Explore "The Vultures" by Henry Seton Merriman on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
It has been said that on the turf, and under it, all men are equal. It is, moreover, whispered that the crooked policy of Russia forwards the cause of horseracing at Warsaw by every means within its power, on the theory that even warring nationalities may find themselves reconciled by a common sport. And this dream of peace, pursued by the successor of that Czar who said to Poland: "Gentlemen -- no dreams," seems in part justified by the undeniable fact that Russians and Poles find themselves brought nearer together on the racecourse than in any other social function in Warsaw.
"Come," cried Paul Deulin, breaking in on the solitude of Cartoner's rooms after lunch one day towards the end of October. "Come, and let us bury the hatchet, and smoke the cigarette of peace before the grandstand at the Mokotow. Everybody will be there. All Poland and his wife, all the authorities and their wives, and these ladies will peep sideways at each other, and turn up their noses at each other's toilets. To such has descended the great strife in eastern Europe."