LIFE WLTII THE TKOTTEKS. 113 



allowed anybody else to jog or drive this horse. There was 

 nothing unkind about Rarus, or any disj)osition to be ugly, 

 but he was about the best feeling horse I ever saw, and 

 would in i3lay do things that nught have caused accidents 

 with an inexperienced man having hold of the reins, I 

 remember that one day during the winter I took Dave 

 Hosmer, the driver of Abdallah Boy and other trotters, out 

 to ride with me. Rarus saw something in the road, and 

 made a dart to one side so suddenly that he landed Dave 

 high and dry in a snow bank. When Hosmer picked him- 

 self up, he said he did not wonder at that horse trotting in 

 2:14 after the move he had just made. I had a rule with 

 the boys that whenever we went to hitch or unhitch Rarus, 

 one of them should always take him by the head, and the 

 other one unhook one side of tlie harness, while I looked 

 after the other. One day I drove him into the yard on re- 

 turning from exercise, and found Mr. Crawford and some 

 friends of mine there. I sat in the wagon chatting with 

 them while waiting for the boys to come out of the stall. 

 Only one boy ax^peared, and he started to unhitch Rarus. 

 I said to take the horse by the head and wait for the other 

 boy, which he did. At this moment, something j)assed 

 through the yard that Rarus noticed, and he at once made 

 a dart, and tried to bolt. I had hold of the reins, and the 

 boy had him by the head. I have often seen children play 

 " crack the whip " at school, but it was not a circumstance 

 to tlie wa}^ Rarus dashed the groom and myself about that 

 yard. Fortunately, he did not hurt himself, or get away. 

 I never saw another horse that could make such lightning- 

 like moves. 



In the spring, when the snow left the ground, I hitched 

 Rarus in double harness with Calmar and gave him all his ex- 

 ercise in that manner, thinking it safer than to drive him sin- 

 gle. The season was a late one, and I did not get to do much 

 on the track before the first of May. Having no engagements 

 for Rarus 1 began very moderately, working him to a skel- 

 eton wagon, and gave him a great man}' miles in from 



