The betting was furious; a few hard-faced, well-dressed men did their
wagering quietly and to heavy amounts, but the mob yelled and squabbled
and cursed after their usual manner, and they were all ready to drink
when we returned. This is a fair description of rabbit coursing, and I
leave influential persons to decide as to whether or no it is a useful
or improving form of entertainment. I have my doubts, but must be
severely impartial. I will say this, however, that if any one of us had
spent the afternoon over a good novel, or something of that kind, he
would have been taken out of himself, and, when he rose, his mind would
have been filled with quiet and gracious thoughts. Our gang were
suffering from a form of the lust for blood; they were thirsty, and they
were possessed by that species of excitement which makes a man ready to
turn savage on any, or no, provocation.
The bar was like the place of damned souls until eight o'clock:
everybody roared at the top of his voice; nobody listened to anybody
else, and everybody drank more or less feverishly.
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