76 OINKY O'SHEA. 



also told me at breakfast that they were going to race 

 Billy that afternoon against Mike Floyd's mare 

 Maud, and that if I wanted to go and see the race 

 Oiney would let me. She said that she was going 

 and that Terry was going to ride the gray. Later I 

 learned that a few weeks before I arrived in that part 

 of the county Maud had beaten Spangle in a race ; 

 "made him look like a two-penny bit," as Liddy ex- 

 pressed it, and Oiney then made up his mind to get 

 back what he lost and a little with it. The first time 

 that he met Floyd after the race they began talking 

 about it, and as Floyd had been drinking a little, he 

 boasted that "Maud could gallop over the top of any- 

 thing in Irishtown." That was cutting Oiney to the 

 quick, as he was the only one in the place that had 

 ' a race horse or pretended to have one, so he bided his 

 time. As Floyd became very overbearing, Oiney 

 ventured the remark that he had a "bit of a gray 

 gelding that could gallop a little, but he did not care 

 to match him, as he did not know how to break away." 

 This made Floyd laugh, while the crowd which is apt 

 to gather at such a time joined in. As they laughed 

 Oiney kept thinking and finally said he would run 

 either Spangle or the gray against the mare a race of 

 mile heats for $200 a side. At this Floyd only 

 laughed louder than ever. He also reminded Oiney 

 that he never ran Maud further than half-mile heats. 

 'That is a dunghill's distance," said Oiney, as he 

 turned on his heel and dodged through the crowd, and 

 it was well he did, as in a moment Floyd was acting 

 like a madman. "Let me at him !" he yelled, as he 

 strove to break away from a few of his friends who 

 grabbed him as soon as they saw what was coming. 



