econd
place. Taral now called upon Domino, and at once the colt responded
gamely. But his time had gone, and the gallant horse that never before
had lost a race fell back with the others, hopelessly beaten, and
Taral, seeing that all was lost, pulled up and galloped slowly in.
Martin on Despot came out of the bunch, and, passing Prince Carl, set
sail for Grady, while Garrison, riding as though for his life, made
every effort to hold his own.

Within one hundred yards of the wire the leader had six lengths to
spare. His jockey was riding in leisurely fashion, glancing around
from time to time, to watch the struggle that Despot was making to
wrest the place from Senator Grady.

Whipping and spurring they thundered past us, fighting it out to the
finishing post. By it they flashed, the bay horse first, Grady second
and Despot third. Garrison's riding had saved him the place, but the
race had been won by "a rank outsider."

For a moment or two the crowd was silent--dumb with surprise and
disappointment. Few, if any, cheered the winner; thousands inwardly
cursed the favorites.

Quickly the word was passed along, "Rey El Santa Anita wins."

"Lucky Baldwin's horse," said Checkers. "The odds were an easy fifty
to one. Grady second! D 'ye see, if you 'd have played him for place
as I wanted you to, we 'd have saved our stake. But you would n't
'thaw out,' and now your ticket's a souvenir. We 'd have win as it was
with a good boy up. That settles Garrison for me. There 's a jockey
that ought to be driving cows instead of riding a sprinter like Grady,
and pumping him out in the first three-quarters. Domino last! That
'good thing.' Well; I knew from the start that he was a 'lobster.'"

Murray flushed up. "Well, any way, I won on Despot for third," he
said, "enough to put me ahead on the race, and cover your losing on
Grady, Jack. But, Jove, what a harvest the bookies have reaped. There
were thousands of dollars bet on Domino and the other favorites, and
there probably were n't a dozen bets in all on Rey El Santa Anita.
It's a terrible thing this gambling, Jack, when you come to look it
square in the face. Just think of the money gone to swell the pile of
a lot of miserable gamblers, and think of the poor deluded mortals who
play this game day after day, constant in the fatuous hope of some day
making a brilliant coup, and squaring themselves on their years of
losing. Fortune 'jollies' them along with tem