and!" roared a big
man in the grand stand.

"Fanny D.! Fanny D.!" shouted another. "She is taking the lead!"

This was true. Pawnee, as Harris had declared, proved unequal to the
task of holding the lead. In the second quarter Fanny D. crept alongside
and gradually forged ahead, for all that Black Boy's rider used whip and
voice.

Poor old Lightfoot was steadily losing ground, and Hartwick ground his
teeth as he saw Nemo come into fourth place. Still it did not seem that
Merriwell's horse had made a spurt.

And then, as the horses came thundering down the track, a sudden change
seemed to come over the black boy on Nemo's back. He leaned far forward,
and appeared to be talking into Nemo's ears, which were laid almost
straight back. He cut the air with his whip, but the lash did not fall
on the glossy coat of the handsome animal.

"Look!" palpitated Harlow. "See Nemo! The creature has awakened! That
horse is all right! Hartwick, I believe Merriwell will secure third
money, after all."

"Not on your life!" ground forth Evan, his eyes glaring. "The creature
is doing his best now."

As the foremost racers shot past the judges' stand at the expiration of
the first half, it was seen that Fanny D. had taken the lead away from
Pawnee, while Black Boy was steadily gaining. Although Nemo had shown a
streak of speed he had not grown dangerous.

But now came the time when the mettle of the racers was to be tested.
Black Boy responded nobly to whip and voice. He went ahead in a
marvelous manner. He was soon nose and nose with Pawnee, and then he
took second place, with his nose at Fanny D.'s flank.

But there was another change. Again the black boy on the back of Frank
Merriwell's racer leaned forward and talked into the ears of the horse,
and then came a spurt that caused hundreds of spectators to gasp with
amazement.

Pawnee struggled nobly to hold third place, but Nemo passed him, and
Evan Hartwick nearly choked with fury. Then it was seen that Nemo was
gaining on the others. He crept up beside Black Boy till they were
nearly even, and thus the two animals passed Fanny D. at the end of the
third quarter.

When the home stretch was reached Black Boy was leading by a neck, with
Nemo second and Fanny D. third.

Evan Hartwick was nearly beside himself with rage. The language that
came from his lips cannot be printed here. In vain his companions tried
to calm him. He cursed them both, and struck at them.

Then the voi