AN IMPOSTOR. 259 



diverted in any way, the horse dropped back from 

 the collar, but used all the action of a pulling 

 horse, so as to deceive the driver. Consequently, 

 his comrade — a very willing horse — had his work 

 nearly doubled. 



As soon as the impostor perceived signs of the 

 driver's renewed attention, he went forward into the 

 collar, and really pulled instead of making believe. 

 He did it so cleverly that several times, before the 

 trick was found out, the whip came on the wrong 

 horse. In order to counteract this tendency, his 

 owner had a special set of blinkers made. They are 

 scarcely half the size of the ordinary blinker, and 

 they stand out nearly at right angles from the head, 

 so that the horse can see everything in front or at 

 the sides, but not behind. 



This simple arrangement completely checkmated 

 the horse. He tried his old ruse once or twice, but 

 always found himself reminded by the whip that he 

 must play no more tricks. For the sake of sym- 

 metry, both horses wore similar blinkers, and when 

 I saw them, it was impossible to tell which had been 

 the delinquent. 



Under no circumstances, however, oucdit horses 

 to wear the large blinkers which are occasionally 

 seen. 



Sometimes the front edges of these blinkers are 



s 2 



