Wagner vs. Gray Eagle 203 



judges' to the club stands, Gray Eagle was the 

 first under it by a head and shoulders ; at 

 the turn Stephen manoeuvred so as to press 

 Wagner on the outside, and soon after drew out 

 clear in front, looking so much Hke 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 morning,' 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 indomi- 

 table game of the nonpareil under him, he thought 

 if he could bottle him up for a few hundred 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, Wag- 

 ner 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 unable to 

 give Gray Eagle the support he required ; he rode 

 wide, swerving considerably from a straight line, 

 and was frequently all abroad in his seat. From 

 the Oakland House home it was a terrible race ! 



