You don't want such a horse as
that--nobody does. I'll keep him a bit longer, and put him in a
handicap or two where the purse will be worth running for, and I won't
have to back him; he'll get in with a featherweight, and some day may
take it into his head to gallop, though he's a rank bad one"
Crane did not press the point; he understood Porter's motives
throughout. He knew the master of Ringwood was an unchanging man, very
set in his ways, adhering closely to his plans and opinions. So Crane
went back to Brookfield without purchasing a horse, saying as he left,
"I claim first privilege when you wish to sell."
He had talked to Porter in the stable, and Mike, busy near by, heard
that part of their conversation referring to the horses.
"They haven't got money enough in the bank to take the little mare from
us yet, have they, Mike?" Porter said to Gaynor, full of his pride in
Lucretia.
"That they haven't, sor," replied Mike, proudly. "But, faith, I wish
th' gint hadn't come a-tryin' to buy her; it's bad luck to turn down a
big offer fer any horse."
Porter smiled indulgently. This stable superstition did not appeal to
him.
"It would a-broke the bad luck, sor, to have let him took the Black"
"It would have broken his bank, you mean, Mike.
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