344 THE LUKE LIGHTWOOD LEGACY. 



of the horses, and bore himself accordingly. It was 

 truly surprising to see with what grace and dignity 

 "red shirt" would step out of the ranks and advance 

 to receive "short and dirty," who approached, bearing 

 some message to the Sheriff, and how "Rip" would 

 bear himself as he repeated some order of Mat's to the 

 minor aids. From the time that was consumed in 

 these transactions, vast and important affairs must 

 have been settled, but what thev were I am unable to 

 state, as outsiders were carefully excluded. In the 

 meantime, Mrs. Martin drove a thriving business ; and 

 I began to suspect, as evening drew on, without the 

 preparation being completed, that the managers of the 

 race were in "cohoots" with her, and were protracting 

 the "preliminaries" purposely. 



Everything must have an end, however, and so did 

 the horse-race. The horses were put upon the track — 

 a whoop from the further end proclaimed the start. 

 Anxiously we waited for their appearance. At length 

 they appeared, the mare somewhat in advance. A 

 loud shout from her friends proclaimed their interest 

 in the race, but the shout stopped the fun for the day. 

 Both horses became frightened, reared, threw their 

 riders, and plunged into the woods. Never did I see 

 men look so blank ! Tom and I shouted with laugh- 

 ter, but we soon found, from the lowering looks bent 

 upon us, that unless something was done quickly to 

 turn aside their resentment, our mirth might be 

 changed into mourning. Fortunately, however, we 

 knew a panacea for that evil. Before many minutes 

 we had bought out Mrs. Martin's stock. We placed 

 the barrel upon the ground, removed the end, and in- 

 vited the crowd to pitch in — and they did. On Mon- 

 day morning, when Court met, there weren't enough 

 sober men to be found to make up a jury, and the 

 Judge fined the both of us for contempt of court. 



