To him the grey, and pink, and melancholy gold only brought up visions of
a race at Epsom or Flemington--generally Flemington, where the staring
Australian sun pours down on an emerald course, on a score of horses
straining upon the start, the colours of the jockeys' coats and caps
changing in the struggle like a kaleidoscope, and making strange
harmonies of colour. The comparison between the mountains of Egypt and a
race-course might seem most absurd, if one did not remember that the
bookmaker had his own standards, and that he thought he was paying
unusual honour to the land of the Fellah. Clovelly plaintively said, as
he drank his hock and seltzer, that the bookmaker was hourly saving his
life; and Colonel Ryder admitted at last that Kentucky never produced
anything quite like him.
The evening before we came to the Suez Canal I was walking with Miss
Treherne and her father. I had seen Galt Roscoe in conversation with Mrs.
Falchion. Presently I saw him rise to go away. A moment after, in
passing, I was near her. She sprang up, caught my arm, and pointed
anxiously. I looked, and saw Galt Roscoe swaying as he walked.
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