DODDLES AND HIS HOKSE. 73 



" The winner of the double event ! " soliloquised he, stand- 

 ins: with arms folded across his breast. " The imbeaten one in 

 every engagement they have pulled ye out for ! It wouldn't 

 be right, I suppose," continued he, "to go down on my knees 

 and wusshup ye ; but if there ever was a real, living idol, in 

 the shape of a race-'oss, you're mine ! " 



Sunshine lifted a hind foot just an inch or two from the 

 litter, and threw back both ears, as much as to say, " None o' 

 your gammon ! " 



" You are," resumed Puffy Doddles, " my own real, living 

 idol ; and well you may be. Here was I only yesterday mornin' 

 as ever was, a poor, and pretty nigh friendless, stable lad. Now 

 what's the consequence ? Look at me at this present time. 

 Talked about, written about, praised right and left, patted on 

 the back like a dorg that's won the fight, stared at and admired 

 as though I was a Prince of the Blood Royal, coaxed, and 

 sugary-treacled, and paid more for three minutes and fifteen 

 seconds' work than a full-blown man could earn by hard work 

 in seven years. And who have I got to thank ? " 



The colt by Glitter, dam Comet, by Falling Star, made a 

 playful snap with his teeth, as much as to say, " If you mean 

 me, take care, or I'll eat ye." 



" If I was doomed to be swallered," continued Robert Top's 

 besfc lad, " you should do it before any 'oss or halligator that 

 was ever foaled ; but I hope that's not my latter end just at 

 present. I want to live and ride ye to the front, and over and 

 over again to ' break their hearts.' That's what / want to do ;" 

 and Puffy Doddles touched the middle button of his light 

 holland stable jacket, so that no error might exist in reference 

 to the personal desire. 



Sunshine gave a suppressed and rather uneuphonious squeak, 

 clearly intimating that to break more hearts would prove a 

 source of considerable enjoyment to him. 



"And then when your last race was run" — here Puffy 

 Doddles might have been seen to screw the bent knuckles of 



