'
"'Nothin' doin', Joe!' I says. 'Stay away from it. I'll tell you when
I gets ready to level. You can't bet them bookies nothin'--they're
wise to him.'
"'Look-a-here, Bud!' says Joe. 'That bird'll cake-walk among them
crabs. No jock can make him lose, 'n' not get ruled off.'
"'Leave that to me,' I says.
"Just as I figgers--my hoss opens up eight-to-five in the books.
"I gives him all the water he'll drink afore he goes to the post, 'n' I
has bandages on every leg. The paddock judge looks at them bandages,
but he knows the bird's a cripple, 'n' he don't feel 'em.
"'Them's to hold his legs on, ain't they?' he says, 'n' grins.
"'Surest thing you know,' I says. But I feels some easier when he's on
his way--_there's seven pounds of lead in each of them bandages_.
"I don't want the bird whipped when he ain't got a chance.
"'This hoss backs up if you use the bat on him,' I says to the jock, as
he's tyin' his reins.
"'He backs up anyway, I guess,' he says, as the parade starts.
"The bird gets away good, but I'd overdone the lead in his socks. He
finished a nasty last--thirty len'ths back.
"'Roll over, kid!' says the jock, when I go up to slip him his fee.
'Not fur ridin' that hippo. It 'ud be buglary--he couldn't beat a
piano!'
"I meets Colonel King comin' out of the judge's stand that evenin'.
"'An owner's life has its trials and tribulations--eh, my boy?' he says.
"'Yes, sir!' I says. That's the first time Colonel King ever speaks to
me, 'n' I swells up like a toad.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25