xxxii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



sound to be heard, save the tramp of these famous horses, as their 

 more famous drivers brought them along, in scoring for the decid- 

 ing heat. Eoff drove with immense resolution and skill ; but the 

 hand of the great master was upon the reins of Dexter, and he 

 won the fifth heat in the marvellous time of 2m. 24^s. " Now ; I'll 

 tell you what it is," said a gentleman who had lost heavily on Che 

 race : " it is twenty or thirty per cent, in favor of any horse that 

 Hiram Woodruff drives, I don't care who drives the other! 

 I've paid dear enough for that opinion ; and it's mine ! " 



Lady Emma was another held very high in the judgment of 

 Hiram, and her owner was fast in his dearest esteem ; but, at the 

 end of the last season that the great trainer and driver was ever 

 to see, the horse of his heart was Mr. Bonner's chestnut, the fa- 

 mous Auburn Horse. Very late last fall we took one of our ac- 

 customed drives over to Hiram's, and found all about the place in 

 a sort of pleasant commotion. Hiram Howe, Pelham John, Long 

 Tom Fan-ell, Dan Delahay, and several others, were full of what 

 the Auburn Horse had done that morning. Nothing was ever 

 seen like it, they averred, since old Pocahontas the pacer dis- 

 tanced Hero in 2m. 17s. The horse had, unquestionably, come 

 up the stretch with such an electric burst of speed as had amazed 

 the spectators. It never was Hiram's practice to talk about his 

 horses to Mrs. Woodruff; but, on this occasion, he had no sooner 

 returned from the course, than he went in, and told her that.he had 

 never ridden so fast behind a trotter in his life as on that morning. 

 This we had from Mrs. Woodruff the same day. When we 

 reached Hiram, in the stable-yard, he made use of the very same 

 expression. While we were talking, Mr. Bonner drove up. We 

 all three went to the box, and Hiram stripped the chestnut. " He 

 is," said he, "the best balanced big horse in America ! " After- 

 wards, we all three stood in the autumn sun, by the garden-gate, 

 and a conversation ensued. Hiram said, " I rode faster behind 

 him this morning than ever I rode in my life." 



Mr. Bonner was silent ; and, it being our custom to stand up for 

 the absent, we determined to put in a word or two for the gal- 

 lant gray. So we said, " Now, look here, Hiram : you rode at the 

 rate of two minutes to the mile behind Peerless for a quarter. 

 Capt. Moore will swear to it Do you mean to say that you 

 rode faster behind the Auburn Horse than behind the gray 

 marc?" 



