The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-05

start"
/ lay back against the cushions,
putting at my cigar, while Holmes,
leaning forward, with his long, IN
for efinger checking off the POINTS
upon the palm Of ais left hand. gave
me a sketch Of the events which nd
led to our Quincy.
silver Blaze said ne, @is from the
Somomy stock, and holds as brilliant
a record as his famous ancestor. He
is now in his fifth year. ana has
brought in turn each Of h prizes OF
the turf to Colonel Ross his forum tie
owner. Up to the time IF thu. c;ttas-
trophe he was the first ~ftNorste for
the Wessex Cup, the citing being
three to one on him. He has always.
however. beer Il airline fav,rite S;.fh
the racing public, and has nc. CT yet
disappointed them. SO that vel. at
those odds enormous SUMS OF non
hav been laid upon him. Il ia OBJ
vious, therefore. that there Wer.' mary
people who had The strongest interest
in preventing Silver Blaze rom lleing
there at the fall Of the flag next Tues
! day.
THAT fact was, OF course, appre-
ciated at Kings pyland, where the
C%olonel's training stable is situated.
Every precauuOn was taken 10 guard
the favorite. The trainer, John Str
ker. is a retired jockey VINO rslsic III
Colonel Ross colors before he bee me
too heavy FOR the Weighing chair. lie
has served the Colonel f.. five YEAS
as jockey md for sever rs trainer. and
has always shown himself t. b. 4:
jealous and honest servant. Tnder
him were three lads. FOR the establish
ment was a small n containing only
four horses in all. One Of these lads
sat Up each night in the stable, while
the other slept in the loft. All three
bore excellent characters. John Stra-
ker. who is a married q lived iii
a small villa about two hundred yards
from the stables. He has nc children.
keeps one maid-servant, and is com
fortably off. The country round is
very lonely, but about half u mile l.,
the north there is q small cluster IF
villas which have been built by =
IaYlstOck contractor for the use If
~lnVaiiCs and others who may wish to
ENJOY the pure Dartmoor air. Ta>i-
stock itself lies two miles to the west,
while across the moor. also about two
miles distant, is the larger training
establishment Of Mapleton, which be-
longs to Lord BackWater,. and is man
age by Silas Brown. In every other
dlrectlcn the moor is a~-cOmplete will
~derness. Inhabited only by q few
ami gypsies. Sue was. the gen
eral situation last Monday night when
the catastrophe occurred.
'cn that evening the horses had
been exercised and Watered as usual,
ana the stables We're locked up at nine
o'clock Two Of the lads walked up
TO the trainers house. where they hal
upper IN the kitchen. while the thitd,
Ned Hunter. remained on guard. at
q few minutes after nine the maid,
Eclth Baxter. carried down to the
Stables his supper, which consisted
Of q dish Of curried mutton. She took
no mould, as there was a water-tap in
the stables, and it was the rule that
the lad on duty should drink nothing
else. The maid carried a lantern with
ner. as &c was very dark and the path
ran across the open moor.
Edlth Baxter was within thirty
yards Of the stables, when a man
appeared out Of the darkness and
called to her to stop. AS he stepped
into the circle Of light thrown by the
lantern she saw that he was a person
or Sentlemanly bearing, dressed in a
gray suit of tweeds, with a cloth cap.
lie wore CATERS, and carried a heavy
suck with a knob to it. She was most
impressed, however, by the extreme
pailOr Of his face and by the nery-
business Of his manner. His e she
thought, would be rather over thirty
than under it.
can YOU tell ne where I ann he
asked. l had almost made up nv
mind to sleep on the moor when I
saw the light Of your lantern
You are close to the Kings Py-
land training-stables.' said she
"tOh, indeed. What q stroke OF
luck! he cried. L understand that a
stable boy sleeps there alone every
night. Perhaps that is his supper
which you are carrying 70 him. Now
| am sure that you would not BIZ too
proud to earn the price Of a new
dress, would your He took a piece
of white p folded out Of his waist
coat pocket. See that the boy has
this tonight n you shall have the
prertiest frock that money can buy
She was frightened by the earnest
ness Of his manner, and ran past him
TO the window through which she was
accustomed to hand the meals. It
was already opened, and Hunter was
seated at the small table inside. She
had pegun to tell him what had hap
pened when the stranger came IN
again