Then the silence was broken by a sharp crack. Ralph Bingham had
broken his mashie-niblick across his knee. From the direction where
Arthur Jukes was standing there came a muffled gulp.
"Shall I ask him?" said Amanda Trivett.
"Don't bother," said Ralph Bingham.
"It doesn't matter," said Arthur Jukes.
8
_The Heel of Achilles_
On the young man's face, as he sat sipping his ginger-ale in the
club-house smoking-room, there was a look of disillusionment. "Never
again!" he said.
The Oldest Member glanced up from his paper.
"You are proposing to give up golf once more?" he queried.
"Not golf. Betting on golf." The Young Man frowned. "I've just been let
down badly. Wouldn't you have thought I had a good thing, laying seven
to one on McTavish against Robinson?"
"Undoubtedly," said the Sage. "The odds, indeed, generous as they are,
scarcely indicate the former's superiority. Do you mean to tell me that
the thing came unstitched?"
"Robinson won in a walk, after being three down at the turn.
"Strange! What happened?"
"Why, they looked in at the bar to have a refresher before starting for
the tenth," said the young man, his voice quivering, "and McTavish
suddenly discovered that there was a hole in his trouser-pocket and
sixpence had dropped out.
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