132 LIFE WITH THE TEOTTEES. 



Never mind the ten dollars. ' ' I said: ' ' 'No; put tlie harness 

 on him. I would rather win that pool ticket for you than 

 to win the whole world for anybody else." I told the old 

 man to put on his glasses, go up in the grand stand, and sit 

 down and see what kind of a battle Rarus and myself would 

 make for his money. When I went out for the third heat, it 

 was late in the evening, the wind had died down, and most of 

 the audience had left the track. When we took the word, 

 Rarus was going straight and strong, with all his old-time 

 speed and determination, and I said to myself: ' ' The money 

 is Pap's." As we turned into the back stretch, I heard 

 something clatter on his hind foot, as though his shoe might 

 have been loose, and started to pull him up. About that 

 time, one of his scalpers flew off, and, as I knew that would 

 not make much difference to him, I kept him going, and, 

 when we rounded into the stretch, I cut him loose for all 

 that was in sight. True to his old-time record, he finished 

 the mile in 2: 1,3 J, thereby winning the pool ticket for his 

 owner, and coming within a quarter of a second of his old 

 best performance. It never entered my mind that that would 

 be the last fast mile I would ever drive Rarus. It so tui'ned 

 out, however, and the reader will see what a little incident 

 caused me to make such a fast record with him that day. 

 We trotted the following week against Hopeful, and won, 

 the best mile being 2:16. 



I have now come to the sale of Rarus and his retirement 

 from the turf forever. The night after the Utica race, my 

 old employer, Mr. Z. E. Simmons, came to me at the hotel, 

 and asked me if Rarus was for sale, saying that if such was 

 the case, he would like to have a price on him. I told him 

 that, as far as I was concerned, if I could be guaranteed 

 that Rarus would be sold to a good home, I would consent 

 to the sale and use my influence with Mr. Conklin to that 

 effect, providing, of course, that we agreed on the price. 

 116 told me that, while he was not at liberty to give the 

 name of the would-be purchaser, he was prepared to guar- 

 antee me aU I asked. He said he would leave that night 



