Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-09

tine Il ulHey A1ospAtni' OIL u0N JUG ""
der.
well, somebody's gotta go after
1.-THE boy took out a. grimy handker
chief and wiped his 'wife's head.
ooh" he moaned. "Lettie. Lettie"
Somebody's gotta go after an am
bulance and lug her to the hospita
before she dies, do you hear? Bar
ney"
"You go after 1t. can't leave her
so. I can't. / can't
THE autos smashed. Sos the bug
gy. Nothins left to use but your
horse here. Don't you understand.
Barney. what's the matter with you"
You go. Take Black Bullet. Yol
GO"
Il amt rid on a horse saddle fol
| nearly forty year,!
II couldn't stick on horse twenty
yards added Sam.
Barney! Pay attention, Here's g
horse with a saddle. Here's you, ar
ex-jockey. You gotta go for that am
bulance. Race as you never raced ir
your life"'
The boy looked up. Joe's hectic
suggestion penetrated his dazeC
understanding. A greenish tinge set
tied about his mouth.
Il can't ride any more. Besides
Black Bullet couldn't make it,"
A queer thing happened.
Sam Hold felt something bunt him
Another bunt thrust Joe Fodder aside,
Black Bullet had stalked close tC
them. With nostrils to the ground
he commenced to snort curiously
about Letties PROSTATE body.
Up to her head he snuffed, his
twitching muzzle reaching her face
nostrils smelling the blood of her
wound Twice he raised his shapely
head and looked up and down the
road, cooking his steel-shell ears. Then
back he came again, snuffing about
the body. Sam and Old Joe looked
on, wide-eyed.
Barney" cackled Fodder. take
the horse. And ride. boy, ride
"Lookit. He's PAWN" Don't you
see what that horse Is tryin' to tel
your"
Black Bullet was paving. TIL,
whites of his eyes were showing.
Barney, Barney. He's willin' to d.
his stuff. If you'll do yours! Pull your
self together"
The horse pranced excitedly. Bar
ney staggered up.
II can't stay on a horse. Some
i thin in the back of my head"
Cant you stick to Old Bullet fo
the girl you both love?'
The boy sobbed again. He caugh
at Bullets stirrup to steady himself
Bullet pranced lightly without movin.
from his place. He nickered then, {
high. eager nicker that echoed through
those woodlands like battle-cry. Ant
all the time the lad fought his broker
| nerve with a desperation that wa
piteous.
Help me up" he choked at last
my strength is all gone. I'm empt,
insider
Sam leaped forward. He hoiste,
the lad into saddle. Again Bulle
nickered.
Shorten these stirrups." the DO,
begged brokenly; I'm not used to rid
ing like this! Shorten these stirrups.'
With arched neck. Black Bullet KEEP
quiet as both older men pulled
clumsily at buckles. But he clampeC
at his bit. The whites of his eyes
showed wilder and wilder.
"All right. Barney"
Il guess So"
Leg it,"
The boy shut his eyes. He clutchet
at the horn with steel-hook fingers
'All right, old fellow he whispered
huskily. And if ever dumb brute
understood human speech, Black Bull
let understood his rider in that mo
ment.
He took a gentle lope forward to
give Barney the movement. Then he
settled down on his launches and
sprang into air. Down that country
road sounded a staccato beating OF
households.
IN,
dying girl, a veteran among thorough
breds was going into actioni
Down turn after turn. over bridges
and water bars, around curve after
curve. out across level open spaces
up heart'rending grades. down the
other sides where one false step amt
death for them both--a coal-blac ok
steed with name and tail flying. ears
laid back against his neck, nostrils
dilated, leaped the ground like jug,
gernaut of disaster.
Past BraSy's timber tract, past
Lyons sawmill. up Blake Hill. that
took his wind pitilessly, down toward
Walsh Brook, the charcoal kilns and
Frank Hale'S farm, tore the most
beautiful thing in all creation-a flying
thoroughbred with every muscle CO.
ordinated. every sense tuned to speed.
speed, and yet more speed. every
nerve ana uDer strained Tor That race
of raceS-a contest with death.
Around the two curves by Bah
cocks and Drinkwater's. down the
slight grade by No. 4 schoolhouse. into
the Lake road and on toward Cobb
Hill. that horse called Bullet lived up
to his name. And Barney hung on.
Barney hung on, indeed. Well
enough he knew, before a quarter
mile had gone, that the horse he had
salvaged had been bred to the race
tracks. On and on and on. Down
Cobb Hill. away past MCDermott' s.
around Harrington's Bog-and a
strange, new exhilaration was seizing
on Barney.
Afraid to ride? On the back of
Black Bullet? He rode as he never
had ridden in his life. Black Bullet
stumble? Black Bullet throw him?
Not while the great horse lived. Not
in a thousand years.
Yet it seemed a thousand years
that ride.
On past Harpers. Winslow's, Mer-
ritt's up another heart-rending
grade by Cogswelps =. scattering a
flock of. ducks by Braithwaite's T. .
rounding the Half-Mile Curve by the
railroad crossing !. heart.strained,
wind going. still Black Bullet held TO
that contest. His veins stood out on
his coat like whipcords. Froth flew