sked.

"Where's Barbie?" he demanded, not payin' any heed to my question. She
had flung herself from the pinto an' came running into the room. "Oh,
Daddy," she said, throwin' her arms around him.

"Where have you been?" sez he.

"I been racin' with Happy," she said. "Are you bad hurt, Daddy?"

"Who beat?" sez he.

"Happy did, about a hundred yards."

"It wasn't more'n fifty," sez I.

"How far did you race?" asked Jabez, grittin' his teeth.

"A hundred miles," sez Barbie.

"A hundred miles?" sez Jabez, grinnin' painful. "A hundred miles, an'
the black hoss beat your pinto carryin' a hundred'n fifty pounds more
weight. Hendricks--tell those blame fools not to kill Pluto. Happy, you
go an' see that they don't even hurt him. It was my fault. Now, Barbie,
tell me about the race."

I went out to the big open stall where Pluto was kept all by himself,
but first I sent one o' the boys with the buckboard after Melisse. I
found Pluto in the middle of his stall with three ropes around his neck
an' the boys snubbin' him to posts. They wasn't minded to let him go,
even on Hendricks's say-so, but I went into the stall an' told 'em to
ease off. "He's whipped one man in a fair fight," sez I, "an' if
another man don't whip him in a fair fight the' won't be any handlin'
of him from this on. Ease off these ropes."

Well, I whipped that hoss in a fair fight, an' then I went in to see
how Jabez was gettin' along. I said a fair fight an' I meant a fair
fight. Yes, the' is a way to fight a hoss fair--that is, as fair as any
fight is. If you look at it one way, the' can't never be a fair fight,
'cause one is bound to have an advantage--skill, luck, experience, or
courage; but what I mean is, that I fought that hoss with nothing but
just my own hands an' I whipped him.

Why the way I did it was this: as soon as they slacked off the ropes I
slipped up beside him an' jerked 'em over his head, an' we two stood
alone in the big box stall with size in his favor an' brains in mine. I
had some consid'able size in those days, an' he was almost too brainy
for a hoss; but I own up 'at I 'd had the most experience.

First I stood off an' insulted him: I cussed him an' I called him all
manner of names an' then I laughed at him--you think a hoss, a hoss
like Pluto, can't be insulted? Why, pshaw! they're as high feelin' as
children. He was out o' humor to begin with, an' purty soon his ears
went back an' his eyes got red. I've heard tell abou