_He's_ been coppin' where they race your eyeballs off. _He's_ been
makin' good against the real thing. _He's a thoroughbred_! If _he_
turns 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.
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