"Which is it—the roan or the bay?" gasped1 Townsend. "Which d'you say? I'll tell you about the valley after the race. Which hoss, Mr. Connor?"
Thus appealed to, the gambler straightened and clasped his hands behind his back. He looked coldly at the horses.
"How old is that brown yonder—the one the boy is just mounting?"
"Three. But what's he got to do with the race?"
"He's a shade too young, or he'd win it. That's what he has to do with it. Back Haig's horse, then. The roan is the best bet."
"Have you had a good look at Lightnin'?"
"He won't last in this going with that weight up."
"You're right," panted Townsend. "And I'm going to risk a hundred on him. Hey, Joe, how d'you bet on Charlie Haig?"
"Two to one."
"Take you for a hundred. Joe, meet Mr. Connor."
"I'll go a hundred on the roan, sir."
"Have I done it right?" asked Townsend fiercely, a little later. "I wonder do you know?"
"Ask that after the race is over," smiled Connor. "After all, you have only one horse to be afraid of."
"Sure; Lightnin'—but he's enough."
"Not Lightning, I tell you. The gray is the only horse to be afraid of though the brown stallion might do if he has enough seasoning3."
For a moment panic brightened the eyes of Townsend, and then he shook the fear away.
"I've done it now," he said huskily, "and they's no use talking. Let's get down to the finish."
The crowd was streaming away from the start, and headed toward the finish half a mile down the street beyond the farther end of Lukin. Most of this distance Townsend kept his companion close to a run; then he suddenly appealed for a slower pace.
"It's my heart," he explained. "Nothin' else bothers it, but during a hoss race it sure stands on end. I get to thinkin' of what my wife will say if I lose; and that always plumb4 upsets me."
He was, in fact, spotted5 white and purple when they joined the mob which packed both sides of the street at the finish posts; already the choice positions were taken.
But Connor chuckled7: "You tie on to me and we'll get to the front in a squeeze." And he ejected himself into the mob. How it was done Townsend could never understand. They oozed8 through the thickest of the crowd, and when roughly pressed men ahead of them turned around, ready to fight, Connor was always looking back, apparently9 forced along by the pressure from the rear. He seemed, indeed, to be struggling to keep his footing, but in a few minutes Townsend found himself in the front rank. He mopped his brow and smiled up into the cool face of Connor, but there was no time for comments. Eight horses fretted10 in a ragged11 line far down the street, and as they frisked here and there the brims of the sombreros of the riders flapped up and down; only the Eden gray stood with downward head, dreaming.
"No heart," said Townsend, "in that gray hoss. Look at him!"
"Plenty of head, though," replied Connor; "here they go!"
His voice was lost in a yell that went up wailing12, shook into a roar, and then died off, as though a gust13 of wind had cut the sounds away. A murmur14 of voices followed, and then an almost womanish yell, for Lightning, the favorite, was out in front, and his rider leaned in the saddle with arm suspended and a quirt which never fell. The rest were a close group where whips worked ceaselessly, except that in the rear of all the rest the little gray horse ran without urge, smoothly15, as if his rider had given up all hope of winning and merely allowed his horse to canter through.
"D'you see?" screamed Townsend. "Is that what you know about hosses, Mr. Connor? Look at Cliff Jones's Lightning! What do you—"
He cut his upbraidings short, for Connor's was a grisly face, white about the mouth and with gathered brows, as though, with intense effort, he strove to throw the influence of his will into that mass of horse-flesh. The hotel-keeper turned in time to see Lightning, already buckling16 under the strain, throw up his head.
The heavy burdens, the deep, soft going, and the fact that none of the horses were really trained to sprint17, made the half-mile course a very real test, and now the big leader perceptibly weakened. Out of the pack shot a slender brown body, and came to the girth—to the neck of the bay.
"The stallion!" shouted Townsend. "By God, you do know hosses! Who'd of thought that skinny fellow had it in him?"
"He'll die," said Connor calmly.
The bay and the brown went back into the pack together, even as Connor spoke18, though the riders were flogging hard, and now the roan drew to the front. It was plain to see that he had the foot of the rest, for he came away from the crowd with every leap.
"Look! Look! Look!" moaned Townsend. "Two for one! Look!" He choked with pleasure and gripped Connor's arm in both his hands in token of gratitude19.
Now the race bore swiftly down the finish, the horses looming20 bigger; their eyes could be seen, and their straining nostrils21 now, and the desperate face of each rider, trying to lift his horse into a great burst.
But his companion, in place of answer, stiffened24 and pointed25. His voice was a tone of horror, almost, as he said: "I knew, by God, I knew all the time and wouldn't believe my eyes."
For far from the left, rounding the pack, came a streak26 of gray. It caught the brown horse and passed him in two leaps; it shot by the laboring27 bay; and only the roan of Charlie Haig remained in front. That rider, confident of victory, had slipped his quirt over his wrist and was hand-riding his horse when a brief, deep yell of dismay from the crowd made him jerk a glance over his shoulder. He cut the quirt into the flank of the roan, but it was too late. Five lengths from the finish the little gray shoved his nose in front; and from that point, settling toward the earth, as he stretched into a longer and longer stride, every jump increased his margin28. The nose of the roan was hardly on the rump of the gelding at the finish.
A bedlam29 roar came from the crowd. Townsend was cursing and beating time to his oaths with a fat fist. Townsend found so many companion losers that his feelings were readily salved, and he turned to Connor, smiling wryly30.
"We can't win every day," he declared, "but I'll tell you this, partner; of all the men I ever seen, you get the medal for judgin' a hoss. You can pick my string any day."
"Eighteen years old," Connor was saying in the monotonous31 tone of one hypnotized.
"A hundred and eighty pounds," sighed the big man.
Townsend saw for the first time that a stop-watch was in the hand of his companion, and now, as Connor began to pace off the distance, the hotel proprietor33 tagged behind, curious. Twenty steps from the starting point the larger man stopped abruptly34, shook his head, and then went on. When he came to the start he paused again, and Townsend found him staring with dull eyes at the face of the watch.
"What'd they make it in?" asked the little man.
The other did not hear.
"Sure. Line between them posts."
"Fifty-nine seconds!" he kept repeating. "Fifty-nine seconds! Fifty-nine!"
"What about the fifty-nine seconds?" asked Townsend, and receiving no answer he murmured to himself: "The heat has got to his head."
Connor asked quietly: "Know anything about these gray horses and where they came from?"
"Sure. As much as anybody. Come from yonder in the mountains. A Negro raises 'em. A deaf mute. Ain't ever been heard to say a word."
"And he raises horses like that?"
"Sure."
"And nobody's been up there to try to buy 'em?"
"Too far to go, you see? Long ride and a hard trail. Besides, they's plenty of good hoss-flesh right around Lukin, here."
"Besides, them grays is too small. Personally, I don't hanker after a runt of a hoss. I look like a fool on one of em."
"So do I. Yes, they're small, if they're all like that one. Too small. Much too small."
He looked narrowly at Townsend from the corner of his eyes to make sure that the hotel proprietor suspected nothing.
"This deaf-mute sells some, now and then?"
"Yep. He comes down once in a while and sells a hoss to the first gent he meets—and then walks back to the garden. Always geldings that he sells, I understand. Stand up under work pretty well, those little hosses. Harry38 Macklin has got one. Harry lives at Fort Andrew. There's a funny yarn39 out about how Harry—"
"What price does the mute ask?"
"Thinking of getting one of 'em?"
"Me? Of course not! What do I want with a runt of a horse like that? But I was wondering what they pay around here for little horses."
"I dunno."
"What's that story you were going to tell me about Harry Macklin?"
"You see, it was this way—"
And he poured forth40 the stale anecdote41 while they strolled back to the hotel. Connor smiled and nodded at appropriate places, but his absent eyes were seeing, once more, the low-running form of the little gray gelding coming away from the rest of the pack.
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1
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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2
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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3
seasoning
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| n.调味；调味料；增添趣味之物 | |
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4
plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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5
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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6
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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7
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
oozed
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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9
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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10
fretted
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| 焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的 | |
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11
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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12
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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13
gust
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| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
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14
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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15
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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16
buckling
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| 扣住 | |
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17
sprint
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| n.短距离赛跑；vi. 奋力而跑，冲刺；vt.全速跑过 | |
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18
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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19
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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20
looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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21
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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22
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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23
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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24
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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25
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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26
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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27
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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28
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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29
bedlam
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| n.混乱，骚乱；疯人院 | |
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30
wryly
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| adv. 挖苦地，嘲弄地 | |
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31
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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32
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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33
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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34
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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35
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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36
genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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37
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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38
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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39
yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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40
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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41
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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