The appearance of the race was now considerably altered. Fandango dropped into the rear at once--there was nothing more for him to do in the absence of his stable-companion, and indeed he had shot his bolt ere half the distance was accomplished. The pace decreased slightly after the accident to St. George, and as they bounded over the wall, nearly together, not a man on the course doubted but that the contest lay between the first three--Satanella, Leprauchan, and Shaneen. Of these, the mare so far as could be judged by spectators in the stand, seemed freshest and fullest of running. Already they were laying a trifle of odds on her in the Ring.
Now Daisy had planned the whole thing out in his own mind, and hitherto all had gone exactly as he wished. In Satanella's staying powers he had implicit confidence, and he intended, from the first, that if he could have the race run to suit him, he would win it about a mile from home. After crossing the wall, therefore, he came away faster than ever, the leaps were easy, the ground inclined in his favour, and he rattled along at a pace that was telling visibly on Leprauchan, who nevertheless kept abreast of him, while little Shaneen, lying four lengths behind, neither lessened nor increased his distance from the leaders, but galloped doggedly on, in exactly the same form as when he started.
"Never saw a steeple-chase run so fast!" said everybody in the stand. "Why, the time will be as good as the Liverpool."
"It _can't_ go on!" thought Leprauchan's jockey, feeling the chestnut beginning to roll, while pulling more than ever. "If I can but keep alongside, she _must_ run herself out, and there's nothing else left in the race."
But his whip was up when they made their turn for a run in, and he landed over his last fence with a scramble that lost him at least a length.
"Leprauchan's beat!" shouted the crowd. "Satanella wins! It's all over--it's a moral. The mare for a million! The mare! The mare!!"
Blanche Douglas turned pale as death, and Norah Macormac began to cry.
Satanella was approaching the distance with Leprauchan beat off, and Shaneen a length behind.
Here occurred one of those casualties which no amount of care avails to prevent, nor of caution to foresee.
