in one of these here parlor races fur gents, with a bunch of
hunters, _they won't know which way he went_!'

"'The runners I have seen are all neck and legs. They don't look like
hunters at all,' he says.

"'You're thinkin' about these here flat-shouldered sprinters,' I says.
'This Rainbow is a brush-topper. He's got a pair of shoulders on _him_
'n' he's the jumpin'est thoroughbred ever I saw. Course he's rangier 'n
most huntin'-bred hosses, but with a curb to put some bow in his neck,
he'll pass fur a hunter anywhere!'

"'There is one sad thing I haven't told you,' he says. 'I must ride the
horse myself.'

"'What's sad about that?' I says. 'You ain't much over a hundred 'n'
forty, at a guess.'

"'The trouble is not with my weight--it's my disposition,' he says. 'I
have not ridden for ten years. In fact I never rode much. To tell you
the truth--I'm afraid of a horse.'

"Say--I'd liked that young chap fine till then! I think he's handin' me
a josh at first.

"'You're kiddin' me, ain't you?' I says.

"'No,' he says. 'I'm not kidding you. I've fought my fear of horses
since I was old enough to think. Lately it has become necessary for me
to ride, and I'm going to do it--it it kills me!'

"We were back to my joint by this time 'n' he looks at me 'n' laughs.

"'Cheer up!' he says. 'I'll think over what you told me and let you
know. I go over to Philadelphia to-morrow to race in a "buzz-wagon," as
you call it. I don't want you to think me entirely chicken-hearted--and
I'll take you with me, if Brown can spare you.'

"The next day he shows up in the battle-ship.

"'Blister,' he says, 'I don't know just how far I'll be willing to go in
the affair, but if you can get Rainbow, I'll buy him.'

"'Now you've said somethin',' I says. 'Head fur the nearest telegraph
office 'n' I'll wire Peewee.'

"'They're likely to ask a stiff price fur this hoss,' I says when we gets
to the telegraph office.

"'Buy him,' he says.

"'_Do you mean the sky's the limit_?' I says, 'n' he nods.

"We cross on the ferry after sendin' the wire. He has the battle-ship
under wraps till we hit the open country, 'n' then he lets her step. We
gets to goin' faster 'n' faster. I can't see, 'n' I think my eyebrows
have blowed off. I'm so scared I feel like my stumick has crawled up in
my chest, but I hopes this is the limit, 'n' I grits my teeth to keep
from yelpin'. Just then we hits a long straight road, 'n' what we'd been