anybody to know it was
Jeremiah I was figurin' on, so I gave 'em something else to think
about. I started 'Lisha the same day and I tried to get as many folks
interested in him as I could. I had the little nigger send him a mile
so fast that a wayfarin' man and a fool couldn't help but see he was
ready. And then I kind of distracted 'em some more by goin' into the
bettin' ring with a big mess of one dollar bills with a fifty on the
outside. I held the money up where everybody could see it and I
carried on scandalous when the bookmakers wouldn't take it, I'd have
carried on a lot worse if one of them children of Israel had called
my bluff. And then I got so mad because they wouldn't let me bet on
'Lisha that they thought I'd lost interest in Jeremiah.... I've heard
that Jeremiah wasn't played. He was played all over the ring, two
dollars at a time and it was my money that played him. But of course
those bookmakers knew I was sulkin' out in the paddock and took the
sucker money.... Anything else you want to know?"

"Yes!" The Bald-faced Kid had reached the bursting point. "Was
Jeremiah bleeding this morning or not?"

Old Man Curry stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"Well, it was real _blood_, if that's what you want to know," said
he. "It took me some time to study that out. Last week Mose came
around here, squawkin' on one of them little toy balloons. I took it
away from him for fear it would make the hosses nervous--and then I
got to studying how it was made. Last night I done some shopping. I
bought a nice, fat hen and a glass pumping arrangement from a drug
store.... The hen, she passed away this mornin' about daybreak. She
bled quite a lot, but I got most of it in that rubber bag, and when
Jeremiah was ready for his gallop----"

"You put it in his mouth?"

Old Man Curry nodded.

"Oh, why didn't you tell me?" wailed the Bald-faced Kid. "I could
have cleaned up!"

"I started in to tell you, son, and you said I ought to have my head
examined. And then, I kind of like to surprise folks, Frank. I knew
you wouldn't have the nerve to bet on a bleeder like Jeremiah, so I
had some bettin' done for you." Old Man Curry fumbled in his pocket
and produced a roll of bills. "Solomon says there's a time to get,
and I don't know of any better time than get-away day!"

ELIPHAZ, LATE FAIRFAX

When Old Man Curry's racing string arrived at the second stop on the
Jungle Circuit the Bald-faced Kid met the horse car in the