, he decided to join the queue even though it was still quite long. Just to hear what was going on. After listening for some time as the queue diminished he learnt that his £40 win was not a lot compared with some. He was happy with that as she did not want to stand out as a big winner, he did not want to draw any comments at all from anyone.
When it was his turn he presented his piece of paper and was given his winnings, indeed he was paid £40 and his stake was returned, which gave him £45 to spend on the next races. He pushed it into his coat pocket, the inside coat pocket, just to make it difficult for any pickpockets who happened to be about then returned to his chair which was still empty and now he knew why. He settled to watch the man as he wiped the names off the board and wrote the runners down for the next race. He watched and read each name until the man wrote Quicksilver down, that was the horse he was going to bet on. He remained seated and waited for the odds to come up, he now planned to use to other bookies to lay bets of £10 with each bookie to increase his money.
When the man returned and wrote the odds down he saw that Quicksilver was at 10/1 which meant each bet would net him £100. He smiled at the thought but then wondered if that was too much but remembering what some of the young toffs were walking away with from the betting window he dismissed it. The decision made he found two bookies and placed his bet, not walking one to the other but choosing to go to one, walk away in the opposite direction than he wanted then to gradually make his way to the second one. With his bets placed he returned to his seat to wait for the race to begin, he would leap out of his seat again to try and see but assumed that he would probably not see much of the race, especially when they neared the winning post. That was when the people near the winning post were all out of their seats, or off their shooting sticks, trying to see if their horse passed the line first.
The race began and people were out of their seats at the start crowding the rail trying to watch the race. William was among them, this time trying to find advantage point, although he was considering climbing on the platform with the man who was commentating but thought better of it. This time he found a place where he could see most of the race and watched until they neared the line, it was then that the horses disappeared in a sea of people.
All he could do now was to listen to the man with the booming voice so rather than try to watch the horses finish he turned to watch the man as by now everyone near the finishing line was shouting encouragement to their horse. William had to strain his ears to hear what the man said but he picked out Quicksilver as the winner and William smiled. It was silly really, he knew that Quicksilver won the race before it started so why was the worried but on reflection, he thought it was better as he looked as though he did not know the outcome.
This time, just in case one of the bookies did a runner he hurried to the first one to be early in the line only to find that he was the only one there. The bookie was smiling when he paid him out his hundred pounds and William realised why, that was the only bet on Quicksilver with this bookie and he had made a killing. The other bookie has not fared so well he was busily paying out winnings so William walked away, looking at scenery as he went and finally ended up in the queue.
He could not tell what the book he was thinking as he paid out the winnings but William could see after the bookie paid him out that the man still had a lot of money in his bag. William returned to his seat and sat waiting for the man to scrub the board clean and write up on the new list of runners. It appeared that it was common to return the stake money and as he was not normally a betting man it came as a surprise. The only time he bet was with scratch cards and if you won on them you only were paid the winnings and did not get your one pound back. He calculated that he now had £245 in his pocket and was on his way to his target of £500. That was all he wanted to win today. He had seen others walk away with £500 in one go and hoped to st
ay under the radar by winning little amounts with more than one bookie.
The next two races were just the same as the previous races he bet in two places £10 on the winner in the first race which brought him up to £400 and then did the same in the next race which gave him £550 in his pocket. He contemplated betting on a horse that would lose in the next race but when the list of runners was written on the board there were only four and when the odds were written next to them the winner was at 2 to 1 on, not a good bet. It meant that for every £10 bet he would only receive five pounds and his stake money which made it barely worthwhile unless he bet it all. As he had enough money already he decided to go and find Gus.
He stood up and suddenly realised that he was hungry and thirsty, he also knew that he could afford their exorbitant prices so he walked into the eating area, found a seat and had something to eat and drink. He also sent food out for Gus with a flagon of ale. While he ate the rest were getting ready for the next race and he thought that this was as good a time as any to go, assuming that Gus could get out of the field they had parked in.
He ate his food and supped his ale while the rest hurried their food and then rushed out to see the start of the race. William finished eating and drank the rest of his ale then walked through the door that the waitress had carried Gus’s food and drink through. He did not know whether he was allowed to go through it, he just walked through and out into the car park, not that there were any cars parked there, that would have drawn a few looks. He reflected on that, thinking that if you bought the television screen big enough to take a car through that would really draw some looks until it ran out of petrol. He smiled as he walked over to where Gus was feeding the horse, he had eaten his food, drunk his ale and now he was looking after the horse.
‘Thanks for the food William.’ Gus said when he saw him.
‘No problem Gus I thought you might be hungry,’ William answered, ‘I have done all I want to do here so when you’ve fed the horse we can be on our way.’
‘Aren’t they in the middle of a race?’ Gus asked.
‘They are but the odds are very short and I've done quite well, there's more chance of me losing now than there is of me winning as I have had some luck so far.’ William answered.
‘Well as soon as Bella has eaten we can be off, there is nothing in the way I made sure of that when we came in, I hate it when you have to get someone to move their plush carriage just so that you can get your little chaise out, so after everyone parked I moved to a better spot.’ Gus answered.
William settled into the Chaise to wait while Bella the horse munched on her oats or whatever was in her nose bag. Gus chose to brush the horse while she was eating or it meant he just stood there and waited or sat in the chaise next to his customer. That was unheard of, even though it was William sitting in the cab. The noise at the racetrack grew to a crescendo and then stopped and both of them knew that the race had ended, William already knew what the winner was so he did not bother to check.
The horse finished eating and Gus removed the feeding bag, put it in the back of the chaise, a bit like the boot of a car and jumped into the driving seat ready to go.
‘Back to the tavern is it?’ He asked.
‘I was thinking of trying to rent the building across the road you’ve probably seen me looking in there, it's a bit dusty at the moment but it will clean up and I need a base, somewhere to hang my hat as they say, even though I don't wear one.’ William answered. ‘Do you know who owns it or who controls the letting?’
‘The man you want to see as Edward Lott!’ Gus answered.
‘Do you know where he lives?’ William asked.
‘I do, do you want to go there on the way back, as we are early?’ Gus asked.
‘Will he be open for business?’ William asked.
‘He is always open for business.’ Gus answered.
‘Then the answer is yes please, Gus.’ William replied.
The racecourse was preparing for the last race of the day when Gus drove out of the carriage park, this time there was little traffic as no one had yet moved and they made good time back into the heart of London, for Gus it was the heart of London, it was where he lived. William settled back to enjoy the ride but every now and then he peered round the side of the chaise to see if anyone was following them but each time he saw no one. They drove to a street that William did not recognise and Gus stopped front of a large house.
‘I take it this is the place?’ William asked but it was a rhetorical question.
Gus merely pointed to the door William should knock on, as there were 3 to choose from. William climbed out of the cab, walked up to the door and knocked. A maid opened the door.
‘Good afternoon sir, are you here to see Mr Lott?’ She asked.
‘I am,’ William answered, ‘is he in?’
‘Oh yes I will show you to the library.’ The maid replied.
William was shown into the library and the maid took his coat, to hang it in the hallway while he was in the house. William did not sit down as he had not been invited to but stood waiting until Edward Lott walked into the room.
‘Good afternoon how can I help?’ He asked in a pleasant manner.
‘I believe that you have control over the empty premises in Tooley Street,’ William answered, ‘I am looking to rent somewhere and that could be the ideal location, if it is available for rent.’
‘I do have a building Tooley Street and it is empty and therefore available to rent for the right price of course.’ Edward answered.
‘And what price would that be?’ William asked.
Edward went to a bureau and opened the flap on the front to turn it into a desk, in the desk was a book. He opened the book, flicked through the pages until he came to the right page and read what it said. There was a slight delay while he read it and then he answered the question.
‘As it has been empty for some time now, the owner would be happy with 10 shillings per week paid by calendar month which would be two pounds per month on most months but £2.10 shillings on other months to make the total come up to £26 per year.’ Edward explained.
‘And can we deal with that today, Mr Lott?’ William asked.
‘We can but I do need two month’s rent in advance.’ Edward answered.
William counted out £26 using 5 of his 5 pound notes and one pound from his change from his meal at the Epsom racecourse restaurant.
‘That will cover the first year but I will need a tenancy agreement in writing just to prove I have paid it, oh, and a receipt.’ William explained.
‘I will write a receipt out now and you will have the tenancy agreement first thing in the morning.’ Edward replied and started writing out a receipt.
When William walked out he was the proud tenant of the house. He walked to the chaise, climbed in and they were on their way back to the Tooley Street Tavern.
Gus pulled up outside of the Tavern and William climbed out of the chaise, the last bit of the journey had been reasonably short but it was still nice to climb out and walk about.
‘Can I buy you something to eat in Goliath's tavern?’ He asked as Gus was still sitting in the driving seat.
‘I never turn down food,’ Gus answered, ‘especially if there is a beer to go with it.’
‘With Goliath there is always a beer to go with it that comes in the price as you well know.’ William answered.
William walked into Tavern and for once Goliath smiled when he saw William, William smiled back and walked up to the bar. He pulled out one of his five pound notes and laid it on the bar.
‘From now on I would like to run up the tab but in reverse, here is five pounds and when I have nearly spent it, if you would be so kind as to let me know I will give you another one, that way I will never been in debt.’ He announced.
‘You don't have to do that you know William I am quite happy to let you have and drink on the tab and you can pay me back when you have it.’ The last answered.
‘No Goliath, I
just don't like to be in debt,’ William replied, ‘so we'll do it my way let me know when this fiver is close to being spent and I will give you another one if I have one at the time.’
‘As you wish William.’ Goliath answered.
Goliath took the fiver and put it in the box he kept his money in behind the counter. At that point Gus walked in having finished looking after the horse, it would have a full groom when he took it home but for now Bella was happy enough.
‘I want a meal and a pint for me and Gus,’ William announced, ‘will you join us in a meal and a pint Goliath?’
‘Things are so slow here, so I might as well,’ Goliath answered, ‘you are the first customers in here for an hour.’
‘And you Gus,’ William declared, ‘you have served me well today and I am grateful.’
He took out another fiver and gave it to Gus.
‘I do not want any change I think you did exceptionally well and it was a nice journey.’ He added.
Gus looked at the fiver and spluttered a little bit but in the end he slipped it into his pocket gratefully.
The three men sat at a table, talked, drank and ate. When a customer came in, Goliath served them then returned to the table and they talked some more. They drank another pint then another and by the time William returned to his flat, he was almost drunk. He had learnt a lot about Gus and Goliath as they talked, Gus lived in the building which was behind the pub. To get to his house he had to take the chaise up the road turn left and follow the alley to the back of the pub to where the stable and his house above the stable was. Despite Goliath owning the Tavern, he was not a rich man, there was not a lot of money coming in and as he could not count or write very well he was not making a lot of money. William immediately offered the looked over his books with the possibility of making suggestions and Goliath was quite happy for him to do so. He explained that his wife had done all the book work when she was alive, since she died he had done very little except cook food and sell the beer which he brewed himself.