The Penguin Book of the British Short Story, Volume 1 by Philip Hensher

Author:Philip Hensher
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141979281
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2015-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

‘We scratched our other one and put all hopes on your word,’ said the colonel. ‘Why, what is that? Silver Blaze favourite?’

‘Five to four against Silver Blaze!’ roared the ring. ‘Five to four against Silver Blaze! Five to fifteen against Desborough! Five to four on the field!’

‘There are the numbers up,’ I cried. ‘They are all six there.’

‘All six there? Then my horse is running,’ cried the colonel in great agitation. ‘But I don’t see him. My colours have not passed.’

‘Only five have passed. This must be he.’

As I spoke a powerful bay horse swept out from the weighing enclosure and cantered past us, bearing on its back the well-known black and red of the colonel.

‘That’s not my horse,’ cried the owner. ‘That beast has not a white hair upon its body. What is this that you have done, Mr Holmes?’

‘Well, well, let us see how he gets on,’ said my friend imperturbably. For a few minutes he gazed through my field-glass. ‘Capital! An excellent start!’ he cried suddenly. ‘There they are, coming round the curve!’

From our drag we had a superb view as they came up the straight. The six horses were so close together that a carpet could have covered them, but halfway up the yellow of the Mapleton stable showed to the front. Before they reached us, however, Desborough’s bolt was shot, and the colonel’s horse, coming away with a rush, passed the post a good six lengths before its rival, the Duke of Balmoral’s Iris making a bad third.

‘It’s my race, anyhow,’ gasped the colonel, passing his hand over his eyes. ‘I confess that I can make neither head nor tail of it. Don’t you think that you have kept up your mystery long enough, Mr Holmes?’

‘Certainly, Colonel, you shall know everything. Let us all go round and have a look at the horse together. Here he is,’ he continued as we made our way into the weighing enclosure, where only owners and their friends find admittance. ‘You have only to wash his face and his leg in spirits of wine, and you will find that he is the same old Silver Blaze as ever.’

‘You take my breath away!’

‘I found him in the hands of a faker and took the liberty of running him just as he was sent over.’

‘My dear sir, you have done wonders. The horse looks very fit and well. It never went better in its life. I owe you a thousand apologies for having doubted your ability. You have done me a great service by recovering my horse. You would do me a greater still if you could lay your hands on the murderer of John Straker.’

‘I have done so,’ said Holmes quietly.

The colonel and I stared at him in amazement. ‘You have got him! Where is he, then?’

‘He is here.’

‘Here! Where?’

‘In my company at the present moment.’

The colonel flushed angrily. ‘I quite recognize that I am under obligations to you, Mr Holmes,’ said he, ‘but I must regard what you have just said as either a very bad joke or an insult.

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