Year: 1874

70 come out yer to CaiifOrny and GO
gassln' about the country tryin' to strike
the trail o the mines you've salted down
yer loose capital In, said Colonel Jack.
nigh, setting his empty glass en- the
counter and wiping his lips with his
coat sleeve but wen it comes to hoss
racln, Wy I've got a cayuse ken lay
over all the thurrer-breds yer little man.
tel ornyment of an island ever panned
out-you bet your britches havel Talk
about yer Durby winners-w'y this
p'lsen little beast o. mine1l take the bit
IN her teeth and show 'em the way to
the horizon, like she was takin' her
mornln' stroll and they was tryin' to
keep an eye on her to see she didn't dc
herself any injury-that's wat she
would And she haint never run a rsee
with anything spryer'n an Iniun in ali
her life; she's a green amatoor-she
is ~"


Oh, very well," said the English.
man with a quiet smile s'it is easy
enough to sc tile the matter. Ny ami.
NAL IS In tolerable good condition, and
II yours Is in town we can have the race
tomorrow for any stake You like, up &c
hundred ounces"


That's jest the fgeer," said the col.
onel "dot in down, barkeep. But it's
like slaughterin' the innocents," he ad-
ded, half remersefully, as he turned to
leave Sits bettin' on a dead sure
tbing-that's wat it is If my cayuse
knew wat was about she'd go and
break leg to make the race a even one.


So it was arranged that the race was
to come off at three o'clock the next
day, on the alkali fiat, 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
horre were general favorites, and, aside
from the unpopularity of the colonel,
nobody had ever seen his "cayuse. -
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
f9ee-and easy bearing that distinguishes
the = mining sharp" was already atop
OF his magnificent animal, with one leg
thrown carelessly across the pommeI of
his Mexican saddle, as he puffed his ci-





OF the race. He was conscious, too,
that he possessed the secret sympathy
of ali, 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 put in his
appearance a mile away and bore down
upon the crowd. Every one was eager
to inspect his mount; and 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 not an inch less
than eighteen hands high, AID lozg 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 name, and her neck.
as long as a man, stuck straight up into
the air. supporting head without ears
Her eyes had an expression IN them OF
downright insanity, and the muscles of
her face were afflicted with periodical
commissions that drew back the corners
of her mouth and wrinkled the upper



two or three seconds. In color she was
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 diaeonally over
innumerable deep bitches. Altogether
she looked like the frightful result of
natures first experiment in equifactiOn,
carelessly left alive after the production
of the more satisfactory beast.


As this outrageous libel on all horses
shambled up to the starting post there
was a general shout; the sympathies of
the crowd changed in the 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. It was growing late,
however, and the judge insisted on start
ing them. They got off very we'll to-
gether, and seeing the mare was uncon-
scionably slow the EnglishmAn soon
pulled his animal in and foolishly per-
mitted the ugly thing to pass, so as to
enjoy 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 furrows.
Before the animals had gone half mile
both had been permitted to settle down
into q 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
alongside the '' Californy Lightnin' Ex-
press" as the crowd had begun to call
Z
onally backward and let fall q smile.
The encroaching beast stopped as if il
had been shot. His rider piled the
whip, and forced him again forward up
on the track of the equine hag, but with
now thoroughly alarmed he struggled
mRnfully with rein and whip and shout,
amidst the tremendous cheering and in
extinguishable laughter of the crowd,
to force his animal past, now on this
side, now on that, but it would not do
prompted by the fiend IN the concavi-
| 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
| ", when by q tremendous squirt his
rider endeavored to thrust him by
within half dozen lengths Of the win
ming post, the incarnate nightmare turn.
/ ed souarely about, and fixed upon hin
a plotentous stare, delivering at the
same time a grimace of such prodi
gious ghastliness that the poor thor
| ouohbred, with an almost human scream
/ of terror, wheeled about, anu tore away
to the rear with the speed of the wind
/ leaving the colonel an easy winner IL
| fifteen minutes and ten seconds. Lon
/ don Fun.


Crop Prospects.


The crop statistics sttaiRable thu
earlv in the season indicate that all sec