the tent made of skin 

 could reach on tip-toe. 



Lauretta Stolen. 



Twas early dawn when Jack Randall, 

 the emissary of the greatest of all show- 

 men, awoke. Bribes, entreaties, even her 

 weight in gold, had failed to make the 

 good Sheik sell Lauretta. Jack awoke 

 with a start, for he had lain awake half 

 the night scheming — dare he do it? 

 'Twould mean death, a terrible death, at 

 the hands of the infuriated Arabs if he 

 was caught; but who could catch Laur- 

 etta? Was she not as swift as the very 

 winds? Peeping out of his tent the stars 

 were shining; the heavy breathing of the 

 men sent a shiver through him. He slow- 

 ly crept out; 'twas but a hundred yards 

 to the tent where Lauretta and Philis, 

 and Ectes and Ranus, the kingly four, 

 were, but how to get in it, for two Arabs 

 slept at its entrance. So, gliding in the 

 semi-darkness, he came to the back of 

 ; his big knife slit it as high as he 

 'Twas a moment that made his hair 

 turn gray, but there at the verj' place stood Lauretta, her trap- 

 pings on a post near her. No hesitation now; 'twas a lifetime in the 

 minute it took to sling a bridle on her noble head and lead her out. 

 Cautiously, with silent tread, in the sand he led her, and then bounding 

 on her back glided as if she had wings, out in the desert. No saddle 

 cloth had he, but like a Centaur he sat astride, and urged her on and 

 on, faster and faster, for well he knew that seconds meant for him life 

 and gold. 



A Sensation in Europe. 



"What a tremendous sensation a horse can make," said a gray- 

 haired diplomat one day in Parliament. "Here is the gray Arabian mare 

 that is drawing such crowds at the circus because she was known as the 

 Queen of Arabian Horses, causing us no end of annoyance by the 

 fanatics of Arabia because they say she was stolen: others say that 

 Sheik Ahemid sold her, and his numerous followers have deserted him. 

 and all because of one gray mare. And Lauretta, the once proud 

 Queen of the desert, now the slave of a circus owner, though the 

 greatest in the land, to be exhibited to the tens of thousands of the 

 curious." 



Bou§:ht by Dr. Wm. Key. 



Through carelessness and unkind treatment she broke down, and 

 was taken to America and sold again to a smaller circus, that after a 

 short life became stranded in the South, at Cupola, Miss. To get away 

 the owners sold at auction some of their horses, and a colored man, 

 well known as a Veterinary, in Shelbyville, Tenn., Dr. Wm. Key. 

 bought her for $40.00, though it is stated she cost $50,000 when first 

 purchased. 



Lauretta fell into kind and able hands, for Dr. Key was celebrated 

 throughout the Southland for both his marvellous skill and kindness in 

 the treatment of horses, and though it took nearly a year of the most 

 careful attention, the good Doctor, for so he is best known, cured her. 



