The death-like stillness of Good Friday remained unbroken till High Mass was over on Saturday morning, when the cathedral bells rang out a joyous peal, soon taken up by the bells of the numerous churches in the city and all over the provinces. The ensigns were run up to the staff or peak, the yards were squared, and royal salutes thundered out over land and sea, whilst clouds of white smoke enveloped the moss-grown ramparts of the saluting battery, and the useless, lumbering masts and spars of the flagship. Then steam-whistles and sirens commenced their hideous din, the great doors of the houses were thrown open, and hundreds of bare-backed ponies, with half-naked grooms, issued at full gallop to the sea or river. Then Manila resumed its every-day life till the next Holy Thursday came round. CHAPTER XX. SPORT. (A CHAPTER FOR MEN.) The Jockey Club--Training--The races--An archbishop presiding--The Totalisator or Pari Mutuel--The Manila Club--Boating club--Rifle clubs--Shooting--Snipe--Wild duck--Plover--Quail--Pigeons--Tabon--Labuyao, or jungle cock--Pheasants--Deer--Wild pig--No sport in fishing. Manila was not so badly off for sport as might be thought. The pony-races, conducted under the auspices of the Jockey Club, excited the greatest interest amongst all classes. The ponies underwent their training at the race-course in Santa Mesa, and their owners and other members of the club were provided with early breakfast there. The native grooms took as much interest in the success of the pony they attended as the owner, and they backed their favourite for all they were worth. Only members were allowed to ride, and the weights were remarkably heavy for such small ponies. When the races came off, business was almost suspended for three days, and all Manila appeared at the race-course. There were sometimes two thousand vehicles and immense crowds on foot. The ladies in their most resplendent toilettes were received by the stewards, presented with elegantly-bound programmes, and conducted to their places on the grand stand. Presently a military band would strike up the "Marcha Réal," as the Governor-General's equipage entered the enclosure, and that exalted personage, dressed in black frock coat and silk hat, white trousers and waistcoat, with the crimson silk sash of a general, just peeping from under his waistcoat, was conducted to his box, followed by his suite and the favoured persons invited to join his party.