RECREATION. 



THE DEACON S RIVAL. 



few yards beyond the wire. In spite of 

 this bad behavior, Tom never struck the 

 horse; he would as soon have struck his 

 best friend. This state of affairs could not 

 last long, however, and Ashwind was soon 



given a mark of 2.12 in which class he "was 

 as much at home as in the 20's and acted 

 as badly. 



Tom's 65 years were beginning to tell 

 and, while he loved the track and the race, 

 he hadn't the heart to face another season 

 of reprimands. He decided to let Ashwind 

 drive himself and race against time to his 

 heart's content, as he seemed bound to do 

 on all occasions. A few experiments dem- 

 onstrated that when harnessed to a sulky 

 with short guide lines attached to either 

 side of the girth, he would do his mile 

 without a driver just the same as he did 

 when Tom was on the seat, scoring as 

 fiercely as though in the ruck of a big field, 

 and finishing his mile in 16 or better. The 

 sight of a driverless horse was, however, 

 distasteful to Tom, and he sought to pro- 

 vide a 4-footed jockey who would enter 

 into the sport with zest. One would think 

 his first thought would have been of Dea- 

 con on account of his fondness for Ash- 

 wind. Not so with Tom. The Deacon was 

 not cultured, neither was he known to be a 

 sport. He was just an ordinary bulldog cur 

 and a bulldog is not supposed to have any 

 brains to speak of, at least not in Tom's 

 estimation ; so he set about finding a trick 

 dog. At last a bright and delicate little 

 collie was engaged and duly installed as 

 Ashwind's companion. 



Deacon's feelings can better be imagined 



DEACON EXERCISING ASHWIND. 



