THE MORGAN HORSE 95 



ting tactics, Dan Mace. His face, which has often 

 been a mask to thousands, had no mask over it on 

 this occasion. It spoke only that intense earnest- 

 ness that indicates the near approach of a supreme 

 moment. The team was hitched to a light skele- 

 ton wagon; Ethan wore breeching, and beside 

 him was a great, strong race-horse, fit to run for a 

 man's life. His traces were long enough to fully 

 extend himself, but they were so much shorter 

 than Ethan's that he had to take the weight. Dex- 

 ter drew the inside, and on the first trial they got 

 the 'send-off,' without either one having six 

 inches advantage. When they got the word the 

 flight of speed was absolutely terrific, so far be- 

 yond anything I had witnessed in a trotting horse 

 that I felt the hair raising on my head. The run- 

 ning horse was next to me, and notwithstanding 

 my elevation in the grand stand, Ethan was 

 stretched out so near the ground that I could see 

 nothing of him but his ears. I fully believe that 

 for several rods at this point they were going a 

 two-minute gait. 



" It was impossible that this terrible pace could 

 be maintained long, and just before reaching the 



