The affair of Prime Minister and the nail was not allowed to fade away into obscurity. Through September and October it was made matter for pungent¹ inquiry². The Jockey Club was alive. Mr. Pook was very instant,—with many Pookites anxious to free themselves from suspicion. Sporting men declared that the honour of the turf required that every detail of the case should be laid open. But by the end of October, though every detail had been surmised³, nothing had in truth been discovered. Nobody doubted but that Tifto had driven the nail into the horse's foot, and that Green and Gilbert Villiers had shared the bulk of the plunder⁴. They had gone off on their travels together, and the fact that each of them had been in possession of about twenty thousand pounds was proved. But then there is no law against two gentlemen having such a sum of money. It was notorious that Captain Green and Mr. Gilbert Villiers had enriched themselves to this extent by the failure of Prime Minister. But yet nothing was proved!

That the Major had either himself driven in the nail or seen it done, all racing⁵ men were agreed. He had been out with the horse in the morning and had been the first to declare that the animal was lame⁶. And he had been with the horse till the farrier had come. But he had concocted⁷ a story for himself. He did not dispute that the horse had been lamed⁸ by the machinations of Green and Villiers,—with the assistance of the groom⁹. No doubt, he said, these men, who had been afraid to face an inquiry, had contrived¹⁰ and had carried out the

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