Skinner admitted that he could run best when he had something to run for. "You might advance me a month's wages," he reflected.
"I'll do it. Hello! Say, ain't that one of them Flyin' Heart city visitors?" From the direction of the ranch buildings Berkeley Fresno was approaching.
"Good-afternoon! You are Mr. Gallagher, I believe? I rode over with our crowd just now." Fresno looked back. "Let's step around to the other side of the corral; I want to talk to you." He led the way; then inquired, "Is this your runner?"
"That's him. His name's Skinner, and that's a promisin' title to bet on." Gallagher slipped a roll of bank-notes from his pocket. "Unhook! I'll bet you."
"No, no! I think myself Mr. Skinner will win. That's why I'm here."
"Strip your hand, son. I don't savvy."
And Fresno explained.
"You see, I'm a guest over there; but there's no sentiment with me in money matters." He produced a wallet, and took from it five one-hundred-dollar bills. "Bet this for me, and don't let on where it came from. I'll see you after the race. Mind you, not a word!"
"I'm dumb as the Egyptian Spinks."
"This race means a lot to me, Mr. Skinner." The guest of the
Flying Heart Ranch turned to its enemy. "There's a girl in it.
Understand?" The cook showed the gleam of his teeth. "If you win,
I'll send you some wedding-cake and—a box of cigars."
"Thanks," said the other; "but I've got a bum tooth, and I don't smoke."
As Fresno left, there approached, in a surging group, the opposing side.
"Good-evenin', Gabby!" Stover called, loudly, as he came within speaking distance. "Here we come en massay, and with ladies, to further embarrass and degrade you in the hour of your defeat!"
"We ain't defeated yit! How do, Mr. Chapin."
"Did you get our message?"
"Yes. But we ain't seen the color of y'all's money."
"Mr. Speed borrowed five hundred dollars from me, and said he might want more," Chapin volunteered.
"Is that all?"
"All?" jeered Still Bill. "Why, this mangy layout ain't never saw that much money," upon which Gallagher carelessly displayed a corpulent roll of bills, remarking:
"Count a thousand, Bill. It all goes on Skinner."
"I ain't heard of no train-robbery," muttered the lanky foreman of the Flying Heart, "nor I don't aim to handle no' tainted money." And Stover and Gallagher faced each other hard before turning.
Jean saw it, and whispered to Chapin: "Oh, Jack dear, I'm terribly frightened!" But Helen Blake, who overheard, left her companions and went straight to Gallagher.
"I should like," she said, "to wager a few dollars on Mr. Speed and the honor of the Flying Heart."
Both Skinner and his foreman stared at her nonplussed.
"You don't look like a bettin' lady," the latter managed to remark, jocularly.
"I'm not, I never made a wager before in all my life; but you see, Mr. Gallagher, I believe in our man." Gallagher lowered his eyes. "How much do you aim to risk, miss?"
"I don't know what the rules are, but I think our side ought to bet as much as your side. That is the way it is done, isn't it?"
"You mean that you aim to cover what Mr. Speed don't?" The girl nodded.
Gallagher spoke admiringly. "You're right game, miss, but I reckon we don't want your money."
"Why not?"
"I suppose there ain't no partic'lar reason."
"If Mr. Speed can beat Mr. Covington, who is the best runner at Yale, I'm sure he can defeat Mr. Skinner, who never went to college at all. They have all turned against him, and he-he is so brave!" Miss Blake's indignation was tearful, and Gallagher spoke hurriedly:
"He may be brave all right, miss, but he can't win unless Skinner dies. You save your money to buy chocolates an' bon-mots, miss. Why, listen" (the stock man softened his voice in a fatherly manner): "this Fresno party is wise; five hundred of this coin is his."
Helen uttered a cry. "Do you mean he is betting against
Mr. Speed?"
"Nothin' else."
"Despicable!" breathed the girl. "Wait a moment, please!" Helen hurried back to Chapin, while Gallagher muttered something like "I ain't takin' no orphan's money."
"Jack!" (the girl was trembling with excitement), "you told me on the way over that you had five hundred dollars with you. Let me have it, please. I'll give you my check when we get home."
"My dear girl, you aren't going to—bet it?"
"Yes, I am."
"Don't do that!"
For answer she snatched the pocket-book from his hand.
"Mr. Gallagher!" she called.
Skinner watched from afar. "Some class to that gal!" was what he said, which proved that he was a person not wholly without sentiment.
CHAPTER XVII
Speed leaped down from the buckboard in which Carara had driven him and Glass over to the Centipede corral.
"I told you to jump out when we crossed that bridge," was Larry's reproach to him. "You could have broke your arm. Now—it's too late."
But Speed joined his friends with the most cheerful of greetings.
They responded nervously, shocked at his flippant assurance.
"This, Mr. Speed, is the scene of your defeat!" Gallagher made the introduction.
"And this is Mr. Skinner, no doubt?" Wally shook hands with the Centipede runner, who stared at him, refused to recognize his knowing wink, and turned away. "You think pretty well of yourself, don't you?" suggested Gallagher unpleasantly, and Speed laughed. There was no reason why he should not laugh. Either way his hour had come.
"I s'pose that satchel is full of money?" Gallagher pointed to the suitcase.
"On the contrary, it is full of clothes. It is I who contain the money." He thrust a cold palm into his pocket as Covington dragged him aside to advise him not to be an utter idiot, to throw his money away if he must, but to throw it to charity or to his friends.
"Yes," Glass seconded, lugubriously, "and hold out enough to buy me a Gates Ajar in immortelles." But he said also, as if to himself, "He may be wrong in the burr, but he's a game little guy."
As the Centipede foreman counted the money, Helen came forward, announcing:
"You'll have to win now, won't you, Mr. Speed? I've wagered five hundred dollars on you. I bet against Mr. Fresno." "Fresno! So he's out from cover at last, eh?"
"I haven't been under cover," spoke up the Californian. "I've been wise all along."
Chapin wheeled. "Does it seem to you quite the thing to bet against our man, Fresno?" he inquired, his glance full in the other's eyes.
"Why not? There's no sentiment in financial affairs."
Speed shrugged. "Our tenor friend will sing his way back to
California." He turned with his thanks to Helen.
"The talkin'—machine!" interrupted Still Bill, suddenly. A group of men was approaching, who bore the phonogragh upon a dry-goods box, and deposited it in state beside the race-course. "Say, Gabby, s'pose you give us a tune, just to show she's in good order."
"Suspicious, eh?"
"You bet! There's a monologue I'd admire to hear. It's called-"
"We'll have The Holy City," said Willie, positively. "It's more appropriate."
So, with clumsy fingers, Gallagher fitted a record, then wound up the machine under the jealous eyes of the Flying Heart cowboys.
Drawn by the sound, Skinner, wrapped to the chin in his blanket, idled toward the crowd, affording Glass a sight of his face for the first time. The latter started as if stung, and crying under his breath, "Salted car-horse!" drew his employer aside.
"Say," he said, pointing a finger, "who's that?"
"Skinner, the man I run."
Glass groaned. "His name ain't Skinner; that's 'Whiz' Long. Six years ago I saw him win the Sheffield Handicap from scratch in nine-three." Then, as Speed did not seem to be particularly pressed, "Don't you understand, Wally? He's a pro; this is his game!"
/> To which the younger man replied, serenely and happily, "It's fixed."
"What's fixed?"
"The race. It' s all arranged—framed."
"Who framed it? How? When?"
"Sh-h! I did. Yesterday; by stealth; I fixed it."
"You win from 'Whiz' Long, and you can't run under fifteen?"
Wally nodded. "I told him that—it's all right."
"You told him?" Glass staggered. "It's all right? Say! Don't you know he's the fastest, crookedest, cheatingest, double- crossingest—why, he just came to feel you out!"
And Speed turned dizzy.
"And you fell for that old stuff!" Larry's voice was trembling with anger and disgust. "Why, that's part of his 'work.' He's double-crossed every runnin' mate he ever had. He'd cheat his mother. Wait!"
Skinner had left the crowd, and was seated now in the shade of the corral fence. He glanced upward from beneath his black brows as Larry reached and greeted him. "Hello, Whiz! I just 'made' you—" Then he shook his head.
"I haven't got you. My name is Skinner."
"Nix on that monaker," Glass smiled, indulgently. "I had a man in that Sheffield Handicap six years ago."
"You're in bad," asserted the cook steadily, "but assuming that my name is Long—"
"I didn't say your name was 'Long.' I called you 'Whiz.'" Glass chuckled at the point as he scored it. "Now come in; be good."
Skinner darted a look toward Gallagher and the Centipede men gathered about the shrilling phonograph, stooped and tied his shoes, and breathed softly:
"Spiel!"
"This little feller I'm trainin'—does he win?"
Without an upward glance, Skinner inquired:
"Did the man you trained for the Sheffield Handicap win?"
"Never mind that. Does this frame-up go through?" It happened that Speed, drawn irresistibly, had come forward to hang upon every word, and now chose this moment to interrupt.
"It's all right, Mr. Skinner—" But Skinner leaped to his feet.
"Don't try anything like that!" he cried, in a terrible voice that brought Gabby Gallagher striding toward them.
"What's goin' on here? Are they try in' to fix you, Skinner?"
"Not a bit like it," Glass protested stoutly. "I only asked him which side he'd rather run on, and now he calls for police protection."
"Don't try it again, that's all!" the cook warned, sullenly.
"I reckon I'll take a hand in this!" Gallagher was in a fine rage, and would have fallen upon the offender had not Stover stepped in his path.
"I reckon you won't!" he said easily.
The two glared at each other, and were standing thus when Speed and his trainer moved gently off. They made their way to the house in comparative silence. "I—I made a mistake," said Wally.
"You've been jobbed like you was a baby," said Glass. "There ain't but one thing to do now. Go into the house and change your clothes, and when you get ready to run, get ready to run for your life—and mine." Over on the race-course Gallagher was inquiring:
"Who's goin' to send these y'ere athaletes away?"
"I am!" announced Willie without hesitation "Bein' perhaps the handiest man present with a weepon, I'm goin' to start this journey." He looked his foes squarely in the eyes. "Has anybody got objections to me?" The silence was nattering, and more loudly now, so that Skinner might hear, he added: "If your man tries to beat the gun, I'll have him wingin' his way to lands celestial before he makes his second jump."
Gallagher acknowledged the fairness of this proposition. "This race is goin' to be squar'," said he. "We're ready when y'all are."
J. Wallingford Speed stepped out of his clothes and into his silken running-suit. He was numb and cold. His hands performed their duties to be sure, but his brain was idle. All he knew was that he had been betrayed and all was lost. He heard Glass panting instructions into his ear, but they made no impression upon him. In a dull trance he followed his trainer back to the track, his eyes staring, his bones like water. Not until he heard the welcoming shout of the Flying Heart henchmen did he realize that the worst was yet to come. He heard Larry still coaching earnestly: "If you can't bite him, trip him up," and some one said:
"Are we ready?"
Glass held out his hand. "Good-bye, Mr. Speed."
Chapin came forward and spoke with artificial heartiness, "Good- luck, Wally; beat him at the start," and Covington followed.
"Remember," he cautioned, sadly, "what I told you about the start—it's your only chance."
"Why don't you fellows think about the finish of this race?" faltered the runner.
Then, in a voice broken with excitement, Helen Blake spoke, holding out her hand for a good-bye clasp. "Dear Mr. Speed," she said, "will you try to remember this?—remember to run before he does, and don't let him catch up to you. If you do that, I just know you'll win."
This magnificent display of confidence nerved the athlete, and he smiled at her. He wished to speak, but dared not trust himself.
Gallagher was calling; so he went to the starting-point, whence he surveyed the course. There it lay, no more than a lane leading down between ranks of brown-faced men whose eyes were turned upon him. On the top rail of the corral perched Willie, revolver in hand. The babble of voices ceased, the strident laughter stilled, Speed heard the nervous Tustle of feminine skirts. Skinner was standing like a statue, his toe to the mark, his eyes averted.
"You'll start here and run a hundred yards out yonder to the tape," Gallagher announced.
"I refuse!" said Speed firmly.
For one breathless instant there was a hush of amazement, then a cry of rage. Still Bill Stover hurled the nearest man out of his path, and stode forward, his lean face ablaze. He wheeled and flung up his hand as if to check some hidden movement of Willie's.
"No voylence yet, Will! What d'you mean, Mr. Speed?"
Speed uttered what he knew was his final joke on earth. "I mean that I refuse to run straightaway. I'm an all-around athlete, and I must run all around something."
Amid shouts of confusion, those who had taken positions along the course came crowding back to the starting-point. Willie wrapped his legs about the top rail of the fence and drew a second revolver, while the two foremen bellowed indistinguishable threats at each other. Chapin lost no time in withdrawing his guests out of the turmoil, but Helen kept her place, her face chalky but her eyes very bright.
"What are you tryin' to hand us?" roared Gallagher.
Still Bill was quick to take a cue. "Don't get hectic!" said he. "There's nothin' in the articles about runnin' straight. Let 'em run around the corral." But at this suggestion every voice seemed to break out simultaneously.
"Humpy Joe ran straightaway," declared Gallagher.
"Yes, an' he kept at it," piped Willie. "I favor the idea of them runners comin' back where they start from."
"Listen, all of you," Speed announced. "I am going to run around and around and around this corral. If Mr. Skinner chooses to accompany me, he may trail along; otherwise I shall run alone."
"Never heerd of such a thing!" Gallagher was dancing in his excitement, but Skinner calmed him by announcing, curtly:
"I'll beat him any way he wants to run."
"You couldn't beat a rug," retorted Wally, and Glass suddenly smote his palms together, crying, blankly:
"I forgot the rug!"
"We don't want no arg'ment afterwards. Does the Centipede accept its fate?" Still Bill glared at the faces ringed about him.
"We do if Skinner says so."
"Twice around the corral," agreed Skinner. "But no accidents, understand? If he falls, I keep going."
Instantly there ensued a scramble for grand-stand seats; the cowboys swarmed like insects upon the stout fence of the corral.
"Then you'll start and finish here. Once y'all pass we'll stretch a string to yonder post, and the first man to bust it wins. Who's got a string?"
"Mr. Gallagher, won't you use my sash?" Helen quickly unfastened the long bl
ue bow of ribbon from her cotton gown, and Gallagher thanked her, adding:
"Moreover, the winner gets it!"
For the first time, then, Skinner addressed Miss Blake.
"Hadn't you better make that the loser, miss? The winner gets the coin," and the assent came in a flashing smile from sky-blue eyes.
"Then the loser gets the ribbon!" Gallagher announced loudly, and made one end fast to the corral. "Which I call han'some treatment for Mr. Speed, an' only wish we might retain it at the Centipede as a remembrance. Are the runners ready?"
Those near the starting-line gave room. Skinner stepped quickly out from his blanket, and stamped his spikes into the soil; he raised and lowered himself on his toes to try his muscles. Speed drew his bath-robe from his shoulders and thrust it toward his trainer, who shook his head.
"Give it to Covington, Bo; I won't be here when you come back."
"Get on your marks!" The starter gave his order.
Speed set his spikes into the dirt, brought his weight forward upon his hands. He whispered something to Skinner. That gentleman straightened up, whereupon Willie cried for a second time:
"On your marks!" and again Skinner crouched.
"Get set!"
The crowd filled its lungs and waited. Helen Blake buried her nails in her rosy cold palms. Chapin and his friends were swayed by their heart-beats, while even Fresno was balanced upon his toes, his plump face eager. The click of Willie's gun sounded sharp as he cocked it.
Into the ear close by his cheek Speed again whispered an agonized—
"Don't forget to fall down!"
This time the cook of the Centipede leaped backward with an angry snarl, while the crowd took breath.
"Make him quit talking to me!" cried Skinner.
Gallagher uttered an imprecation and strode forward, only to have his way once more barred by Still Bill Stover. "He can talk if he wants to."
"There is nothing," Speed pointed out with dignity, "in the articles to forbid talking. If I wished to, I could sing. Yes, or whistle, if I felt like it."
"On your marks!" came the rasping voice of Willie as Wally murmured to Skinner:
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