man, and declared that he should
certainly have a constable arrest the next man who interfered with
his duties.

In the mean time President Kitchen was frantically calling to him
to ring the gong. The horses kept going, for a driver takes no chances
of losing a heat by coming back to ask questions. It was different
in the case of Marengo Todd, driver of the pole-horse, and entitled
to "protection." He pulled "Maria M." to a snorting halt under the
wire and poured forth the vials of his artistic profanity in a way
that piqued Cap'n Sproul's professional interest, he having heard
more or less eminent efforts in his days of seafaring.

Lashed in this manner, the Honorable J. Percival Bickford began
retort of a nature that reminded his fellow-townsmen that he was
"Jabe" Bickford, of Smyrna, before he was donor of public benefits
and libraries.

The grimness of Cap'n Sproul's face relaxed a little. He forgot even
the incubus of the plug hat. He nudged Hiram.

"I didn't know he had it in him," he whispered. "I was afraid he was
jest a dude and northin' else."

In this instance the dog Hector seemed to know his master's voice,
and realized that something untoward was occurring. He came bounding
out from under the stand and frisked backward toward the centre of
the track in order to get a square look at his lord. In this blind
progress he bumped against the nervous legs of "Maria M." She
promptly expressed her opinion of the Bickford family and its
attaches by rattling the ribs of Hector by a swift poke with her hoof.

The dog barked one astonished yap of indignation and came back with
a snap that started the crimson on "Maria's" fetlock. She kicked him
between the eyes this time--a blow that floored him. The next instant
"Maria M." was away, Todd vainly struggling with the reins and
trailing the last of his remarks over his shoulder. The dog was no
quitter. He appeared to have the noble blood of which his master had
boasted. After a dizzy stagger, he shot away after his assailant--a
cloud of dust with a core of dog.

The other drivers, their chins apprehensively over their shoulders,
took to the inner oval of the course or to the side lines. Todd, "Maria
M.," and Hector were, by general impulse, allowed to become the whole
show.

When the mare came under the wire the first time two swipes attempted
to stop her by the usual method of suddenly stretching a blanket
before her. She spread her legs and squatted. Todd sho