LIFE WITH THE TROTTEKS. 19 



and secure my portion of the money. So I cut loose right 

 tlien and there, and after a hard struggle succeeded in get- 

 ting the stallion to the wire ahead of the others. As I came 

 back to the stand Jimmy was standing there, bucket in 

 hand, and regarding me with a look of half disapproval. I 

 saw in an instant what the trouble was, and on dismounting 

 from the sulky said to the old man : ' ' Well, Jimmy, I didn' t 

 drive exactly as you directed." This confession on my part 

 evidently mollified the old man, for he replied in a friendly 

 tone : " 'Tis all right ; yer orders were not positive." 



When Jimmy took me in charge at the Fashion track he 

 had a mare he was rubbing that belonged to Mr. William 

 Humphrey, who afterward became famous as the owner of 

 Judge Fullerton. This mare's name was Tempest, and she 

 was matched against a horse that belonged to Mr. John Har- 

 beck. I recollect distinctly that she had a great deal of 

 trouble with her feet, and a part of my duties was to get up 

 early in the morning and lead her out in the long grass 

 while the dew was on it, in order that what the poet calls 

 "the tears of night" might allay the fever in her feet, and 

 perhaps, as in case of the. race-horse War Jig, that Jim Mur- 

 phy, the well-known running-horse man, owned and trained, 

 it might prove efficacious where all human remedies had 

 failed, and induce a cure that could not otherwise be brought 

 about. Murphy tells to this day that when he bought War 

 Jig the horse was broken down, but that in leading him 

 through the dew-laden grass the son of War Dance stepped 

 upon a leaf of shamrock and the juice from this had such 

 a magical effect upon the injured leg that ever thereafter it 

 was the best of the four. Whether the dew did it or not. 

 Tempest came to her race in good shape. Mr. Humphrey 

 and all his friends had her well backed; Jimmy himself had 

 a few pool tickets on her, and by way of showing me that 

 my services had been appreciated he bought one small pool 

 for me. I don't think that either Mr. Mace, who drove 

 Tempest, or Jimmy, who had rubbed the mare, watched her 

 any closer or took any more interest in the race than I did — 



