close to the entrance to the
track. Old Heck and Ophelia were alone in the car. Carolyn June and
Skinny, on Pie Face and Red John, watched the afternoon program from the
"inside field" across the race track. Parker and the Quarter Circle KT
cowboys were also mounted on their horses and in the field opposite the
grandstand.

Never had there been such a jam at a Rodeo held in Eagle Butte.

The two-mile sweepstakes, itself the "cow-man's classic" and the great
derby event of western Texas, always drew record crowds the day on which
it was run.

This Friday the grandstand creaked under its load of humanity.

The racing feud between the Quarter Circle KT and the Y-Bar and the
thousands of dollars Old Heck and Dorsey were known to have bet on their
respective favorites acted as tinder on the flame of public interest in
the big event.

Thunderbolt had a great reputation. Last year, and the year before, he
had mastered the field of runners put against him.

The Gold Dust maverick--named in the race "Ophelia"--was a wonder horse
in the minds of the people of western Texas who had heard of the
beautiful, almost super-creature, that had tormented, with her speed and
endurance, the riders of the Cimarron and now at last was caught, and to
be ridden in the sweepstakes, by the Ramblin' Kid.

At two-forty a special exhibition of "Cossack Riding"--participated in
by Lute Larsen, of Idaho; Jack Haines, from Texas, and Curly Piper, a
Colorado cowboy, finished in front of the grandstand.

The announcer trained his megaphone on the vast crowd:

"The next event," he bellowed, "two-mile sweepstakes! Purse one thousand
dollars! Five entries! Naming them in their order from the pole:
Thunderbolt, black Y-Bar stallion, Flip Williams, rider; Say-So, roan
gelding, from the Pecos River, Box-V outfit, Jess Curtis, rider;
Ophelia, Gold Dust filly, the Cimarron outlaw from the Quarter Circle
KT, th' Ramblin' Kid, rider; Prince John, sorrel gelding, from Dallas,
Texas, 'Snow' Johnson, rider; Dash-Away, bay mare, from Jackson Hole,
Wyoming, Slim Tucker, rider. Race called at three o'clock sharp! Horse
failing to score on the dot will be ruled out! Range saddles to be used.
Entries for the two-mile sweepstakes will show at once on the track!"

Dead silence ensued during the announcer's drawling oration.

It was followed by the hum of five thousand voices as they chattered in
eager expectancy.

The band crashed out _Dixie_ and a medley of