e end of which they stationed Mr. Varju
with a red flag: this was the goal. At the other end the horsemen were
arranged in a row, having previously drawn their places by lot, and so
that the gentry might survey the race from their carriages in the most
comfortable manner possible. The course was a thousand paces in length.

Master Jock was just about to signify, by a wave of his gold-headed
cane, that the mortars were to be fired--the third report was to be the
signal for the race to begin--when far away on the _puszta_ a young
horseman was seen approaching at full tilt, cracking his whip loudly,
and galloping in the direction of the competitors. On reaching the two
jurors--and he was not long about that--he reined up, and, whipping off
his cap, briefly expressed the wish to compete for the Whitsun
Kingship.

"Don't ask me who or what I am. If I am beaten I shall simply go on my
way, but if I win I shall remain here," was all that the jurors could
get in answer to their questions. Nobody knew the youth. He was a
handsome, ruddy young fellow of about six and twenty, with a little
spiral moustache twisted upwards in _betyar_ fashion, flowing curly
locks gathered up into a top-knot, black flashing eyes, and a bold
expressive mouth, slight of build, but muscular and supple. His dress
was rustic, but simple almost to affectation; you would not have found a
seal on his white bulging shirt, search as you might, and he wore his
cap, with a tuft of meadow-sweet in it, as gallantly as any cavalier.

Wherever he might have got the steed on which he sat, it was a splendid
animal--a restive Transylvanian full-blood, with tail and mane long and
strong reaching to the ground; not for an instant could it remain quiet,
but danced and pranced continually.

They made him draw lots, and then placed him in a line with the rest.

At last the signal-guns were fired. At the first thundering report the
steeds began to rear and plunge; at the second they grew quite still,
alertly pricking up their ears; one or two of the old racers slightly
pawed the ground. Then the third report sounded, and the same instant
the whole row plunged forward into the arena.

Five or six immediately forged ahead of the rest. These were the more
impetuous horsemen, who are wont to spur their horses to the front at
the outset, only to fall behind afterwards: among them was the
last-comer also. The Whitsun King was in the centre group; now and then
he snapped his