d their handkerchiefs inside their collars,
and with those who mopped their perspiring countenances with rice-paper
and marked their cards with a hat-pin. Their lunch consisted of a
massive ham sandwich with a top dressing of mustard.

Dromedary did not run until the fifth race, and the long wait, before
they could learn their fate, was intolerable. They knew most of the
horses, and, to pass the time, on each of the first races Dolly made
imaginary bets. Of these mental wagers, she lost every one.

"If you turn out to be as bad a guesser when you're asleep as I am when
I'm awake," said Dolly, "we're going to lose our fortune."

"I'm weakening!" declared Carter. "A hundred dollars is beginning to
look to me like an awful lot of money. Twenty-seven dollars, and there's
only twenty of that left now, is mighty small capital, but twenty
dollars plus a hundred could keep us alive for a month!"

"Did you, or did you not, dream that Dromedary would win?" demanded
Dolly sternly.

"I certainly did, several times," said Carter. "But it may be I
was thinking of the horse. I've lost such a lot on him, my mind may
have----"

"Did you," interrupted Dolly, "say if you had a hundred dollars you'd
bet it, and did a hundred dollars walk in through the door instantly?"

Carter, reassured, breathed again. "It certainly did!" he repeated.

Even in his proud days, Carter had never been able to bet heavily, and
instead of troubling the club-house commissioners with his small wagers,
he had, in the ring, bet ready money. Moreover, he believed in the
ring he obtained more favorable odds, and, when he won, it pleased him,
instead of waiting until settling day for a check, to stand in a line
and feel the real money thrust into his hand. So, when the fourth race
started he rose and raised his hat.

"The time has come," he said.

Without looking at him, Dolly nodded. She was far too tremulous to
speak.

For several weeks Dromedary had not been placed, and Carter hoped for
odds of at least ten to one. But, when he pushed his way into the arena,
he found so little was thought of his choice that as high as twenty
to one was being offered, and with few takers. The fact shattered his
confidence. Here were two hundred book-makers, trained to their calling,
anxious at absurd odds to back their opinion that the horse he liked
could not win. In the face of such unanimous contempt, his dream became
fantastic, fatuous. He decided he would risk onl