THE THOROUGHBEED IN AMERICA 61 



laid himself alongside him, nose by nose. Then 

 the mass, which during the few seconds of this 

 special struggle had been breathless with hope 

 and fear, burst into a shout that rang for 

 miles, and amid the din of which might be 

 heard here and there, 'One hundred even on 

 Lecompte ! ' 



"But this equality was only for a moment's 

 term. Lexington threw his eye jealously askant; 

 Gil Patrick relaxed a little of his rein, which up to 

 this time he had held close in hand, and without 

 violence or startling effort, the racer of racers 

 stole ahead, gently, but steadily and surely, as 

 before, until he drew himself a clear length in the 

 lead, in which position they closed the second 

 mile. Time, 1.51. 



"Again the hurrah rises as they pass the 

 stand — ' One hundred to seventy-five on Lex- 

 ington!'— and swells in wider volume when 

 Lexington increases his one length to three from 

 the stand to the turn of the back stretch. In vain 

 Lecompte struggled; in vain he called to mind 

 his former laurels; in vain his rider struck 

 him with the steel; his great spirit was a sharper 



