What does "walk for a wager" mean in "A Fisher of Men"? In "A Fisher of Men" in _Dr. Thorndyke's Case-Book_ by R. Austin Freeman, Dr. Jervis was digging the earth with his friend, while they saw a stranger man coming along the path, then that man was for the moment hidden from them by a bend of the path and a near clump of bushes. > At this moment the stranger reappeared, **walking as if for a wager** , and I began to peck up the earth with my pocket-knife. I searched for its meaning, but I didn't find anything that I can understand in this context! * wager (in Lexico), * 1819 Play Bills From The Theatre Royal.

Competitive walking, known as ‘pedestrianism’, was the forerunner of today’s walking races. Per Wikipedia:

> Pedestrianism was a 19th-century form of competitive walking, often professional and funded by wagering, from which the modern sport of racewalking developed.