ld run of half-a-mile. Then the
wise man had said that Lauzanne's courage was at fault; the jockeys
had called it laziness, and applied the whip. And out of all this
uselessness, this unthinking philosophy, the colt had come with a soured
temper, a broken belief in his masters--"Lauzanne the Despised."

Porter's trust that his ill luck had been changed by a win was a faith
of short life, for Diablo was most emphatically beaten in his race.

And then came the day of forlorn hope, the day of Lauzanne's disgrace,
inasmuch as it de-graduated him into the selling-platter class.

Bad horse as Langdon knew Lauzanne to be, it occurred to him that Porter
had planned a clever coup. He had an interview with Crane over the
subject, but his master did not at all share the Trainer's belief.

"What price would Lucretia, or The Dutchman, be in with the same lot?"
Langdon asked, argumentatively.

"About one to ten," Crane replied. "But the Chestnut's beating them had
no bearing on this race. From what I see of Mr. Dixon, I don't at all
class him with you as a trainer--he hasn't the same resource."

Langdon stood silent, sullenly turning over in his mind this doubtful
compliment.

"I'm not sure," continued the Banker, "but that having stuck Porter with
Lauzanne, you shouldn't give him a hint about--well, as to what course
of preparation would make Lauzanne win a race for him. The ordinary diet
of oats is hardly stimulating enough for such a sluggish animal."

Langdon frowned. If Crane had not been quite so strong, quite so full of
unexpressed power, he would have rebelled at the assertion that he had
stuck Porter; but he answered, and his voice struggled between asperity
and deprecation, "There ain't no call for me to give that stable any
pointers; Porter put it to me pretty straight that the horse had been
helped."

"And what did you say?" blandly inquired Crane.

"Told him to go to hell."

This wasn't exactly truthful as we remember the interview, but its
terseness appealed to Crane, and he smiled as he said: "Porter probably
won't take your advice, Langdon; he's stubborn enough at times. And even
if he does know that--that--Lauzanne' requires special treatment, he
won't indulge him--he's got a lot of old-fashioned ideas about racing.
So you see Lauzanne is a bad betting proposition."

After Langdon had left Crane's thoughts dwelt on the subject they had
just discussed.

"From a backer's point of view Lauzanne is certain