st three passengers, the idea occurred to him that he would start
an opposition conveyance, of course in perfect secrecy, and with every
outward show of its being a genuine rival. He effected his object with
such success that his own agents were completely taken in, and never
wearied of reporting, for his gratification, all the shortcomings and
disasters of the rival company.

At length, and when the struggle between the competitors was at its
height, one of his drivers rushed frantically into his office one day,
crying out, "Give a crown-piece to drink your honor's health for what I
done to-day."

"What was it, Larry?"

"I killed the yallow mare of the opposition car; I passed her on the
long hill, when she was blown, and I bruk her heart before she reached
the top."

"After this I gave up the opposition," said my friend; "'mocking was
catching,' as the old proverb says; and I thought that one might carry a
joke a little too far."

I had this experience before me, and I will not say it did not impress
me. My puzzle was, however, in this wise: I imagined I did not care on
which horse I stood to win; in other words, I persuaded myself that it
was a matter of perfect indifference to me which book took best with the
public, and whether the reader thought better of "The Daltons" or "Con
Cregan," that it could in no way concern me.

That I totally misunderstood myself, or misconceived the case before
me, I am now quite ready to own. For one notice of "The Daltons" by the
Press, there were at least three or four of "Con Cregan," and while the
former was dismissed with a few polite and measured phrases, the latter
was largely praised and freely quoted. Nor was this all. The critics
discovered in "Con Cregan" a freshness and a vigor which were so sadly
deficient in "The Daltons." It was, they averred, the work of a less
practised writer, but of one whose humor was more subtle, and whose
portraits, roughly sketched as they were, indicated a far higher power
than the well-known author of "Harry Lorre-quer."

The unknown--for there was no attempt to guess him--was pronounced not
to be an imitator of Mr. Lever, though there were certain small points
of resemblance; for he was clearly original in his conception of
character, in his conduct of his story, and in his dialogues, and there
were traits of knowledge of life in scenes and under conditions to
which Mr. Lever could lay no claim. One critic, who had found out more
fea