had just
been paid their annuities by the government, they had money in bales,
and we could get it all, if we had horses that were any good, and money
to back them. His idea was to give out that owing to some accident we
could not give an afternoon performance, and just get out the horses and
bet the Indians to a standstill, and win all their money, and give a
free evening show as a sort of consolation to the Indians.

Well, it looked good to pa, and he talked to the other managers, and the
result was when we got to Guthrie we had made up our minds that as money
was what we were after, the easiest way was to get it by racing our
horses.

So when we got settled in Guthrie, and got the tent up, we announced
that part of the show was in a wreck down the road in Arkansas, and we
should have to abandon the afternoon performance, but in the meantime
there would be a little horse racing on the side, if anybody in Oklahoma
had any horses they thought could run some.

Well, I thought there were Indians and ponies and squaws enough before
the announcement was made, but in less than two hours more than a
thousand ponies were being brought in, and we got our chariot racers,
and our bareback hippodrome horses, and they were being led around and
admired, and we all laughed at the little runts of Indian ponies, and
the Indians got mad and backed their ponies.

Pretty soon the races began in the vacant lot just outside the town. The
old showman we had brought up from Memphis was made master of
ceremonies, 'cause he could talk Choctaw, and Comanche, and other Indian
jargon, and things got busy. The Indians wouldn't run their ponies more
than an eighth of a mile, or a quarter, and we consented, because the
poor little things didn't look as though they could run a block, they
were so thin, and sleepy. Pa was afraid the humane society would have us
arrested for cruelty to animals. All our fellows were provided with
money, and they flashed rolls of bills in the faces of the Indians, and
finally Mr. Indian would reach down under his clothes and pull out a
roll, and wet his thumb and peel off big bills, and before we knew it we
were investing a fortune in the racing game. Then the racing began, and
the horses were sent off at the drop of a hat, or the firing of a
pistol.

I was given some money to bet with the little Indians, 'cause pa said we
wanted to get every dollar in the tribe, for if we didn't get it the
Indians would spend it f