H WHIP AND SPUR. 



now, for he had seen her, only a few weeks before, 

 " a draggin' clams for a feller in the Tenth Ave- 

 ner." Here was a clew at last, — clams and the 

 Tenth Avenue. For several days the scent grew 

 cold. The people of the Licensed Vender part of 

 this street seemed to have little interest in their 

 neighbors' horses ; but I found one man, an Irish 

 grocer, who had been bred a stable-boy to the 

 Marquis of Waterford, and who did know of a 

 "poor old screw of a black mare " that had a good 

 head, and might be the one I was looking for; 

 but, if she was, he thought I might as well give it 

 up, for she was all broken down, and would never 

 be good for anything again. 



Taking the address, I went to a stable-yard, in 

 what was then the very edge of the town, and 

 here I found a knowing young man, who devoted 

 his time to peddling clams and potatoes between 

 New York and Sing Sing. Clams up, and pota- 

 toes down, — twice every week, — distance thirty 

 miles ; road hilly ; and that was the wagon he 

 did it with, — a heavy wagon with a heavy arched 

 top, and room for a heavy load, and only shafts 



