at Lucretia was very fit, that they had Boston Bill's
jockey to ride straight and honest for them, and that with a good price
against the mare they would recoup all their losses.

VI

The day of the race when John Porter went into the betting ring he was
confronted with even money about his mare. If he had read on the ring
blackboard a notice that she was dead, he would not have been more
astonished. He fought his way back to the open of the paddock without
making a bet.

"Even money!" ejaculated Dixon when his owner told him of the ring
situation, "why, they're crazy. Who's doin' it?"

"Not the public," declared Porter, "for I was there just after the first
betting. It must be your friend Boston Bill that has forestalled us;
nobody else knew of the mare's trial."

"Not on your life, Mr. Porter; Boston plays fair. D'ye think he could
live at this game if he threw down his friends?"

"But nobody else even knew that we'd got a good boy for the mare."

"It don't make no difference," curtly answered Dixon; "it's a million
dollars to a penny whistle that Boston hasn't a dollar on yet. Our
agreement was that he'd send in his commission when they were at the
post, an' his word's like your own, sir, as solid as a judge's decision.
It's some one else. There's somebody behind that damned Langdon--he's
not clever enough for all this. D'you know that The Dutchman's runnin'
in Langdon's name to-day?"

"He is?'

"Yes; he's supposed to own him."

"But what's that got to do with Lucretia's price?"

"It means that we're goin' to be allowed to win. The other day they
laid against her, an' she got beat; to-day they're holdin' her out, so I
suppose she'll win, but somebody else gets the benefit."

"Gad! that Langdon must be a crook," muttered Porter. "I'm going to
speak to my friend Crane about him again. No honest man should have
horses in his stable."

"That they shouldn't," asserted Dixon. "But we've got our own troubles
to-day. From what I see of this thing, I'd rather back the mare at even
money than I would if she was ten to one. If I'm any judge we're being
buncoed good and plenty."

"I think you're right Dixon. I'll go back and have a good bet down on
her at evens."

But in five minutes Lucretia's owner was back in the paddock with the
cheerful intelligence that the mare was now three to five.

"I wouldn't back 'Salvator' among a lot of cart horses at that price,"
commented Dixon; "leave it alone, an' w