THE MALTESE CAT
would n't be here. We must take things as they come along, and keep your eyes on the ball."
The game began, but this time the Skidars were penned to their own end of the ground, and the watching ponies did not approve of that.
"Faiz-Ullah is shirking—as usual," said Polaris, with a scornful grunt.
"Faiz-Ullah is eating whip," said Corks. They could hear the leather-thonged polo quirt lacing the little fellow's well-rounded barrel. Then The Rabbit's shrill neigh came across the ground.
"I can't do all the work," he cried, desperately.
"Play the game—don't talk," The Maltese Cat whickered; and all the ponies wriggled with excitement, and the soldiers and the grooms gripped the railings and shouted. A black pony with blinkers had singled out old Benami, and was interfering with him in every possible way. They could see Benami shaking his head up and down, and napping his under lip.
"There 'll be a fall in a minute," said Polaris. "Benami is getting stuffy."
The game flickered up and down between goal-post and goal-post, and the black ponies were getting more confident as they felt they had the legs of the others. The ball was hit out of a little scrimmage, and Benami and The Rabbit followed it, Faiz-Ullah only too glad to be quiet for an instant.
The blinkered black pony came up like a hawk, with two of his own side behind him, and Benami's eye glittered as he raced. The question was which pony should make way for the other, for each rider was perfectly
[279]
