240 CANADIAN TURF RECOLLECTIONS 



''Yes, Mr. Man, that's just the hoss I was talking 

 about. He may be a flea-bitten gray in his color, but he 

 ain't got no flour-barrel head, and his ears are as good 

 shaped and a mighty sight keener than those of some com- 

 mercial travellers I've met, and what's more, he can 

 trot faster than either one of them peacocks you are driv- 

 ing can run. That's what my money says, and it's the 

 stuff that talks." 



Jack listened to the outburst without a quiver, and 

 when it was through dropped in a few more words that 

 added kerosene to the fire, then wound up by declaring 

 that he "did not believe that J. P. had any kind of a' good 

 roadster to his name. That he'd seen that flea-bitten 

 gray three summers before his present owner drew a line 

 on him and he just thought he was of no account. Might 

 be able to go half a mile or even a mile at a fair gait, but 

 when it came to a five-mile drive, why, he knew he was a 

 duffer and he wouldn't be a bit scared to trot the bay 

 gelding in his team, if the roads were only good enough, 

 against the gray for four or five miles fair trotting for 

 a twenty-dollar bill and an oyster supper for the party. ' ' 



This proposition by its very audacity nearly took 

 J. P.'s breath away, but he speedily rallied and said he 

 wouldn 't accept any such soft snap, but he 'd bet forty to 



twenty and d^ n the cent of a hotel bill he 'd charge the 



whole four for the time they were snowed up in his house 

 if he didn 't make Jack think he was driving a mule before 

 he got to the end of the four miles. The storm cleared 

 up about three o 'clock that afternoon, and by noon of the 

 following day the Durham road was fairly well broken, 

 and it was arranged that the parties should jog four 

 miles down the road, then turn, and at a given signal, 

 start for the Coulson House. A well-known resident and 

 the writer went down to start them, and as we had a 

 *'bit" of blood between the shafts that could run like a 

 streak, we decided to keep in the hunt as well as we were 

 able. Arrived at the turning post it was arranged that 

 a coin should be tossed to decide who 'd have the right of 

 the road on the start, but that in case the driver whose lot 



