baa-lamb?"

And so _Hands off and no Hanky-Panky_ was the war-chaunt of the young
American bloods whom great Cunarders vomited on to the docks at
Liverpool and P.-and-O.'s landed at Tilbury to join the Ikey's Own, who
had been on watch throughout the winter.

* * * * *

The National always takes place on the Friday of Aintree week.

All the week special trains were running Liverpool-ward from the ends of
the British Isles. London, Glasgow, Cardiff, and Plymouth each sent
their contingents speeding north on the same engrossing errand. All day
and night people were turning out in their thousands, hanging over
bridges, lining railway embankments, to see the great engines with the
Kangaroo bound to their buffer-plates coming through, yes, and cheering
them.

The Boys in the corridor trains stood at the windows with folded arms,
watched the waving crowds grimly, and winked at each other.

They had a profound admiration for John Bull's capacity for roguery, and
an equally profound belief in their own ability to go one better.

Last year J.B. had bested them--and they thought all the better of him
for it. This year they meant to get their own back--and a bit more.

_We are coming, Uncle Ikey, we are coming millions strong,
For to see the haughty English don't do our Ikey wrong,_

they sang out of the windows with provocative enjoyment.

The people waving on the embankments were in fact innocent of crime,
committed or conceived. They had no champion of their own, and with a
certain large simplicity they hailed as theirs the mare who had crossed
the seas to trample on them.

Liverpool made holiday for the occasion.

The Corporation feasted its American visitors, while the big ship-owners
gave a dance at the Wellington Rooms.

The Adelphi Hotel was the headquarters of the Beyond-the-Seas folk, and
it was full to overflowing. In the huge dining-room, where every year
the Waterloo Cup dinner is held, there was an immense muster the night
before the race. Lord Milburn, the Prime Minister, was there, with the
Mayor of Liverpool on his left, and the American Ambassador upon his
right. One famous Ex-President of the Great Republic was present, and
many of the most distinguished citizens of the two countries; Ikey
Aaronsohnn with his eternal twinkle, was there, and Jaggers looking like
a Church of England Bishop. Chukkers alone was absent. And he was lying
low upstairs, i