And that was the beginnin'.
"It went along that way for twelve months.

Fust one feller's nag would come home freighted with perspiration and glory, and then t'other's.

One week Jonadab would be so bloated with horse pride that he couldn't find room for his vittles, and the next he'd be out in the stable growlin' 'cause it cost so much for hay to stuff an old hide rack that wa'n't fit to put in a museum.

At last it got so that neither one could find a better horse on the Cape, and the two they had was practically an even match.

I begun to have hopes that the foolishness was over.