He carefully tested the saddle, although the hoofs of their
pursuers' horses were already ringing on the street behind the house. Then
he swung himself easily into the saddle, and was hardly there before the
General and his two sons swept around the neighboring corner, not fifty
yards away.
"Good-bye, Elias," called the Colonel, cheerfully, as they shot out into
the moonlit street; and Elias's "God bless you bofe, Marse Bill!" came to
them above the rush of the horses.
As they went clattering through the quiet streets and past the rows of
darkened houses, the horses, with their sinewy necks straightened out
speeding so swiftly that the balmy air blew a soft wind in their riders'
faces, Colonel Bill, with a slight shade of disappointment in his voice,
said:
"I guess you didn't get a good look at the horses, or you would have
recognized them. That's old Beau Brummel you're on, and this is Queen of
Sheba. They're both fit, although they haven't been particularly trained
for these free-for-all scrambles, owners' handicap, ten miles straightaway.
But I don't believe there's a horse in Kentucky can catch us to-night," he
concluded, proudly patting the neck of his thoroughbred.
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