I could
not brook life if I had no excitement. It is my very blood. Yet, think
not my words are false as dicers' oaths," and waved his right hand with
a lordly gesture, I thought, "An old actor, for certain." So long as his
senses remained he talked shrewdly about betting, and his remarks were
free from the mingled superstition and rascality which make ordinary
racing talk so odious; but when he began to drink rapidly he soon became
violent, and finished by carrying on like a madman. He shouted passages
from "Hamlet" and "Coriolanus" with ear-splitting fervour, and at last
he drew a universal protest from the rest of our crew, who are
certainly not sensitive. Then his yell grew maudlin. "Why did God make
me thus? Why do I grunt and sweat under the burden of a weary life? Give
me, ah, give me the days that are gone!" Then he fell alongside of the
bench, and presently his long, gurgling snore sounded fitfully. "Let him
sweat there till closing time; he'll be quiet enough," said Mr.
Landlord; and sure enough the orator lay until the hour had struck.
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