you're listening to Bloodline.
In today's episode, we'll dive into the American history of
cockfighting a generation after the Revolutionary War with the
life of Nicholas Williams Arrington, a wealthy North Carolina
plantation owner, sheriff's deputy, civil war veteran, and
of course, one of the most legendary cockfighters to ever
grace a hit. The episode will lean heavily on a 1965
biography written by Glenn Haywood Todd, titled The Immortal
Nick Arrington. We use this book for many of the details of
Arrington's life and times, where possible, I've dug up
additional historical records and accounts to supplement Todd's
timeline and widen the scope of the episode to include
additional information about Arrington, as well as other
cockers and game foul bloodlines from the period. Nicholas
Arrington is said to have never lost a main, a contest where
two cockers fight several matches until one side has won the
majority of fights. He was known to fight mains for any sum of
money, holding the distinction of winning the largest prizes on
record in the Western world for a cockfight. He not only
defeated Santa Ana into separate main events, he also bested
some of the top cockfighters in the country during his
lifetime, almost always meeting his competitors at their home
cockpit. This episode explores his most notable conquests.
Along the way, we'll pick up some information on the bloodlines
of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and
of course, Santa Ana, in addition to several other
cockfighters and notable bloodlines that existed during
Arrington's lifetime. There's also something less tangible,
which I find more interesting than the trivial facts of his and
his contemporaries' lives in game foul. What type of person was
Nick Arrington? What motivated him and other legendary
cockfighters of this period? What made Nick so exceptional in
the world of cockfighting that we're still talking about him
almost 150 years after his death? The narrative of the period
he lived in is dominated by tall tales and myths as much as it
is by exceptional individuals and outsized personalities. But
Arrington didn't self aggrandize or promote or amplify his own
narrative to the public or to fellow cockers. There's no overt
attempt to capitalize on his success by selling foul, no
chest beating about his accomplishments, abilities or
skills. And speaking of his skills, which ones catapulted
him to success? We'll explore these questions along the way.
And as you can see, there's a lot to cover so we better get
started. Y'all get them ready. It's April 1834. Somewhere
outside El Paso or Paso del Norte, as it was called then,
deep in the Mexican territory of Coahuila, Itejas, Nicholas
Arrington's 11 wagon caravan manned by a couple dozen trusted
cockfighters creeps along a trail through the hardy shrubs and
baked dirt of the vast Rio Grande Valley. In the shade under
the canvas covers, more than 300 of Arrington's red blooded
Gamecocks rest in wooden stalls and crow one after another. The
expedition had begun the previous year after Arrington, a
wealthy plantation owner from the Nash County, North Carolina
area, received a letter from newly elected Mexican president,
Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, challenging Arrington to a
cockfight. Arrington accepted and immediately he along with
several friends and slaves got to work custom fitting the wagons
to carry the roosters and men on the journey of more than 1500
miles. Each wagon was assigned to experienced chicken men who
split the care of the roosters during the journey. The coop
stalls were fitted down the length of each wagon. The stalls
were accessed from a corridor down the center of the wagon
between the two stacks. There one man could work feed and water
his roosters while the other team member continued to drive
the wagon. The caravan moved at a sluggish pace averaging about
two miles per hour, about half of what a comfortable walking
stride would be and slower than a typical West moving wagon
train with women and children. November the previous year, they
left North Carolina and split Tennessee lengthwise in the early
winter, crossing the Mississippi at Memphis. From there, they
headed Southwest through the woody hills of Arkansas and into
Oklahoma. As they crossed the Red River into modern day Texas,
then part of the northern most Mexican territory of Coahuila,
Itejas, the woody hills gave way to flat open plains in the early
spring. In addition to the roosters, the caravan included
provisions for the men as well as the animals, chicken feed,
water, meat, guns, ammo, cooking supplies, liquor, and their
personal effects. There's also an absurd amount of money in the
wagons too, brought by the wealthy Americans to wager in the
cockfights, whatever riches the men had brought along, likely
paled in comparison to what Errington had in tow. The wealthy
cocker had already established a reputation for never
quibbling over the stakes of a cockfighting man so long as
they were high. But high stakes and stiff competition wasn't his
only calling card. Even before the journey to meet Santa Ana,
which was among the largest and most expensive and distant
mains ever matched, Errington was known as the traveling
cocker. A moniker Santa Ana had alluded to in his letter
challenging Nick. He wasn't the only chicken man of his time to
defy modern wisdom with the willingness to beat opponents
on their home turf. But few, if any, remained undefeated on the
road as Errington had fighting his cripple Tony bloodline.
Somewhere north of El Paso, the traveling cockfighters were
finally met by a team of cavalry from General Santa Ana's
advance guard. These horsemen led the North Carolinians to a
thicket of cottonwood trees, Alamos in Spanish, where the
general and his men had set camp ahead of the cockfight. The
meeting took place during the first of Santa Ana's terms as
Mexican president. He'd been elected by an overwhelming
margin the previous year, 1833. He left the business of
governing to party members and returned to his hacienda,
manga de clavo, outside the east coast port city of Veracruz.
It was one of the smoothest points in his career. He still
wielded the force of his army and now the title of president,
affording him access to the coffers and authority of that
position while avoiding the business of politics. Things
would get dicey in the years after the meeting with
Errington, specifically in the general's return trip across
the Rio Grande a couple years after the cockfight, where he
would be defeated by revolting Texans, taken prisoner, deposed
as president and exiled from Mexico. But around the time of
the cock match, things were good for Santa Ana. During the
week's long event, the dictator pitted hundreds of
roosters from his family of Spanish blues, fast fighting
roosters with red, orange, hackles and bluish gray feathers
on the chest and body against Errington's pile and
spangled colored Crippletones. There were more than 300
individual matches. Ultimately, Errington's fowl would win
the majority. The roosters all fought with steel spur
extensions called gaffes, which are round to the point with
no sharp edge. This was the only condition made by Nick in
his reply to Santa Ana's challenge, the previous
winner, prohibiting Spanish slasher or any other blade to
be used for spurs in the fights. The exact amount
wagered between Errington and Santa Ana isn't known, only
that it included chests, plural of gold. The two men tied
their own gaffes and also handled their own roosters in
the pit. While most cock fighters are methodical and
unhurried when tying gaffes and readying a bird before
the fight, the Americans found the Mexican camp
especially slow. Santa Ana, it turned out, insisted on
ceremonious presentation of his fighting cock before
each battle, prepping the rooster at a leisurely pace
before marching formally to the pit, stopping to allow
spectators a moment to admire the bird. Once inside the
makeshift arena, he'd hold the bird high and make a
couple laps around the pit. He'd stop behind his scoreline
and after a pause. Are you ready, Sr. Errington? Yes,
General, I'm ready. Then we may proceed. Santa Ana's men
prepared all the food the North Carolinians could eat,
slaughtering fresh beef daily and preparing hearty meals
for their guests. They also covered every bet the North
Carolinians made. Santa Ana even sent some men to the
nearest trading post to restock Errington with supplies
and when they heard bandits planning to ambush the North
Carolinian train on its way home, the general ordered
mounted soldiers to accompany the Americans to Texas's
northern border or farther if they didn't feel safe. The
general had lost a fortune in the contest, though the money
was immaterial to him. His Spanish blues had been defeated.
He had been defeated. But what would become a hallmark
of his career? Santa Ana began hatching a plan to
bounce back. One day late in the main, Santa Ana talked
with Nick of the two past Errington's roosters. The
general interrupted the conversation stopping next to
one of the rooster stalls. Senor Errington, you have a
cock I want and I will pay whatever you ask for him.
This one here threw out his career. Nick adhered to a
rule against selling his game foul and why wouldn't he?
He didn't need the money and he had a family of fighting
chickens that were as good as any he had ever seen. If he
let the bloodline out, everyone would soon be fighting
roosters just as good or better than his. He is not
for sale general at any price. He killed two good cocks
before I met you and has killed two of your best. The
short straight back to general summoned two aides who he
sent to his tent as he feigned consideration of what Nick
had said. When the aides scurried off, Santa Ana
opened the stall, reached in and pulled out Nick's rooster.
What is his weight, Senor Errington? I believe he fought at
six pounds and three ounces. Santa Ana carried the bird to
the scales nearby as the aides returned from his tent
with a lock box. He set the rooster on the scales and
stroked him before turning to his aides.
Hand me some of the gold coins, he told the officers.
Mass the general piled one handful of gold coins after another
onto the scale opposite the rooster. When it had tipped
and balanced at 99 ounces, he turned back to Errington and
asked again if we could have the rooster. The North
Carolinian of course took the offer. It would be the only
rooster Nicholas Errington sold in his lifetime.
Nicholas Williams Errington lived 1806 to 1865. The
Erringtons were one of North Carolina's wealthiest
families. His ancestors had received land holdings from
the king of England originally and Nick's father and
grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War on the
colonial side. If you recall much from the previous
episodes on the history of cockfighting in England,
it should come as no surprise that Europeans, especially
the British, had game foul imported to America and the
sport thrived among the New England colonies. Its
popularity was rivaled only by horse racing as the
favorite colonial pastime. Cocking magazines and books
assert George Washington, Thomas Fairfax and Thomas
Jefferson were among the patrons of cockfighting
during the period before and just after the Revolution.
As an aside, I've seen some fact checking websites
among several other media outlets erroneously claim that
Washington and other founding fathers had no ties to game
foul. Washington's ties to cocking are also found in
his correspondence and if you're interested in reading
more about this, you can check out our bibliography on
the website as well as the notes to this show's
transcript. Before we jump in, I should say if you
haven't read this book, I hope if you have the chance to
do so, you should definitely go do that. It was
difficult for me to obtain but it's chock full of some
incredible stories and history about Errington and his
contemporaries and the game foul of the period. This
book and Errington's story in general are about as
detailed an account of cocking in the United States
pre-Civil War as we can find. Unlike the British who
were reporting results of mains and newspapers during
this period, American papers only mentioned cock
fighting infrequently and trade publications from
the time are scarce if they existed. Cocking
publications appear to have proliferated just after
the Civil War, which means we've got limited material
to work with when constructing a history of what
this sport was like and how game foul were raised
in the antebellum period. The stories conveyed in this
book are one of a kind. There's no other publication
I know of where you'll find as many colorful historical
facts, accounts and details about cock fighting in the
decades leading up to the Civil War. That's not what
makes it noteworthy though. The stories themselves are
the stuff of legend. To quote from the immortal Nick
Errington. Errington was without a doubt the greatest
cock fighter that ever lived. He met and defeated many of
the best cockers living in his time. End quote. In the
preface of the book, author Glenn Todd is adamant that
everything in it is non-fiction and this episode
will take him at his word. The limited fact checking
I've done while researching this episode hasn't given
me any reason to doubt. Errington was born in his
family home which was known as the Cedars. It was one
of the largest cotton plantations in the area and
also cultivated tobacco and wheat. The Cedars was a
large white house nested in the surrounding cedar
trees of the area. It had front and side porches on the
upper and lower levels which were ornamented with an
intricate wrought iron leaf design that was crafted in
Europe. In addition to the big house, there were rows of
slavehouses, a distillery, stables, tack, a shoe and
leather shop and several other outbuildings such as the
cockhouse. The plantation bell which was rung to mark
the start and stop of the day for the slaves on the
property was solid silver and cast from melted silver
coins. As was common for cockers in this period,
Errington farm walked his stags, meaning he had each
young stag with a few hens on a farm all to itself
that have been dispersed throughout the countryside
at various properties where the stag would stay until it
was around two years old. At that point, Nick and his
lifelong slave hand and cockhouse man named Tony would
ride a wagon to each property, fetch the mature roosters
and replace each with an immature stag. Tony and Nick
would return to the Cedars and begin to get the birds
into shape for the season. Once they had been rounded
up, the roosters might go straight to the cockhouse
to begin training or they could be penned. The road leading
to the Cedars was lined on either side by a white fence
at each of the stone posts in the fence, a triangle shaped
cage was anchored. Each of these pins housed one of the
Gamecocks. Visitors or passersby would walk a gauntlet of
growing Gamecocks. The family home often hosted high
profile figures of American history, many of whom were
also cockers and sometimes called upon the Erringtons
about the business of Gamefowl. One visitor was Lord Fairfax,
an ardent cocker and early supporter of young George
Washington. Fairfax is credited with importing a lot
of bloodlines from England to North America. His fowler
thought to have provided some of the foundation bloodstock
for what became American Gamefowl. Washington and Lafayette
had met with Nick's grandfather General Arthur Errington
at the Cedars during the Revolutionary War. Errington's
grandfather had helped defeat the British on the Drake
Plantation six miles away. Thomas Jefferson had visited
there shortly before he died at his home in Monticello,
where he bred and raised his family of coal black Gamecocks.
The home was built in the 1700s by Nick's grandfather.
Through British land grants and other dealings, the family
had vast land holdings in North Carolina, Virginia,
and Georgia. The Cedars was where Nick lived his whole life.
In Todd's book, Andrew Jackson visits for a few nights
to tour the grounds and check out Nick's roosters. Though he may
have raised other families of fowl, Errington's best known
Gamefowl, or perhaps his Gamefowl as a whole, were called the
Cripple Tonys. This family descends from the fowl raised by
Nick's grandfather and his father. Arthur Errington
bred the old English black breasted reds, which he got
directly from England. We learned back in episode six that
the black breasted red bloodline was very popular in
England throughout the 17 and 1800s. Arthur kept these pure
until later in his life when he bred them into a family of
snow white Orientals. His black breasted red hens with an
Oriental Gamecock he bought during a trip to the North
Carolina coastal town of Bath. As the story goes, the white
Oriental was straight from a Maharaja in Andia.
Some years later, Nick's father returned from a trip to
Charleston, South Carolina with a Spanish blue. That is a
Spanish Gamecock that is pigeon blue in color. To this
family of black breasted reds infused with the Oriental white
and Spanish blue, Nick would breed the Halifax Gray, a
rooster that had beat three of his best in hack fights at the
Halifax Cockpit when he was a young man. The roosters of the
Cripple Tony family came spangle or pile in color, meaning
they were predominantly rusty brown and white feathered.
Throughout his career in cocking, Earrington was assisted
primarily by a slave named Tony on the plantation when
dealing with the roosters. Tony was born a slave on
Earrington's plantation. He was injured while cutting timber
at the age of 17 and walked with a limp for the rest of his
life. Tony showed an interest in Earrington's foul and
proved a fast learner in cocking matters. So that became
his primary job on the plantation. Owing to the
injury and limp, people called him Cripple Tony. Nick called
his family of foul, the Cripple Tonys, to honor this man.
It's not clear when Tony took this position on the
plantation, though it seems to be well before the birth of
John Gideon Earrington's son in 1847. Tony served in the
position until Nick's death and Todd depicts him as present
when his master died. He grieves alongside Nick's son
when the tombstone arrives and acts as an advisor and friend
to John Gideon later in the book. The little is written
about Tony. It's worth noting that he likely prevented Nick
from being robbed on one occasion and may have saved his
life after Earrington and a friend William Harris were
beaten near to death after a man in Richmond, Virginia in
1858. This particular man was fought from around June 28th
to July 2nd at Clark Spring in Henrico County, Virginia
for $100 a fight and $2,000 winners prize, which Earrington
won. After the event, some Virginia men caught Earrington
and a few friends and set to beating Earrington.
By newspaper accounts, we're told Earrington's pocket book
fell at the feet of one of his servants. Likely Tony, for he is the only
slave of Earrington's mentioned in relation to the fights.
At least three men were charged in the assault and face trial.
One was acquitted and no report was made in the newspapers about the other two.
The injuries were bad enough that Earrington was still in Virginia
a week after the event. One brief reported he was walking under his own
power several days after the assault. In 1842, Nick received a second
challenge from Santa Ana. Since Santa Ana and Nick had first
met in 1831, the Mexican dictator's popularity as
president, even his interest in the job at Mexico City,
had waxed and waned. In 1836, he'd misjudged the revolt in Texas
resulting in massive losses to his force while killing 189 Texans at the Alamo.
He then ordered the execution of 340 Texan prisoners at Goliad
before General Houston drowned the Mexican General's forces at San Jacinto
and captured the Nebulian of the West, Santa Ana.
Rather than execute Santa Ana or put him on trial,
the Texans extracted a surrender from Santa Ana and took him to visit
U.S. President Andrew Jackson. The two friends in sport had plenty to
discuss between regional politics, Texas's independence from Mexico,
and the former Mexican state's potential annexation by the Union.
Though the conversation was never recorded, they were both dedicated
caucuses, known to bring their gamecocks with them
when at work, Jackson taking his to Washington, Santa Ana,
to the battlefield. It's altogether possible that two discussed
their mutual friend Nick Errington. Jackson had visited the cedars several
times, as we previously mentioned, being hosted by Nick on at least one
such occasion, though the conversation was never recorded.
When the meetings between Jackson and Santa Ana were completed,
the USS Pioneer provided Santa Ana safe passage home to Vera Cruz.
Many rumors and conspiracy theories surrounded this move.
Backing up a bit, I had once read somewhere or heard a rumor
that when Santa Ana defeated the Alamo, the only people who were permitted to
escape were the few women and children present,
Santa Ana is also said to have allowed a slave of William Travis's to leave
after the massacre. So the rumor in cocking circles goes
is that this slave was a skillful handler in cockfights
and well known to Santa Ana and others in the area,
and perhaps he was released by Santa Ana out of respect.
I've already mentioned in passing Nick's son John Gideon,
but the first mention we get of John Gideon
in Glenn Todd's book would be in relation to
the first main that John Gideon competed in,
which took place in Georgia in 1854. John Gideon, or Gettys he was called,
was 17 in 1854 when he made a trip to Georgia with Nick to assist in his
first major competition. Gideon, as he was known,
took an early interest in the sport. Like his father,
Gideon was around six feet tall, but unlike his old man, who had been a Nash
County Sheriff's Deputy, Gideon carried a lithe frame
and was described as frail and of delicate health.
Despite this, he'd become Nick's cocking heir and continued to raise and breed
the family's gamefowl after his father's death and get his start
at the Georgia Contest. It was a 15-cock main at the Macon Cockpit
for $3,000 overall and $250 per fight between Earrington's fowl
and those of Monroe Pickens, a South Carolinian and his partner
John Barclay of Georgia. David McDaniel, a fellow North Carolinian,
went along with Nick and Gideon to the main to assist with the Crippletones
Earrington brought. A modest main by Earrington's standards,
it still drew large crowds at the well-known Macon Cockpit.
The opponents of Nick's Tonys would be a combination
of Barclay's Tasselhead and Straighthead families
and a dark red English line kept by Pickens, who was a descendant
of the famous Revolutionary War soldier by the same last name.
After 12 fights, the main was tied at six winds apiece
and looked to be coming down to the wire until Nick's Tonys cruised
through the last three to win the main nine fights to six.
Bradford Thompson, Earrington's overseer at the nearby Sugar Plantation
outside Macon, hacks two birds at the cockpit
after the main, winning one and losing another. Throughout his career,
Nick credited Bradford Thompson with teaching him many aspects
of how to point and keep roosters for a fight.
It's a rainy day in the late 1840s on a farm
in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Under the roof of the barn,
John Stone and Jack Sanders, Sparcox in preparation for an upcoming main,
has Patrick Doolan Jr., an Irish immigrant, works on TAC nearby.
When Stone notices Doolan watching, he asks his opinion of the two roosters.
Thoin, Patrick tells him, but my father has them in Ireland
that connect them. At the table later, Stone quizzed Doolan about the Irish cocks
he spoke of in the barn and Doolan told him about a family of
dark, mahogany-colored cocks with brown or black
breasts and black hens. Nearly all had dark red eyes
and the hens all with low set, sharp spurs like the cocks
and called the Lord Gundon Brown Reds. Though generally accepted as the best
family of gamefowl in all Ireland, none could be
had for love or money for the family had refused for generations to part with a
feather or an egg at any price. But Doolan soon
hatched a plan for Stone to get some of these foul.
Doolan's father was the gamekeeper for the Gundon estate
and his brother Jerry was in Ireland seeking travel to the U.S.
If Stone paid Jerry's fare, he was sure that their old man would
sneak them some of the Gundon birds since they'd be leaving the country with them
anyway. Stone agreed to do this and before long Jerry arrived on the farm
with the foul just as they'd been described by Patrick.
Stone was pleased enough to pay the young Doolan wages for tending to the foul
as they crossed the Atlantic and gave him a job on the farm.
Now Stone was apparently very impressed by the Dundans
and by and by boys wound up telling him that there was,
contrary to their previous statements, one family of foul that competed with the
Dundans for dominance in Irish cocking. These roosters
belonged to Dr. Sands. Sands was known to never sell or give away
any of his birds, at least in Ireland. The Doolan boys had convinced him to
sell a hen and rooster from this family at premium prices
to Stone with the assurance that they would remain in the U.S.
Stone is said to have bred these two families
both pure as well as crossed. He also kept another family
bred out of some clayborns that became known as gliders.
By 1854 John Stone and Jack Sanders had a pretty impressive yard of cocks
bred out of these families from the Irish bloodlines and the clayborns.
They selected a hundred of their best and headed to the south to take on
all challengers. They made stops to fight mains in Natchez,
Vicksburg and New Orleans. They went also to Jackson, Mississippi.
They fought in Mobile, Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama,
Columbus and Macon, Augusta and Hamburg, Georgia.
And finally they went to Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina.
They spent a better part of two years away from home, we're told,
traveling down the Mississippi and then taking across the south to meet any
challenger. These are where we eventually get the
paternal bloodline of the Warhorse Foul. It was around the end of their tour
through the south and there in South Carolina about 1856
by Todd's account that Arrington challenged Stone to fight a main for
$50,000 which was quickly accepted. The 37 Cock event
took place in Wellmington. John Gideon and David McDaniel
assisted Nick in the event showing Crippletones.
Jack Sanders assisted Stone. Arrington won
23 of the 37 fights putting an end to the Massachusetts
Cockers streak, Todd tells us. Not long after the loss to Arrington,
Stone lost another main against a Baltimore Cocker
and his bloodline of Welsh Lager Blues. So their run had come to an end but
Stone's Irish blood had proven it's worth throughout the south and he'd
let a few go for the right price along the way.
Remember this story because we'll discuss some famous game foul families in the
next episode and we'll pick this one up when discussing one of the most famous
Gamecock bloodlines in the United States after the Civil War,
the Warhorses. Finally we'll get into the latter portion of Arrington's
career that includes the period leading up to and during the Civil War
and his death. Of course Nick fought in the Civil War
for the Confederates. He and his family also invested a large sum of money
in that cause and he was wounded in the Seven Days Battle defending Richmond
Virginia. He was also captured and held in a union prison for some time.
Nick Arrington lay in bed at the Cedars in Nash County North Carolina
on the cold, clear morning in late February 1865
after enjoying good health most of his life. Nick had more bad days than good
days since being injured and held in a union prison in the Civil War.
A doctor from Nashville visited the household multiple times each week
but no amount of medical attention or rest it seemed
we'll get the old man back to good health. His servant Aunt Basil came to the
door of his bedroom. Captain Drake here to see you Masanik
she announced from the doorway. Show him upstairs until Fred bring him
more firewood. Basil turned and descended the winding
stairway to where Drake stood waiting. Masanik not feeling well captain
he want you to come upstairs. Captain Drake entered the large room
and greeted his old friend before inquiring about his health.
Dot Brown don't let me get out often. He says I have a weak heart.
Drake knew his friend's health was not good and probably knew he'd find him
laid up but he wondered was he too bad off for a
hack fight to help him test a promising young rooster.
I brought a cock I would like to match and fight Arrington perked up at the
prospect. It was his weight six pounds and two
ounces. Nick ordered him to find Cripple Tony
and John Gideon as Fred loved to find the men.
Nick turned his attention back to Drake and asked if the six two was something
special or if Drake had an itch. The six two was a Mount Vernon red
Drake had recently acquired and wanted to see in action.
Mount Vernon red was the name given to George Washington's
red colored bloodline. Washington was also said to keep a family of grays
called the Mount Vernon grays. As the story goes
when George Washington died the Barksdale family of Virginia
got all of his red fowl. Since then they perpetuated the bloodline
only breeding the flock with other reds from the Washington yard.
Drake had gone to great lengths to get a trio of the Mount Vernon reds
from San Barksdale the previous year from which he hatched several
and had a few bull stags coming of age to get some idea
of the metal of the stags. Drake was hoping to fight the original rooster.
When John Gideon and Tony got up to the room Nick sent Gide
to fetch a spangled rooster from the Tony bloodline
that weighed six one and had recently made quick work of a formidable foe
and a fight for Gide. Nick then had Tony clear the center of the massive room
pushing the furniture against the walls to clear a space.
When he'd finished Nick sent him to fetch the six two from Drake's carriage.
As usual Nick wanted to tie the gaffes on his spangled bird
and Tony and Gide propped the old man up with pillows
against the head of the bed. Gide held the spangle as Nick healed the bird.
Across the room Tony held the Mount Vernon red as Drake fixed the heels.
The men worked in silence focusing on the work layering the string
over the leather strap on the leg so that the steel point
was in just the right position in relation to the natural spur.
Then the holder flipped the bird and extended the second leg for the healer.
When the spurs were finished Gide and Drake took the birds to the center of the room
showing the birds to one another letting them bill or peck at one another a few
times before backing up a few steps and releasing them across from one another.
Both cocks fought furiously but the red couldn't match the speed
or aerial flight of the spangle and by the ninth pitting the spangle had killed the red.
The red had been an exemplary style of the old English bloodlines.
It was descended a little slower than the spangle but an excellent ground fighter
that was reluctant to strike in the air.
We had a good bird Captain Drake. Nick said it wasn't good enough to win.
Drake replied fishing his pocket for $100 as he did and Basil entered the room
and told Nick it was time to take his medicine.
She crossed the room to Nick's bedside. There was no response.
The master of the cedars had seen his last fight.