AN ARTFUL YANKEE.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1515, 15 January 1886, Page 3

AN ARTFUL YANKEE.

The horseman of Shermantown, a very dissipated and unholy mining settlement near White I'ine, Nebraska Territory, is Mr. Watson, whom his bosom friends know bv the graceful pet-name of " Buckskin," and whose taste in horseflesh is at once the admiration aud envy of all his uproar'oih associats

By reason of the European wa r , or "nuic other international disturbance of credit, Mr. Watson's bank account has not always been favourable t» such extravagance in Hambletonians and revenues as that gentleman's fasti.lious equine nature habitually yearned for; but weeks ago. a happy combii atton of right and lett bower endowed him with a few hundred dollers, and he forthwith purchased a little bay mare from abroad, and assumed an air of superiority lately that was an outrage upon every horseowner in town The keener of jockeys, no less than the m< et seneib e of men, are su'oecU to curious eq'iine infatuation at times, and Mr. Watson's tune came when he had secured this little bay iDß'e.

lie believed she could trot a mile in a certain incredible ti • e , he gathered together all his worldly property for a magnificent rec!t ! e*» wager upon it ; and his friend" could no longer blind themseivee to the fact that the time tor his " clearing out " had certainly arrived.

A certain gaunt and swift grey horse of superlative ugliness and bottom was obtained from white Pine to pit against the b»y, and a select ring of the most respectable gamesters of Shermantown concoctec* a subtle plot for what they felicitously called " raking Buckskin's little pile."

To assure the soundness of their friendly ((peculation, these sagacious eentlemen went quietly to Mr. WrUmn's Btables ou a moonlight night, and leading the vaunted little mare thence to the race-track, obliged her to show her epeed against the grey. Alas for the vanity of human judgment ! that raw-boned monster of celerity trotted away from her little LViter from Mountain Boy, and she was stealthily returned to her stall, with the com tempt ever felt for any kind of failure by noble minds. Now according to the very admirable principles of the turf, everything was ready for a formal match with the unsuspecting Buckskin Watnon, and that gentleman was duly dared aud abused into making a race between his little bay and the gray. The day of the great event brought all Shermantown to the track, and the sporting excLement ran high. It was exceedingly curious to observe, however, that everybody was

wild to wager heavily upon the erey, while none bet upon the bay but her infatuated owner. He, innocent man took bets of everything, even watches, revolvers, and breast-pins, with an apparent plentitude of cash, magical to behold The race ensued and in it the gallant grey surpassed his every previous effort, and made far better time than on the moonlight night of the first contest.

This was immediately satisfactory to his backers, of course, but not so satisfactory as it would have been had the grey won the race. The beast, despite his " splendid points," was actually distanced in the very first heat by the little bay nure. Tremendous was the sensation nt this incredible result, and dens.' iV confusion of the numerous knowing ones by whose contributions the simple uneffected Mr.Watson became quite a Rothschild.

As he took the spoils from his friends, Mr Watson begged that th«-y would excuse him for being so artful as to let them take out the little nav mare and try her on that beautiful moonlight night, when they thought him asleep. " Because you see, chaps,'' he observed, pocketing a brother in-law's watch with deep em<»tion, "that air pesky little bay mare is as stone-blind at moonlight as an owl at midday, and a mare can't run when sln-'s blind."