CRESCEUS, 2:02 1/4 



turned into the back-stretch with incredible speed. 

 Tim Murnen was shouting at the galloping runner 

 like a wild man. Cresceus pricked up his ears. 

 Straight ahead of him, a furlong and a half away, he 

 saw the quarter pole again. Onward he flew toward 

 it, his mighty legs moving backward and forward with 

 a rapidity that did not slacken. 



By the quarter pole he flashed, Alike The Tramp 

 now a good half length to the rear. "Xow he's going 

 some !" the crowd shouted. And he was — Cresceus 

 shot forward like a horse gone wild. His legs flew 

 past each other with a speed that human gaze could 

 not measure. In the twinkling of an eye the runner 

 was two lengths behind. Another instant and the 

 champion whirled into the stretch, the three-quarters 

 having been reached in i :36^. Down the stretch he 

 came. Faster and faster he rushed. The beat of his 

 hoofs sounded like the roll of distant tom-toms, grow- 

 ing louder and louder. All below the shoulders of 

 the great horse was a maze. Stronger and still 

 stronger he came, his head stretched out before him, 

 the big veins swelling in his neck. Fifteen thousand 

 people gazed with wonderment and awe. Fifteen 

 thousand people saw a great horse trotting as they 

 never saw a horse trot before. Cresceus was two 

 lengths from the wire. He shot past the wire in a 

 whirring of wheels and a thundering of hoofs in 2 109}. 

 A roar that shook the hills went up again and again 

 from fifteen thousand throats. And in the midst 



175 



