CHAPTER 

 XXIII 



THE BATTLE OF THE KINGS 



THE friends of The Abbot, Cresceus's chief rival, 

 had been very insistent in their claim that the 

 ex-champion could defeat the champion in a 

 match race. The wonderful performance of Cresceus 

 was a stunning- blow to the admirers of the fast Chimes 

 gelding, and it was a foregone conclusion that a match 

 would be arranged between the two horses. The Ab- 

 bot, during the previous winter, had passed from the 

 ownership of the Messrs. Hamlin to that of Hon. John 

 J. Scanneil, of New York, a leading sportsman and 

 prominent Tammany politician, but he remained in the 

 hands of Mr. Geers, who had been slowly and carefully 

 preparing him for the campaign of 1901. 



Cresceus and The Abbot were the most commanding 

 figures in the turf world, and these trotters were 



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