A CHANCY HORSE. 357 



laid by. That spring I made three trips to Buffalo 

 for horses, and on each trip I saw one that pleased me 

 clear to the ground. I wanted him for myself, but 

 could not get him, as the man would not sell. 



"From the start, it looked to me that a man in the 

 horse business should have a good horse for a trade- 

 mark, and one that the people would know as soon as 

 they saw him coming down the road or into town. 

 This horse caught my fancy, and the more I thought 

 of him the better he pleased me. He was a golden 

 sorrel, standing sixteen hands full, with four white 

 pasterns and a broad, white strip in his face. His 

 owner said he was of the Champion breed, from up 

 Auburn way, but of that I knew nothing at that time. 

 I did know, however, that there was not such another 

 horse in our county, and that he could trot a mile in 

 three minutes, which was fast enough to keep out of 

 the dust in this section. In these days the big sorrel 

 would be termed a 'chancy horse,' as he seemed to be 

 at home, no matter how or to what you hitched him, 

 while his bold, fearless way of going filled me full 

 every time he stepped by. Perhaps you have never 

 had that kind of horse fever, but I am free to admit 

 that I had it once, and had it bad. Whenever I 

 thought of Buffalo I could see that big sorrel horse 

 with the white face, and it was so set on my mind I 

 finally decided to go and get him if he could be 

 bought in reason." 



At this point Uncle Si walked over to a tall desk in 

 the corner of the room and opened a little drawer, 

 from which he took a time-stained newspaper and 

 what proved to be an ambrotype of a horse. As he 

 unfolded the paper I could see that one of the articles 



