230 TALES OF THE TURF. 



ter. It was impossible, but I got him to go to the harness 

 shop with me, and by gestures I made him understand 

 that. I wanted him to order a harness built under my direc- 

 tion. By dint of many a gesture, and no end of trouble, 

 I finally got the workman to turn out a beauty, as hand- 

 some as any in America, for they are splendid workmen in 

 every branch of mechanics. I made my friend under- 

 stand that we must keep the matter a secret. He was 

 about wild with pride over the beautiful harness when I 

 fitted it to his handsome mare, and she shared in his en- 

 thusiasm, but the mechanic shook his head, evidently 

 thinking the thing too fragile for any purpose. 



"We then went to the wagon-maker's. Being quite a 

 draftsman, I drew as complete as I could, a truss-axle 

 sulky, and set the wagon-maker at it. I had fairly to 

 stand over him with an axe to get him to make it light 

 enough, but finally succeeded, and when completed, 

 painted a bright carmine, it, too, was a beauty. The de- 

 light of my patron, when I harnessed the mare and hitched 

 her to the sulky, was unbounded, but the wagon-maker, 

 like the harness-maker, shook his head, and sneered at 

 the idea of its being of any service. I doubt if there was 

 a man in the country who would have risked his neck in 

 that frail sulky behind that mare, harnessed, as it looked 

 to them, by a cobweb. 



"Betting is a ruling passion with the people. It is 

 done on the same plan as in America, by auction pools, 

 and the bettors give their I. O. U's in the pool box, the 

 pool seller giving his own to the winners. It is like a 

 clearing house system, and everything is done on honor. 

 I determined to drive the first race myself, to show my 

 patron that the spider-like vehicle and cobweb harness 

 would hold together and that the mare could win with it. 



