The entries were as follows:

ROBERT BONNER'S b. h. Dexter.
DEREN O. SUE'S b. m. Lady Thorn.
PUNCHINELLO'S y. h. Creeping Peter.

When the word was given, the horses all got off well and Dexter
immediately took the lead,--buzzing through the air like a
humming-top,--followed closely by Lady Thorn, her nose just lapping his
off jaw. For the first few seconds Mr. P. fell behind, owing to his
fires not yet being properly under way, but the water soon bubbled
merrily in his boiler, and his wheels began to revolve with great
rapidity. And now he sped merrily. Never did the war trumpet inspire the
fiery charger, or hounds and horn excite the mettled hunter, as the
steam-engine in his rear woke all the energies of Creeping Peter.

Swift as revolving pin-wheels or rapid peg-top, those spavins, those
ring-bones, those bulbous hocks, those sand-cracked hoofs and those
rattling ribs went whistling o'er the track. Mid the shouts and yells of
the excited multitude he passed Lady Thorn, overtook Dexter and shot
ahead of him! But he cannot stand that tremendous pace, and down goes
Creeping Peter on his knees. Every man who had bet against him set up a
howl of rapture, but Mr. P. never relaxed a muscle, and on went Creeping
Peter, just as fast as ever, his horny bones dashing away the sand and
gravel like spray from the cut-water of a scudding yacht, and, amid the
wildest clamor, he shot past the judges' stand on his nose and one leg,
making his mile in two minutes and two seconds!

[Illustration]