HI HOPKINS TRIMMED. 29 



Duster. Those who remained to see the last heat re- 

 turned to town in the dumps. They looked as if they 

 had been to a funeral, the owner of Nelly Gray and the 

 'cute ones' who had an idea as to what she could do 

 being the only followers of the races who had a smile 

 to spare that evening. 



"On the following day Nelly Gray won again. Hi 

 Hopkins was very conspicuous by his absence, and 

 Pepper Duster for the first time since he was known 

 as a trotter was marked as a non-starter on the memo- 

 randum in the hands of the judges. The telegraph 

 operator at the depot said that Hi had taken the mid- 

 night train, but as he had jumped aboard without buy- 

 ing a ticket he had no idea as to where he had gone. 

 On the morning of the third day, which was the last of 

 the meeting, a rumor floated about town that Hi had 

 returned with a trotter that would smother Nelly Gray 

 and the unknown, but as no one was permitted to see 

 the phenomenon it was not possible to confirm or con- 

 tradict the report. 



"A little before noon one of the men in Hi's stable 

 was seen leading a big horse covered with a 

 hood and blanket from nose to tail towards the river. 

 All that could be seen of the horse was four black legs, 

 and by that they knew that it was not Pepper Duster, 

 as one of his front legs was white half way to the knee. 

 This was a declaration of war. Hi's racing dander 

 was up and the horse in the blanket represented it. 

 Being Saturday, all of the farmers who had come into 

 town to do a little shopping joined the town folk when 

 they started for the river, and I doubt if there ever was 

 before or since such a crowd seen at a horse race in 

 that place. When Hi arrived he had the new 'critter,' 



