ad, sah," shouted Col. Troup, pompously. "I guess I've
hedged all right. Travis will pay my thousand. He'll know how to shet
out gentlemen the nex' time. Oh, by gad, sah!"

Flecker and the Tennesseans took drinks and shouted themselves
hoarse.

Then the old preacher did something, but why he never could explain.
It seemed intuition when he thought of it afterwards. Calling Col.
Troup to him he said: "I'm kinder silly an' groggy, Col'nel, but I
wish you'd go an' look in her mouth an' see how old Lizzette is."

The Colonel looked at him, puzzled.

"Why?"

"Oh, I dunno, Col'nel--but when a thing comes on me that away, maybe
it's because I'm so nervous an' upsot, but somehow I seem to have a
second sight when I git in this fix. I wanted you to tell me."

"What's it got to do with the race, sah! There is no bar to age. Have
you any susp--"

"Oh, no--no--Col'nel, it's jes' a warnin', an intuition. I've had 'em
often, it's always from God. I b'leeve it's Him tellin' me to watch,
watch an' pray. I had it when Ben Butler come, thar, come in answer
to prayer--"

Colonel Troup smiled and walked off. In a short while he sauntered
carelessly back:

"Fo' sah, she was fo' years old this last spring."

"Thank ye, Col'nel!"

The Colonel smiled and whispered: "Oh, how cooked she is! Dead on her
feet, dead. Don't drive yo' ole pacer hard--jes' walk around him,
sah. Do as you please, you've earned the privilege. It's yo' walk
over an' yo' money."

The fifth heat was almost a repetition of the fourth, the old pacer
beating the tired mare cruelly, pacing her to a standstill. It was
all over with Lizzette, anyone could see that. The judges hung out:

_5th Heat:_ _Ben Butler, 1st_; _Lizzette, 2nd._ _Time_, 2:24.

Travis's face was set, set in pain and disappointment when he went to
the stable. He looked away off, he saw no one. He smoked. He walked
over to the stall where they were cooling Lizzette out.

"Take the full twenty minutes to cool her, Jim."

In the next stall stood Sadie B. She had been driven around by Jud
Carpenter, between heats, to exercise her, he had said. She was
warmed up, and ready for speed.

Travis stood watching Lizzette cool out. Jud came up and stood
looking searchingly at him. There was but a glance and a nod, and
Travis walked over to the grand-stand, light-hearted and even jolly,
where he stood in a group of society folks.

He was met by a protest of feminine raillery: "Oh, our gloves, our