ly, "he's been gone two hours!"

"Good lord," Old Heck exclaimed, "he's got to be found! The race starts
in ten minutes."

"And nobody but him can ride the filly!" Skinny interrupted. "I wonder
if he's--" he started to say "drunk," but stopped as Carolyn June looked
quickly at him. The word was in both their minds.

"It ain't natural!" Old Heck cried; "there must be something dirty! You
boys go look for him; I'll, keep my eyes open here!"

As Old Heck said "dirty" the picture of Mike Sabota flashed into Carolyn
June's mind. Some intuition seemed to couple, in her inner
consciousness, the big Greek with the Ramblin' Kid's disappearance.

The horses for the two-mile sweepstakes were already beginning to come
on to the track. Flip Williams was walking Thunderbolt up and down in
front of the grandstand, trying to keep the high-spirited stallion quiet
until time came to mount; the rider of Say-So was doing the same thing
with his entry; Slim Tucker was already sitting on Dash-Away, the trim
Wyoming mare standing unruffled near the starting line, while Snow
Johnson, like Tucker, already on his mount, was circling Prince John in
wide loops behind the others.

Carolyn June was stunned for a moment by the thought that had come into
her mind when the picture of the burly Greek flashed before her. She
clenched her hands and her cheeks whitened.

"Come on, Skinny!" she said suddenly, stepping off the running-board of
the car and swinging on to Red John, "we'll go help look for the
Ramblin' Kid!"

She whirled the big bay around the end of the grandstand and rode in a
fast gallop straight for the box stall, Skinny and Chuck following close
behind her. A quick resolution formed in her mind: "Nobody but the
Ramblin' Kid could ride the filly?"

_She could ride the mare_!

Even if the Ramblin' Kid was not found Sabota and his crowd should not
be allowed to win by dirty work--if dirty work had been done!

At the stall Carolyn June sprang from Red John.

Bert was nervously walking about, calling occasionally the name of the
missing Quarter Circle KT cowboy.

"Have you found him?" Carolyn June asked as Skinny and Chuck came up
behind her.

"No," Bert answered glumly, "he ain't showed up yet! There ain't no
signs of him around here."

"What'll we do?" Skinny asked excitedly. "The race is almost ready to
start and--do you reckon you could ride the filly, Bert?" he finished
with a gleam of hope.

"I doubt it, but, well, I'