fore-foot. As to this exclamation the boy and the two men were
agreed. The boy was then made to dismount and run for Mr. Pook; and
as he started Tifto commenced to examine the horse's foot. The boy
saw him raise the off fore-leg. He himself had not found the horse
lame under him, but had been so hustled and hurried out of the saddle
by Tifto and the groom that he had not thought on that matter till
he was questioned. So far the story told by Tifto and the groom was
corroborated by the boy,--except as to the horse's actual lameness.
So far the story was believed by all men,--except in regard to the
actual lameness. And so far it was true. Then, according to Tifto
and the groom, the other foot was looked at, but nothing was seen.
This other foot, the near fore-foot, was examined by the groom, who
declared himself to be so flurried by the lameness of such a horse at
such a time, that he hardly knew what he saw or what he did not see.
At any rate then in his confusion he found no cause of lameness,
but the horse was led into the stable as lame as a tree. Here Tifto
found the nail inserted into the very cleft of the frog of the near
fore-foot, and so inserted that he could not extract it till the
farrier came. That the farrier had extracted the nail from the part
of the foot indicated was certainly a fact.

Then there was the nail. Only those who were most peculiarly
privileged were allowed to see the nail. But it was buzzed about the
racing quarters that the head of the nail,--an old rusty, straight,
and well-pointed nail,--bore on it the mark of a recent hammer. In
answer to this it was alleged that the blacksmith in extracting
the nail with his pincers, had of course operated on its head, had
removed certain particles of rust, and might easily have given it the
appearance of having been struck. But in answer to this the farrier,
who was a sharp fellow, and quite beyond suspicion in the matter,
declared that he had very particularly looked at the nail before he
extracted it,--had looked at it with the feeling on his mind that
something base might too probably have been done,--and that he was
ready to swear that the clear mark on the head of the nail was there
before he touched it. And then not in the stable, but lying under
the little dung-heap away from the stable-door, there was found a
small piece of broken iron bar, about a foot long, which might have
answered for a hammer,--a rusty bit of iron; and amidst the rust of