eft Porto Bello in the
Ballinasloe fly-boat, our other hero, Lord Ballindine, and his friend
Dot Blake, started from Morrison's hotel, with post horses, for
Handicap Lodge; and, as they travelled in Blake's very comfortable
barouche, they reached their destination in time for a late dinner,
without either adventure or discomfort. Here they remained for some
days, fully occupied with the education of their horses, the attention
necessary to the engagements for which they were to run, and with their
betting-books.

Lord Ballindine's horse, Brien Boru, was destined to give the Saxons
a dressing at Epsom, and put no one knows how many thousands into his
owner's hands, by winning the Derby; and arrangements had already been
made for sending him over to John Scott, the English trainer, at an
expense, which, if the horse should by chance fail to be successful,
would be of very serious consequence to his lordship. But Lord
Ballindine had made up his mind, or rather, Blake had made it up for
him, and the thing was to be done; the risk was to be run, and the
preparations--the sweats and the gallops, the physicking, feeding, and
coddling, kept Frank tolerably well employed; though the whole process
would have gone on quite as well, had he been absent.

It was not so, however, with Dot Blake. The turf, to him, was not an
expensive pleasure, but a very serious business, and one which, to give
him his due, he well understood. He himself, regulated the work, both
of his horses and his men, and saw that both did what was allotted to
them. He took very good care that he was never charged a guinea, where
a guinea was not necessary; and that he got a guinea's worth for every
guinea he laid out. In fact, he trained his own horses, and was thus
able to assure himself that his interests were never made subservient
to those of others who kept horses in the same stables. Dot was in his
glory, and in his element on the Curragh, and he was never quite happy
anywhere else.

This, however, was not the case with his companion. For a couple of
days the excitement attending Brien Boru was sufficient to fill Lord
Ballindine's mind; but after that, he could not help recurring to other
things. He was much in want of money, and had been civilly told by
his agent's managing clerk, before he left town, that there was some
difficulty in the way of his immediately getting the sum required. This
annoyed him, for he could not carry on the game without money