ou talkin' 'bout? Why, _we_
does de fahm wuck wid likelier colts dan _dey_ sends to de races.'

"'I've seed some nifty babies down there,' I says.

"'Look-a-hyar, man!' he says, 'you want to see a colt what am a colt?'

"'How far?' I says.

"'No ways at all, jus' over yondah,' says the nigger.

"'Lead me to it,' I say to him, 'n' he takes me over to a long lane
with paddocks down each side of it. All the paddocks is empty but two.
In the first one is the ole mare, Mary Goodloe; 'n' next to her is a
slashin' big chestnut colt.

"'Cast yo' eyes on dat one!' says the nigger.

"I don't say nothin' fur five minutes. I just looks at that colt. I
never sees one like him before, nor since. There's some dead leaves
blowin' around the paddock 'n' he's jumpin' on 'em with his front feet
like a setter pup playin'. Two jumps 'n' he's clear across the
paddock! His shoulders 'n' quarters 'n' legs is made to order. His
head 'n' throat-latch is clean as a razor, 'n' he's the proudest thing
that ever stood on four legs. He looks to be comin' three, but he's
muscled like a five-year-old.

"'How 'bout him, boss?' says the nigger after a while.

"'Well,' I says, 'they broke the mold when they made that one!'

"'Dar's de mold,' he says, pointin' to the ole mare in the next
paddock. 'She's his mammy. Dat's Mahey Goodloe, named fo' ole Miss
Goodloe what's dade. Dat mare win de derby. Dis hyar colt's by
impo'ted Calabash.'

"'When does this colt sell?' I asks him.

"'He ain' fo' sale,' says the nigger. 'De estate doan own him. De
General done gib him to Miss Sally when de colt's bohn.'

"'Where's she at now?' I says to the nigger. I had to own that colt if
my roll could reach him--I knowed that 'fore I'd looked at him a minute.

"'Up to de house, mos' likely,' says the nigger. 'You'd better save
yo' shoe leather, boss. She ain' gwine to sell dat colt no matter what
happens.'

"I beats it up to the big house, but when I gets there I see nobody's
livin' in it. The windows has boards across 'em. I looks in between
the cracks 'n' sees a whale of a room. Hangin' from the ceilin' is two
things fur lights all covered with glass dingles. They ain't nothin'
else in the room but a tall mirror, made of gold, that goes clear to
the ceilin'. I walks clean around the house, but it's sure empty, so I
oozes back to the barns 'n' collars the sales clerk.

"'I'm a-lookin' fur Miss Goodloe,' I tells him. 'A nigger says s