g book!"

Ten days later Fairfax, running in Old Man Curry's colours and under
the name of Eliphaz, won a cheap selling race from very bad
horses--won it in a canter after leading all the way. The Bald-faced
Kid, a student to whom past performance was a sacred thing, was
shocked at this amazing reversal of form and sought Old Man
Curry--and information.

"I don't know how you do it!" said the youth. "All I can say is that
you're a marvel--a wizard. This Fairfax----"

"Eliphaz, son," said the old man. "Eliphaz. I got his name changed."

"And his heart too," said the Kid. "And maybe you got him a new set
of legs, or lungs, or something? Well, Eliphaz, then--do you know how
fast that bird stepped the first half mile?"

Old Man Curry nodded.

"I reckon I do," said he simply. "I bet quite a chunk on him."

"But of course you wouldn't open up and tell a friend!" The
Bald-faced Kid was beginning to show signs of exasperation. "You're
the fellow that invented secrets, ain't you, old-timer? You're by a
clam out of an oyster, you are! Never mind! Don't say it! I can tell
by the look in your eye that Solomon thought the clam was the king of
beasts. What I want to know is this: how did that black brute come to
change his heart at the same time with his name?"

"I dunno's there was ever anything wrong with his _heart_," said Old
Man Curry. "Lots of folks make that mistake and think a man's heart
is bad when it's only his habits that need reformin'. Now Eliphaz, on
his breeding, he ought to----"

"Yes, yes! I know all about his breeding--by Stormcloud out of
Frippery--but he never ran to his breeding before. The way he ran for
Jimmy Miles you'd have thought he was by a steam roller out of a
wheelbarrow. What in Sam Hill have you been doing to him--sprinkling
powders on his tongue?"

The old man's eyes flashed wrathfully.

"You know better'n that, Frank. All the help the black hoss had was
what little bit Mose give him after the barrier went up. Ketch me
handing the drug habit to a dumb critter! I guess _not_!"

"Keep your shirt on," was the soothing reply. "I'm only telling you
what they say. They think Jimmy Miles didn't know the right
prescription."

"A lot of things he don't know besides p'scriptions!" retorted Old
Man Curry, still nettled. "Hosses, for one!"

"But you're getting away from the subject, old-timer. Ain't you going
to tell me what you've done to this horse to make him win?"

"Some day, Frank--some