Year: 1874

" It's all very well for you Britishers


to come ont yer to Californy and go
/ gassin' about the country tryin' to ,rike


the trail o the mines you've salted dawn


yer loose capital in" said Colonel Jack


high, setting his empty glass on the


counter and wiping his lips with his


coat sleeve; but wen it comes to hOss


racin', wy I've got cayuse ken lay
over all the thurrer-breds yer little man
| tel ornyment of an island ever panned
out-you bet your britehes l havel Talk
about yer Durby winners-w'y this
| p'isen little beast o. mine'Q take the bit


in her teeth and show 'em the way TO
| the horizon, like she was takin' her


mornin' stroll and they was tryin' to
| keep an eye on her to see she didn't do
herself any injury-that's wat she


would And she haint never run race


with anything spryer'n an Injun in all
her life she's a green amatoor-she


is !"


"oh, very we'll" said the English


man with aSagiet smile !" It Is. easy


NAL is in tolerable good condition, and
if yours is in town we can have the race
tomorrow for any stake you like, up to
a hundred ounces"


I" That's jest the fgR er, said the col
onel "dot in down, barkeep. But it's
like slaughterin' the innocents," he ad
ded, half remorsefully, as he turned to
leave "it's bettin' on a dead sure
thing-that's wat it is If my cayuse


knew wat ] was about she'd go and


break leg to make the race even one" "


So it was arranged that the race was


to come off at three o'clock the next


day, on the slkali flat, some distance


from town. As soon as the news got


abroad the whole population of Left |


Bower and vicinity knocked off work !


and assembled IN the various bars to


discuss it. The Englishman and his |


horce were general favorites, and, aside |


from the unpopularity of the coIHel. |


nobody had ever seen his "cay Ese.


Still the element of patriotism came in,


making the betting very nearly even. a |
race-cOurse was marked off on the plain, |
and at the appointed hour everybody /


was on the ground except the colonel. |
1t was arranged that each man should /
ride his own horse, and the Englishman, /
who had acquired something of the 1
fIee-and easy bearing that distinguishes /
the mining sharp, was already atop 1
of his magnificent animal, with one leg /
thrown carelessly across the pOmmel of /
his Mexican saddle, as he pulled his CT
gar with calm confidence in the result |
of the race. He was conscious, too,
that he possessed the Acret sympathy
of all, even of those who had felt it
their duty to bet against him. The
judge, with watch in hand, was growing
impatient, when the colonel pat in his
appearance a mile away ED bore down
upon the crowd. EveryEne was eager
to inspect his mount; ana such a mount
as it proved to be was never before seen.
even in Left Bower You have seen
perfect skeletons of horses often
enough, no doubt, but this animal was
not even a perfect skeleton there were
bones missing here and there which you
would not have believed the beast could
have spared. Little" the colonel had
called her. She was net an inch less
than eighteen hands high, and long out
of all reasonable proportion. She was
so hollow in the back that she seemed
to have been bent in a machine. She
had neither tail nor mape, and her neck,
IS JolasJ s's P r5Iesa ~ sstrs alt i'at
Her eyes had an expression IN them of
downright insanity, and the muscles of
her face were afflicted with periodical
that drew back the corners
of her mouth and wrinkled the upper
lip so as TO produce a dismal grin every
two or three seconds. In color she was
50 claybank," with great blotches of
white, as if she had been pelted with
small bags of -four. The crookedness
of her legs was beyond all comparison,
and as for her gait it was like that of a
blind camel crossing diagonally over
deep bitches. Altogether
she looked like the frig full result of
natures first experiment N,equifaction,
carelessly left alive after the production
Of the more satisfactory beast.


L Ill 4
shambled up to the starting post there
the crowd changed in tN. twinkling of
an eye. Every one wanted to bet on {
her, and the Englishman himself was
only restrained from doing so by a
sense of honor. 1t was growing late,
however, and the judge insisted on start
ing them. They got off very well to-
gether, and seeing the mare was uncon-
slow the EnglishmAn soon {
pulled his animal in and foolishly per-
mitted the ugly thing to pass, so as to I
enjoy a back view of her. That sealed
his fate. The course had been marked
off in circle of two miles in circum-
ferance and some twenty feet wide, the
limits plainly defined by little furrSws.
Before the animals had gone half lSle
both had been permitted to settle down
into a comfortable walk, in which they
continued three-fourths of the way
round the ring Then the Englishman
thought it time to whip up and canter
in. But he didn't do it as he came mp
the " Californy Lightnin' Ex-
press" as the crowd had begun to call
her. that creature turned her head dag
opally backward and let fall a smile.
The encroaching beast stopped as if it
had tbeen shot. His rider piled the
whip, and forced him again forward up
on the track of the equine hag, but with
the same result. The Englishman was
now thoroughly alarmed he struggled
with rein and whip and shout,
amidst the tremendous cheering and in
laughter of the crowd,
to force his animal past, now on this
side, now on that, but it would not do
ty of her back, the preposterous quad
ruped dropped her grins right and left
with such seasonable accuracy that
again and again the competing beast
was struck "all of heap just at the
moment of seeming success; and final
Iv. when by a tremendous squirt his
rider endeayored to thrust him by,
within half dozen lengths of the win
ming post. the incarnate nightmare turn
ed suuarely about, and fixed upon him
a plotentous stare, delivering at the
same time a grimace of such prodi-
gious ghastliness that the poor thor
oughbred, with an almost human scream
of terror, wheeled about, and tore away
to the rear with the speed of the wind,
leaving the colonel an easy winner IN
fifteen minutes and ten seconds. Lon
don Fun.


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