ways, he had at least this advantage over the bulk
of his brother-men: that he was not hampered by scruples, principles,
or tradition.

At thirty his beauty was already on the wane. He was faded, fat, and
tarnished; and already he was visibly going to pieces.

The end, which had been preparing in the deeps for years, came suddenly.

The story was an old one: that of one woman and two men. The three had
driven back from Ascot in a hansom together. There was supper, drink,
and trouble at the lady's flat. The other man got a knife in him, and
Joses got five years.

When he came out, he resumed his old haunts and earned a precarious
living by watching. He was almost the only watcher who could write, and
his eye for a horse's form was phenomenally good. It was in those days
that he came into touch with his future employers.

With an acute sense for those who could serve them, the Three J's
realised at once that this man was on a different level to that of other
watchers. They financed him liberally, advanced him money, and held a
cheque to which in a moment of aberration Joses had signed Ikey
Aaronsohnn's name. And he in his turn served them well if not
faithfully.

When Chukkers rode the famous International that established him once
and for all in a class by himself among cross-country riders, snatching
an astounding victory on Hooka-burra from Lady Golightly, his win and
the way he rode his race was largely due to Joses's report on the
favourite's staying power.

"She'll gallop three and three-quarter miles at top speed," he had said,
"and then bust like a bladder. Bustle her all the way, and yours'll beat
her from the last fence."

When Joses was put away for incendiarism, the Three J's missed him far
more than they would have cared to admit. They had two bad seasons in
succession, and a worse followed. At the end of the third Chukkers, for
the first time for seven years, no longer headed the list of winning
jockeys.

Then Ikey carried off his jockey to the States to break his luck.

It was on this visit, at some old-fashioned meeting in the Southern
States, so the story went, Chukkers discovered the mare from Blue
Mounds. All the world knows to-day how she re-established her jockey's
fame and made her own.

When, after an unforgettable season in Australia, he returned to England
with the American mare, the pair had never been beaten. And in the Old
Country they repeated the performance of Australia. Toget