Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-16

anybody could go down there and beat
him he could win all the old fellow had,
cattle, land and money in the bank.
w put our heads together after things
had been arranged for the winter, and
I went out and bought the big fellow that
had beaten our mare. We had to pay
5000 for him and we mad to sell our mare
to get enough money to finance the
scheme, but we figured on making the
Mexican pay us back in one race. The
next move was to make the match, and
the first preliminary was a trip to the
ranch where this wonderful horse was
owned.
80 one day 1 jumped on a pony 1 had
that was tough enough for anything that
came along, and after days of leisurely
travel 1 arrived at the ranch. 1 was made
welcome as a stranger and a traveller
who was seeing the cattle in tina part Of
the country, and 1 found that the tales
told about the owner of the place had not
misrepresented either his wealth or his
belief in the prowess Of his horse. There
were 10000 head of cattle on the hundreds
of thousands Of acres and there was a
small army of cowboys constantly coming
and going at headquarters. 1t didn't AXE
ApAb ~ ASoAh 81 4 III W hhO"
the horse, and one evening 1 preached
the subject of quarter racing to my host.
II could speak enough Spanish to get
along very nicely and it didn't take long
for me to make a race for 5000 a side.
L wanted them to come half way to run
it, but the old man, who was upwards of
so, urged his age as an excuse for not
leaving home and offered us $500 for ex-
,,.A.ag 40 me-, a,,,Il .an,,, ,-l ,,o. % Nh,
ranch. 1 knew what that might mean.
1t meant that we would nave to win the
race decisively, and it might mean a fight
at the getaway.
Finding that the match could be ar
ranged in no other way l consented, and
we each put up a forfeit of $1,000 and
agreed to run one month from that date.
His horse, a big chestnut Of the regulation
quarter horse type, was ready to race. l
could see that at a glance when he was
shown to me after our ~forfeits were up.
That was the first look l had had at him
too, as they were evidently afraid that the
horses formidable appearance would
frightetn me and negotiations would be
declared off.
o my return home we prepared for
our journey, bringing three close friends
who could be depended upon and our
jockey along. We made the journey in
easy stages, and it was a week before the
race when we reached our destination.
Quarters were assigned us. Young beef
was killed and hung for US and nothing
WAS too good for us.
'They all inspected our horse, and while
they liked him they were willing to bet on
their own candidate, and when the day
/ hnF1al a.. 80, $500 ,,,r -nwfv gNa,A e,
win or lose more than $4,000. We could
nave wagered an indefinite amount, so
confident were our opponents, but we had
reached our limit.
"The evening before the day set for the
race the aged Mexican and one of his
sons came for us TO look at the course
over which the horses would race. There
were two level paths about five feet apart
laid out across the prairie and there was
really no choice between them, though we
went through the ceremony of tossing a
coin for a choice. We won the toss and
chose that on the left, so that our boy
could use his whip II necessary without
any charge of interference on the part OF
our rival. We were In a strange country
and knew that whatever we got we would
have to get by the hardest sort of work
and then perhaps fight TO keep 1t.
The race was set for 9 O'Clock the next
morning. and when 1 walked out oward
the course about an hour before the time
OF starting / had the shock OF my life. The
Mexicans had raised the end Of their path
by cutting chapparal and banking 1t with
earth so that for the first fifty yards
their horse was on a vertable ~toboggan,
"A great light broke on me. l then