THE COUNTRY BOY 165 



After a couple of attempts, the hat fell and 

 they were off, and in half a minute I was 

 actually blushing. The old man had beaten 

 Bob fifteen feet, the judges at the finish said, 

 and when judges from the start came up, they 

 said the city chap had five feet the better in 

 the start. I thought they would knock my 

 head and shoulders off, so great was their ex- 

 citement. Bob used as an excuse that a dog 

 had got in front of him, but that only added 

 to the humiliation, as the dog out-ran him 

 further than the farmer. We gave up the 

 stakes and made a bee-line for the buggy, 

 crestfallen and broke. 



