he thought of it, his eyes struck small sparks, and his enormous beard
and mustachio vibrated with something that faintly resembled a laugh.
Replying to the question, he said:

'Kinder reckon I wull, Cunnel; howsomdever, I keeps the stakes, anyhow?'

'Of course,' said the planter, 'but be honest--win if you can.'

Sandy halted his horse in the road, while the planter and I took to the
woods on either side of the way. The Colonel soon maneuvered to separate
the selected animal from the rest of the herd, and, without much
difficulty, got him into the road, where, by closing down on each flank,
we kept him till he and Sandy were fairly under way.

'He'll keep to the road when once started,' said the Colonel, laughing,
'and he'll show you some of the tallest running you ever saw in your
life.'

Away they went. At first the pig seemed not exactly to comprehend the
programme, for he cantered off at a leisurely pace, though he held his
own. Soon, however, he cast an eye behind him--halted a moment to
collect his thoughts and reconnoiter--and then, lowering his head and
elevating his tail, put forth all his speed. And such speed! Talk of a
deer, the wind, or a steam-engine--their gait is not to be compared with
it. Nothing in nature I have ever seen run--except, it may be, a
Southern tornado, or a Sixth Ward politician--could hope to distance
that pig. He gained on the horse at every pace, and I soon saw that my
dollar was gone!

'In for a shilling in for a pound,' is the adage, so turning to the