the bread itself; but
here was a man with cake, and he loved cake. Finally, in the glamour
of Jakey's talk of untold wealth to be acquired, Langdon, swayed by
the cupidity of his nature rather than his better judgment, promised
half-heartedly to cooperate with Faust.

But no sooner had the latter gone than the lode-star of Langdon's
self-interest flickered clearly in view, and he promised Mr. Jakey,
mentally, a long trip to a very hot place, indeed, rather than a
surreptitious partnership over Diablo.

It was some little time after this, while Faust was feeling somewhat
irritated at the absence of information from Langdon, that he had an
interview with Crane.

"I want you to back The Dutchman to win fifty thousand for me over the
Brooklyn Derby," the latter said.

"But there's no winner book on it," objected Faust.

"That's just where your cleverness will come in," suavely answered
Crane. "There's no hurry, and there are always people looking for
foolish money. There's one such in Chicago, O'Leary; and I fancy they
could even be found in New York. But you ought to get fifty to one,
about it, if you put it on easy."

"I see you have Diablo entered for the Brooklyn," Faust put out as a
feeler. "Don't you want a commission worked on him?"

"I didn't enter him; that was somebody else's foolishness, and I don't
want to back him."

"He's a hundred to one."

"A thousand would be short odds, I should say," answered Crane. "But
wait a bit. I bought him just to--well, I took him from some people who
were tired of his cannibal ways, and promised to have a small bet on him
the first time he ran, for--for the man." The equivocation was really a
touch of delicacy. "You might take the odds to fifty for me; there's not
one chance in a million of his starting, but I might forget all about
this little matter of the bet, even if I were foolish enough to pay
post-money on him."

"Hadn't I better dribble on more from time to time, if he has a chance?"

"Not of my money, thanks!" The "thanks" clipped like a steel trap, and
the business was completed.

Faust went away more than ever suspicious of Crane and Diablo. That
fifty dollars being put on for anybody else was bunkum. What was Crane
up to anyway? If he really meant to back the horse he would not have
started with such a trifle. Perhaps Diablo had been stuck in the
Brooklyn simply to see how the handicapper would rate him.

Faust was convinced that Crane had some big co