plint--de crook! Hello! it's all right
Hoo-ray! Lauzanne gits de race!" For already the cry of "All right!"
was ringing through the betting ring. "Come on, pard," called Old Bill,
eagerly, to Mortimer; "let's go an' rake down de dough."

"In a minute," the other answered; and turning to Alan Porter, took
him by the arm and led him to one side. "I suppose you lost over The
Dutchman," he said.

"Yes, I'm broke," answered the boy, with a plaintive smile.

"Well, I've won."

"You betting!" exclaimed Alan, in astonishment.

"Yes--strange, isn't it? But I'm going to put that money of your
father's back."

The boy said nothing, and Mortimer fancied that his face flushed
guiltily.

"Yes, I can put it back now that Lauzanne's won," continued Mortimer;
"but don't say a word to a soul about it, I don't want anybody to know I
was betting."

"But what money?" began Alan.

"I've won a thousand dollars on Lauzanne--"

"Come on, pard," said Old Bill, impatiently interrupting them, "let's
get our rake off, an' den you kin buck to yer chum after."

Mortimer yielded to the tattered one's command, for without his guidance
he never would be able to find the man that held the money.

"I'll be back in a little while," he said to young Porter; "don't go
away."

There was delay over the cashing in; being late, they found a line of
Lauzanne men in front of them at the bookmaker's stand.

When Mortimer returned to the lawn with eleven hundred dollars in his
pocket Alan Porter had gone. He had dreaded that perhaps the boy might
do something desperate, fearing discovery of the theft; he had thought
even of taking Alan back to Brookfield with him; however, he had told
him that the money would be replaced, the boy would understand that
nothing could happen him and would go back, Mortimer felt sure. He spent
a short time searching for Alan, but his former fruitless quest had
shown him the hopelessness of trying to find a person in that immense
throng. He thought kindly of the enveloping mob that had kept him hidden
from Allis, as he thought. He had feared to meet her--something in his
presence might cause her to suspect that something was wrong. The whole
episode was like a fairy dream. It was a queer twist of Fate's web,
his winning enough over Lauzanne--he, a man who had never betted in his
life--to replace the money the brother had stolen.

All at once it occurred to him that some reward was due the instigator
of his success. Th