Horse Tradin' by Ben K. Green Page A

grandstand, Colonel Bob was neck and neck with another horse. The Rebel Commander was moving out smooth and easy and had plenty left—he hadn’t felt any strain and he wasn’t hurting himself in the least. On the back stretch, Rebel Commander moved out about two lengths in front of the rest of the field. Colonel Bob was sitting very erect and holding his reins high. He was making a beautiful drive as they made the turn to come in by the grandstand. As I said, this was a half-mile track, so they had to make two circles. Colonel Bob pushed Rebel Commander out a little bit more—then he just took a tight hold on him and held him there. He made this first half-mile just in front of the other horses in the field. They came by the grandstand and started around again; then as he came into the home stretch the last time, Colonel Bob shook the bits a little and leaned forward andspoke to the Rebel Commander. You couldn’t hear what he said, but that black horse must have believed it. He moved out and won the race by ten lengths—and the crowd went wild.
    Colonel Bob scored Rebel Commander and brought him back by the judges’ stand—he was in perfect manner—stopped, and stood still. The judges came out and presented Colonel Bob with a big trophy, then old William dashed up to lead Rebel Commander off the track by the side gate. They headed back home.
    Baby Belle was excited beyond expression. It seemed everybody was delighted that Colonel Bob had won the race—except, I guess, the drivers of the other five horses. All in all, it was a good day. We went back to Colonel Bob’s home and had a light supper and talked about the events of the day, and I left and put my horse in the barn at a reasonable hour.
    The next week I had more horse and mule business than you could shake a stick at. Every trade I made was a good one, and I made money. By the end of the third week, I had sold out of all the fresh mules I brought from Texas. I didn’t have quite a carload of saddle mares and trade mules to take back to Texas with me.
    As things developed, it was time for Baby Belle to go to Gulfport to the girls’ finishing school—whatever that was. So far as I was concerned, she was already finished; but it seemed that Mamma Belle thought she needed to go to this girls’ school. I told Mamma Belle that so far as I could see, the only reason Baby Belle needed to go to that school was so that unfinished girls would know what they ought to look like and how they ought to act. Ofcourse that made a big hit, and I told it in the drugstore where everybody laughed.
    Baby Belle said: “Ben, you embarrass me!”
    On Sunday night before I was going to ship out, Colonel Bob and Mamma Belle and Baby Belle had me down to the house for a family dinner. There was a beautiful table set and a lot of food. It was a little cool, and afterwards we sat around the fireplace in the spacious, high-ceilinged living room instead of out on the gallery. Hanging over the mantel was a portrait of Baby Belle’s grandmother that quickly told you this was a family of gracious and beautiful women. It explained, too, why Colonel Bob was so fond of his granddaughter—she was the very likeness of her grandmother for whom Colonel Bob had built this house. Anything fine that had been hard to obtain but could be brought from afar—it was in this old Southern home.
    We reminisced and talked and visited, and I told them how much I had enjoyed my stay in Mississippi. Before this time I had settled with Colonel Bob for his barn. I had asked Tom what he thought the Colonel expected. He said $25 would be enough; so I had given the old man $100—which was cheap aplenty for all the help he had been to me. He was delighted. Tom’s bank was going to make some money, too, off the paper that I had sold them. All in all, it seemed that my visit there had been pleasing to everybody concerned. I had made more money in