bunch of platers, to keep him on edge.

"Three days before the race the weather gets good 'n' the track begins
to dry out fast. I see it's goin' to be right fur my race 'n' I meets
Harms 'n' tells him to wire his bunch to bet their heads off.

"'I don't like this race,' he says, when he looks at the entries.
'There's two or three live ones in here. This Black-jack ain't such a
bad pup, 'n' this here Pandora runs a bang-up race her last out. Let's
wait fur somethin' easier.'

"'Well, if you ain't a sure-thing better, I never gets my lamps on
one!' I says. 'Don't you want me to saw the legs off the rest of them
dogs to earn my five hundred? You must have forgot ole Friendless.
He's only got ninety-six pounds up! He'll tin can sure! He kin fall
down 'n' roll home faster than them kind of hosses.'

"But Harms won't take a chance, so I goes back to the track 'n' I was
sore.

"'That guy's a hot sport, not!' I thinks.

"I hates to tell Elsy the hoss he thinks is his won't win--he'd set his
little heart on it so. I don't tell him till the day before the race,
'n' he gets right sassy about it. I never see him so spunky.

"'As owner, I insist that you allow Alcyfras to win this race,' he
says, 'n' goes away in a pet when I tells him nix.

"The day of the race I don't see Elsy at all.

"'You ain't got a ticket to-day, 'n' you know the answer,' I says to
Lou Smith as the parade starts. He don't say nothin' but nods, so I
think he's fixed.

"When I come through the bettin' ring I can't believe my eyes. There's
Alcyfras at four-to-one all down the line. He opened at fifty, so
somebody has bet their clothes on him.

"'Where does all this play on Alcyfras come from?' I says to a booky.

"'A lost shrimp wanders in here and starts it,' says the booky.

"'What does he look like?' I says.

"'Like a maiden's prayer,' says the booky, 'n' I beats it out to the
stand.

"Elsy is at the top of the steps lookin' kind of haughty, 'n'
say!--he's got a bundle of tickets a foot thick in his hand.

"'What dead one's name is on all them soovenirs?' I says, pointin' to
the tickets.

"'Mr. Blister,' he says, 'after our conversation yesterday I made
inquiry concerning the rights of a trainer. I was informed that a
trainer, as a paid employee, is under the direction of the owner--his
employer. You refused to allow my horse to win, contrary to my wishes.
You had no right to do so. I intend that he _shall_ win, and have