but half of that to raise the mortgage, an' he'd do that
the first time he turned round in a race.

"I drove him that race myself, pulled down the five hundred dollar
purse, refused all their fine offers for Ben Butler, an' me an' him's
been missionaryin' round here ever since."

"Great hoss--great!" said Bud, his eyes sparkling,--"allers told you
so! Think I'll get out and hug him."

This he did while the Bishop sat smiling. But in the embrace Ben
Butler planted a fore foot on Bud's great toe. Bud came back limping
and whimpering with pain.

"Now there, Bud," said the Bishop, consolingly. "God has spoken to
you right there."

"What 'ud He say?" asked Bud, looking scary again.

"Why, he said through Nature's law an' voice that you mustn't hug a
hoss if you don't want yo' toes tramped on."

"Who must you hug then?" asked Bud.

"Yo' wife, if you can't do no better," said the Bishop quietly.

"My wife's wussern a hoss," said Bud sadly--"she bites. I'm sorry you
didn't take that thar thousan' dollars for him," he said, looking at
his bleeding toe.

"Bud," said the old man sternly, "don't say that no mo'. It mou't
make me think you are one of them selfish dogs that thinks money'll
do anything. Then I'd hafter watch you, for I'd know you'd do
anything for money."

Bud crawled in rather crest-fallen, and they drove on.

CHAPTER IV

HOW THE BISHOP FROZE

The Bishop laughed outright as his mind went back again.

"Well," he went on reminiscently, "I'll have to finish my tale an'
tell you how I throwed the cold steel into Jud Carpenter when I got
back. I saw I had it to do, to work back into my daddy-in-law's
graces an' save my reputation.

"Now, Jud had lied to me an' swindled me terribly, when he put off
that old no-count hoss on me. Of course, I might have sued him, for a
lie is a microbe which naturally develops into a lawyer's fee. But
while it's a terrible braggart, it's really cowardly an' delicate,
an' will die of lock-jaw if you only pick its thumb.

"So I breshed up that old black to split-silk fineness, an' turned
him over to Dr. Sykes, a friend of mine living in the next village.
An' I said to the Doctor, 'Now remember he is yo' hoss until Jud
Carpenter comes an' offers you two hundred dollars for him.'

"'Will he be fool enough to do it?' he asked, as he looked the old
counterfeit over.

"'Wait an' see,' I said.

"I said nothin', laid low an' froze an' it wa'n't long befo' Jud come