' if I could till him ye was a gurl, he'd
knock the head plumb off any b'y that 'ud bother ye. Ye'd git away well,
too."

Then the girl told Mike all that Shandy and Langdon had said. It only
confirmed Mike's opinion that between them they had poisoned Lucretia.
He felt that with a little more evidence he would be able to prove both
crimes--the one with Diablo and the one with Lucretia.

The Brooklyn Derby was to be run the next day. Allis was glad that it
was so near; she dreaded discovery. She was like a hunted hare, dodging
everyone she fancied might discover her identity. She would have to run
the gauntlet of many eyes while weighing for the race, and at the time
of going out; even when she returned, especially if she won. But in
the excitement over the race, people would not have time to devote to a
strange jockey's visage. She could quite smear her face with dirt, for
that seemed a natural condition where boys were riding perhaps several
races in one afternoon. The jockey cap with its big peak well pulled
down over her head would add materially to her disguise. Mike would
fetch and carry for her, so that she would be in evidence for very
few minutes at most. Dixon even, opposed to the idea as he had been at
first, now assured her quite confidently that nobody would make her out.

"It's the horses they look at," he said, "and the colors. An apprentice
boy doesn't cut much ice, I can tell you. Why, I've been racin' for
years," he went on with the intent of giving her confidence, "an' many a
time I see a boy up on a horse that must have rode on the tracks over a
hundred times, an' I can't name him to save my neck."

At any rate there was nothing more to do until she made the great
endeavor, until she went to the track at the time set for the Brooklyn
Derby, dressed in the blue jacket with the white stars of her father's
racing colors; that was the plan adopted. A buggy, with Mike driving,
would take her straight to the paddock quite in time for the race.

XXXIII

After Crane left the money for Porter's note with Mortimer the latter
took the three one-thousand-dollar bills, pinned them to the note,
placed them in a cigar box and put the box away carefully in the bank
safe, to remain there until the 14th of June, when it became due.
Incidentally Mortimer mentioned this matter to Alan Porter.

Crane in writing to the cashier about other affairs of the bank touched
upon the subject of Porter's obligation,