264 THE rioRs?:. 



pace seemed too good to lust, but there were " links " yet to be 

 " let out." From this point the two cracks made a match of it, 

 in which Queen Mary had as little apparent concern as if out 

 of the race. Near the Oakland House, AVagner set to work to 

 do or die. ^^JRowel him iip !^^ shouted his owner to Cato ; while 

 Garrison, at the head of the quarter stretch, w^as waving hie 

 hat to him to come on ! The rally that ensued down the 

 descent to the turn, was desperate, but Wagner could not gain 

 an inch ; as they swung round into the quarter stretch the;- 

 were lapped ; " spur your proud coursers hard and ride ii 

 blood ! " were the orders on this, as they are described to 

 have been on Bosworth "lield." Botli horses got a taste 

 of steel and catgut as they came up the ascent, and on cast- 

 ing our eye along the cord extending across the course from 

 the judges' to the club stands. Grey Eagle was the first under 

 it by a head and shoulders ; at tlie turn Stephen manoeuvred so 

 as to press Wagner on the outside, and soon after drew out clear 

 in front, looking so much like a winner that the crowd, unable 

 to repress an irresistible impulse, sent up a cheer that made the 

 welkin ring for miles around. The group on Wagner's stable 

 again bid him " go on ! " but Cato, " calm as a summer's morn- 

 ing," was quietly biding his time ; he seemed to feel that 

 Patience has won more dollars than Haste has coppers, and that 

 there was but a solitary chance of winning the race out of the 

 fire. Fully aware of the indomitable game of the nonpareil 

 under him, he thought if he could bottle him up for a few hun- 

 dred yards there was still another run to be got out of him. He 

 accordingly took a bracing pull on his horse, and though it was 

 "go along" every inch, Wagner recovered his wind so as to 

 come again at the head of the quarter stretch. Stephen, long 

 ere this, had become so exhausted as to be u able to give Grey 

 Eagle the support he required ; he rode wide, swerving consid- 

 erably from a straight line, and was frequently all abroad in his 

 seat. From the Oakland House home, it was a terrible race ! 

 By the most extraordinary exertions Wagner got up neck and 

 neck with " the gallant gray," as they swung round the turn 

 into the quarter stretch. The feelings of the assembled thou- 

 sands were wrought up to a pitch absolutely painful — silence 

 the most profound reigned over that vast assembly, as these 



