You can't
cure it, for it's a ruption of an air vessel, and you can't get at it
to sew it up. But you can fix it up by diet and care, and proper
usage, so that you can deceive even an old hand, providin' you don't
let him ride or drive the beast too fast.
"Well, I doctored and worked with him so, the most that could be
perceived was a slight cold, nothin' to mind, much less frighten you.
And when I got him up to the notch, I advertised him for sale, as
belonging to a person going down east, who only parted with him
because he thought him too heavey for a man who never travelled less
than a mile in two minutes and twenty seconds. Well, he was sold at
auction, and knocked down to Rip Van Dam, the Attorney-General, for
five hundred dollars; and the owner put a saddle and bridle on him,
and took a bet of two hundred dollars with me, he could do a mile in
two minutes, fifty seconds. He didn't know me from Adam parsonally, at
the time, but he had heard of me, and bought the horse because it was
said Sam Slick owned him.
"Well, he started off, and lost his bet; for when he got near the
winnin'-post the horse choked, fell, and pitched the rider off
half-way to Troy, and nearly died himself. The umpire handed me the
money, and I dug out for the steam-boat intendin' to pull foot for
home. Just as I reached the wharf, I heard my name called out, but I
didn't let on I noticed it, and walked a-head.
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