eBooks Base 2000

A few seconds more, and another horse followed; and at another little
interval, a third. This was all that we had waited for; all that I saw,
or anybody else, except those who stood on the utmost verge of the
course, at the risk of being trampled down and killed. Two men were
killed in this way on Thursday, and certainly human life was never spent
for a poorer object. The spectators at the windows, to be sure, having
the horses in sight for a longer time, might get a little more enjoyment
out of the affair. By the by, the most picturesque aspect of the scene
was the life given to it by the many faces, some of them fair ones, that
looked out from window and balcony, all along the curving line of lofty
palaces and edifices, between which the race-course lay; and from nearly
every window, and over every balcony, was flung a silken texture, or
cloth of brilliant line, or piece of tapestry or carpet, or whatever
adornment of the kind could be had, so as to dress up the street in gala
attire.


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