observed that Rutolo was
watching him, and a tremor ran through him from head to foot.

The bell gave the signal, but Brummel was off too soon and the start was
no good. The second time too they made a false start, and again through
Brummel's fault. Sperelli and the duke exchanged a furtive smile.

The third start was successful. Brummel instantly detached himself from
the group and swept along by the palings. The other three horses
followed abreast for a moment or so, and cleared the first hurdle and
then the second very well. Each of the three riders played a different
game. The Duke di Beffi tried to keep with the group, so that Satirist
might be induced to follow the example of the other horses at the
obstacles; Caligaro moderated Carbonilla's pace in order to save up her
strength for the last five hundred yards. Sperelli increased his speed
gradually with the intention of catching up with his adversary in the
neighbourhood of the most difficult obstacle. In effect, Mallecho soon
distanced his two companions and began to press Brummel very closely.

Rutolo heard the rapidly approaching hoof-thuds behind him and was
seized with such nervousness that his sight seemed to fail him.
Everything swam before his eyes as if he were on the point of swooning.
He made a frightful effort to keep his spurs at his horse's sides,
overcome by terror at the thought that his senses might leave him. There
was a muffled roar in his ears, and through that roar he caught the
hard, clear sound of Andrea Sperelli's 'Hi!'

More susceptible to the voice than any other mode of urging, Mallecho
simply devoured the intervening space; he was not more than two or three
lengths behind Brummel--was on the point of joining--of passing him.

'Hi!'

A high barrier intersected the course. Rutolo actually did not see it,
having lost all sense of his surroundings, and only preserved a furious
instinct to remain glued to his horse and force it along, never mind
how. Brummel jumped, but receiving no aid from his rider, caught his
hind legs against the barrier, and came down so awkwardly on the other
side that the rider lost his stirrups, without, however, coming out of
the saddle, and he continued to run. Andrea Sperelli now took the lead,
Giannetto Rutolo, without having recovered his stirrups, being second,
with Paolo Caligaro close upon his heels; the duke, retarded by a
refusal from Satirist, came last. In this order they passed the grand
stand. T