tly close to their quivering and
snorting nostrils, in order that the relative capacity of the riders
to manage a frightened and unruly steed might be compared, and the
criticism of the judges mowed the number down to four.

Free speech is conceded by all right-thinking people to be a blessing.
It is often a balm. Outside of the building and of earshot the
defeated aspirants took what comfort they could in consigning, with
great fervor and volubility, all the judicial magnates to that torrid
region unknown to polite geographical works.

Of the four horsemen remaining in the ring, two were Jenkins Hollis
and Jacob Brice. Short turns at full gallop were prescribed. The
horses were required to go backward at various gaits. Bars were
brought in and the crowd enjoyed the exhibition of the standing-leap,
at an ever-increasing height and then the flying-leap--a tumultuous
confused impression of thundering hoofs and tossing mane and grim
defiant faces of horse and rider, in the lightning-like moment of
passing. Obstructions were piled on the track for the "long jumps,"
and in one of the wildest leaps a good rider was unhorsed and rolled
on the ground while his recreant steed that had balked at the last
moment scampered around and around the arena in a wild effort to find
the door beneath the tiers of seats to escape so fierce a
competition. This accident reduced the number of candidates to the two
mountaineers and Tip Hackett, the man whom Jacob had pronounced a
formidable rival. The circling about, the mounting and dismounting,
the exchange of horses were several times repeated without any
apparent result, and excitement rose to fever heat.

The premium and certificate lay between the three men. The town
faction trembled at the thought that the substantial award of the
saddle and bridle, with the decoration of the blue ribbon, and the
intangible but still precious secondary glory of the certificate and
the red ribbon might be given to the two mountaineers, leaving the
crack rider of Colbury in an ignominious lurch; while the country
party feared Hollis's defeat by Hackett rather less than that Jenks
would be required to relinquish the premium to the interloper Brice,
for the young hunter's riding had stricken a pang of prophetic terror
to more than one partisan rustic's heart. In the midst of the
perplexing doubt, which tried the judges' minds, came the hour for
dinner, and the decision was postponed until after that meal.