250 THE GOLDSMITHS. 



ham) George Wilkes. It is the pulp and essence of 

 horseflesh and frame. All the moving parts are as 

 big as those in a horse of sixteen hands, and there 

 are no grossness and waste to be carried. 



"Not long after the visit to the Island I fell in with 

 Pelham John, and very soon discovered that there 

 was something on his mind. With some circumlocu- 

 tion John said that there was a fast colt in Jones' 

 stable. Remarking that I had heard something to 

 that effect, I began to dilate upon the Alley colt. 



" "Tain't him,' says John, in a mysterious whisper, 

 and looking around to be sure there were no eaves- 

 droppers. 'It's the stallion — he's a screamer.' 



" 'How do you know?' " 

 'I happened over at the Centreville the other 

 morning and saw the stallion to a road-wagon.' 



"'Well, what did he do?'" 



" 'He beat Columbia, and went a twenty-gait, just 

 as sure as you're born. 1 



"In a few days it came to Z. E. Simmons that Pel- 

 ham John had been saying the colt could beat any- 

 thing on the Island, and he asked me what was to be 

 done. I prescribed the remedy that had brought the 

 colt out of his troubles, a course of milk-punches ; and 

 in a few days John received a present of a fine milch- 

 cow and a demijohn of Jamaica rum from the owner, 

 of the stallion. 



"His first trot on the Island came off that year. It 

 was with Bellfounder and Abdallah Chief. Not long 

 before the time of trotting Robert Fillingham, the 

 name that he carried until the close of 1864, when it 

 was changed to George Wilkes, was taken with the 

 distemper, but, as it was thought he could beat the 



