“Like you, Master Jason,” Henry said, “I’ve put the word out that any attempt to harm Dodger or our jockey will lead to unpleasant consequences.”
“At the very least.”
Henry grinned. “I heard ye were more specific than that when you put out the warning, Master Jason.”
“Yes, a bit more. We will see if anyone is foolish enough to test me. Keep your eyes sharp, Henry.” Jason looked out now over the dozen horses coming up to the starting line, most of them bucking and rearing.
Charles Grandison’s Ganymede stamped his right front hoof over and over again. Ganymede was favored to win the race, which pleased both Hallie and Jason, as they stood to make a good deal of money with a victory, what with the four-to-one odds the bookies had set. And all because Dodger was an unknown. He’d had made his name in Baltimore, not here in England.
Ganymede, two horses down the line from Dodger, continued his stamping. Jason watched Dodger’s ears flick back and forth. It didn’t appear to make him uneasy, unlike the big gelding between Dodger and Ganymede who was rolling his eyes, his jockey trying to calm him and failing. That was it, Jason thought, the hoof-stamping was to intimidate.
Lamplighter, Lord Grimsby’s huge bay Thoroughbred, was snorting so loudly the horse beside him tried to back away.
At last, the moment of truth. Lorry sent Hallie and Jason a salute with his whip, hugged himself to Dodger’s neck, held him steady and calm, stroking his neck, speaking quietly to him, until Mr. Wesley shouted, “Go!”
Then he stretched himself out, kicked Dodger lightly in the ribs, touched his whip to Dodger’s ears. The dozen horses kicked and bucked and heaved forward. Whips slashed down, horses slammed into each other, trying to take over space, jockeys shoved and kicked out at other jockeys. The ground was dry, and dust flew thick in the air. Lorry, prepared, pulled his handkerchief up over his nose.
Dodger, as was his wont, kept his head down, all his attention on covering that track. Lorry, coached by Jason for hours, continued to hold himself low over Dodger’s neck-“eating his sweat”-and ignored the other horses.
“Keep his head down, Lorry,” Jason said over and over again. “Yes, that’s it.” He was squeezing Hallie’s hand hard. Suddenly Jason saw a flash of silver from the corner of his eye, not twenty feet away, off to his left, from the copse of oak trees beside the track. He’d seen it before at the Hinckley racetrack outside Baltimore -it was the silver of a gun stock glinting off the sun when the man brought it up to fire. Jason yelled to Henry, but he didn’t hear him, his eyes on Dodger. Jason picked up a good-sized rock, prayed, and hurled it. He didn’t hear anything over the crowd noise, in fact, none of the people standing near him even noticed what he’d done, but the gun stock suddenly disappeared.
“That was an excellent throw,” Hallie said, holding his arm tightly. “I wonder which jockey the poltroon was going to shoot?”
Horace, one of the stable lads, sixty years old, hoary and seamed and agile as a mountain goat, yelled, “Ye got ’im! I’ll see to the blighter, Master Jason!”
“Dodger’s gaining on Lamplighter,” Hallie yelled. “He’s going to get him, I know it. Lamplighter is fast, damn his eyes. Run, Dodger, run!”
Lamplighter, the big muscled bay Thoroughbred from Lord Grimsby’s stable, had taken the lead from the start.
Hallie grabbed Jason’s hand, yelling, “Dodger, come on, Dodger,” over and over again.
“It’s the fourth lap. Dodger will make his break, any second now,” Jason said, and held his breath. The field was close, the horses nearly on top of one another the track was so narrow at this point. Nothing but yelling, louder and louder, but Jason didn’t hear them. He was concentrating on Dodger and on Lorry Dale riding so low on his neck they almost looked like one. It was time.
Charles Grandison’s Ganymede was moving up on Dodger’s left side. Unless Dodger could get past Lamplighter, he’d be trapped between the two horses, a favorite ploy.
“You’ve got to move up, Dodger. Run.”
“He’s head to head with Lamplighter,” Jason said, “Dodger’s got to get ahead of him.” But Dodger wasn’t past Lamplighter when Ganymede’s jockey managed to pull alongside Dodger and began to press inward. Jason thought he’d never breathe again. Suddenly Mr. Blaystock’s Brutus was directly behind Dodger, sweat spuming off his neck. He looked mean and vicious and as strong as the Devil. Lord Renfrew and the young lady were yelling their heads off, her father as well, looking nearly apoplectic. Charles Grandison stood quietly, his hands fisted at his sides, his eyes on Ganymede. His lips were moving.
Jason clearly heard the girl’s father yell, “Bite him, Brutus, bite him now!”
Elgin yelled, “No, use your whip! The whip!”
Bite? What was this? The horse couldn’t get past the wedge of three, all of them so close together, keeping the rest of the pack behind them, until one of them broke to the lead, or the middle horse was squeezed out. Brutus’s jockey leaned forward, and slashed his whip on the flanks of all three horses. He nearly overbalanced when he struck Lamplighter, but held on, and kept slashing.
Lorry Dale, unlike the other two jockeys, didn’t look back, kept his head down, kept talking to Dodger. In the next moment, Lamplighter moved to his right to escape the jockey’s whip. It gave Dodger a precious second and he pulled quickly ahead of both Lamplighter and Ganymede, a half length now. Brutus came between Lamplighter and Ganymede, running hard, harder, moving ahead of them, only Dodger in his path now.
“BITE HIM, BRUTUS!”
Brutus stretched out his neck and bit Dodger on his flank.
Dodger’s ears flattened, his tail slashed in Brutus’s face, and he put his head down and ran hard.
Ganymede’s jockey kicked out at Lamplighter’s jockey, his boot connecting with his leg. If a jockey didn’t practice this, he’d go flying off his horse’s back with one good hard kick, but Lord Grimsby’s jockey held on tight. Then Ganymede’s jockey raised his whip and brought it down hard on Brutus’s rump. Brutus, enraged, ignored his jockey, kicked out his hind legs, slowing him down, but he missed Ganymede, who was now beside him, pushing forward.
Once again Lamplighter and Ganymede came up on either side of Dodger and tried to press inward again, crowding him. Lamplighter’s jockey struck his whip out at Lorry then again at Dodger. Dodger screamed and reared, and Jason watched Ganymede pull ahead. Lorry appeared rattled. Jason knew the blow from the whip must hurt. He’d taught Lorry what to do and stood there, helplessly, praying that Lorry would remember, that he’d act before Ganymede. Lorry Dale stood straight up in the saddle, kicked out his left leg and connected with Ganymede’s jockey. The jockey went flying. Ganymede veered in front of two horses and the three of them tangled to the shouts of their jockeys toward the side of the race course.
Lord Grimsby’s Lamplighter was closing again on Dodger, but the finish line was close now. Almost there, almost.
There was a popping sound.
It was a gun firing, Jason thought blankly, and watched in disbelief as Lorry grabbed his right arm. But he didn’t fall. He tucked himself closer to Dodger’s neck. To Jason’s surprise, very few of the spectators appeared to know one of the jockeys had been shot.
Jason’s hands were fisted at his sides as he watched Dodger run nose-to-nose with Lamplighter. Time slowed, seemed to stop altogether. Then Jason smiled as Dodger stretched out his powerful neck and shot forward. He sped over the finish line a full half-length in front of Lamplighter. Brutus came in third, for which there was no prize money at all.
He heard a loud curse from Lord Grimsby, a yell of fury from Mr. Blaystock, and nothing at all from Charles Grandison. Was that weeping he heard from Lord Renfrew?
CHAPTER 36
