ood
second; and the buckskin cayuse could not possibly do so well as the Red
Rover under the new training and lighter leather gear. Of course, the
horse was not to be named until the day and hour of the race, but it was
quite certain that the Indians would enter the Buckskin. Vague reports
there were of a wonderful pinto that the Red men had somewhere in
training; but the Crow spies could furnish no corroboration of the
report; and, in any case, the shoeing of the Buckskin was a guarantee
that the Indians meant to enter him.

From all of which there was but one logical conclusion. So the message
went forth through the length and breadth of Dakota, "Come on, we've got
a dead-sure thing. Come on, and bring all you can raise or borrow." It
is wonderful, the faith of the racetrack gamblers in a tip! Their belief
in the "hunch" is blind and absolute; hope never dies on the racetrack,
even though, once in a while, it goes into a very deathlike swoon.

Not merely Dakota responded to the chances of the coming race, but
Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, yes, even Illinois. And Cedar
Mountain post office began to have hopes of stepping up to a higher
round on the official scale, as the mail matter, registered and special,
poured in. Letters postmarked "Deadwood" came by the score; others from
Minneapolis and St. Paul were abundant; while, of course, there was the
usual grist from Custer City, Bismarck, Pierre, Sidney, Cheyenne, and
Denver. John and Hannah Higginbotham could not, owing to John's position
as Church deacon, take an active part in the gambling; but they invented
a scheme of insurance on a 50 per cent. premium basis which was within
the Church law, though, when translated into terms of the track, it was
merely a two-to-one bet on the field.

The autumn race had played havoc with so many savings funds and so much
actual cash in business that a great number of those badly hit had vowed
that they would never again go in; and they clung to their new resolve
through May and most of June. But, as the training went on and the talk
went around, and other men went in--all the wise ones, horse-wise,
talk-wise, and otherwise--the subtle fascination grew and, a month
before the race, the same old madness glamoured every mind; the same old
guiding star--so often proved a spook-fire, but this time surely a
star--was leading, hypnotizing, shining just ahead. The racing men once
obsessed, the world of half-way interest followed e