o much
alike they had me guessin'. I done picked the one whut was widest
between the eyes--an' that's the one whut been awinnin' all them
races. That ain't Sergeant Smith at all--that's my Gen'al Duval.
Pitkin, he gives me my pick an' then he switches on me. Question is,
how kin I git him back?"

Old Man Curry combed his whiskers for some time in silence.

"Solomon had a job like this once," said he, "but it was a question
of babies. I reckon his decision wouldn't work out with hosses. Gabe,
you're gittin' to be quite an old man, ain't you?"

"Tollable ole," replied the negro; "yes, suh."

"An' if you got this hoss away from Pitkin, what would you do with
him?"

"Sell him," was the prompt reply.

"Oho! Then it ain't the hoss you want so much as the money, eh?"

"Mist' Curry, that colt'd fetch enough to sen' me home _right_. I got
two sons in Baltimo', an' they been wantin' me to quit the racin'
business, but I couldn't quit it broke. No, suh, I couldn't, so I
jus' been hangin' on tooth an' toenail like the sayin' is, hopin' I'd
git a stake somehow."

"And you don't much care _how_ you quit, so long's you quit; is that
it?"

"Well, suh, I don't want no trouble if I kin he'p it, but if I has to
fight my way loose from Pitkin I'll do it."

There was another long silence while Gabe waited.

"I reckon Solomon would have his hands full straightenin' out this
tangle," said Old Man Curry at last. "You can't break into the stall
an' take that hoss away from Pitkin, because he'd have you arrested.
And then, of course, he's got him registered in his name an' runnin'
in his colours--that's another thing we've got to take into
consideration. I reckon we better set quiet a few days an' study.
You'll know whenever this Sergeant hoss is entered in a race, won't
you?"

"Yes, suh; I'm boun' to know ahead o' time, suh."

"All right. Go on back to work an' don't quarrel with Pitkin. Don't
let him know that you've found out anything, an' keep me posted on
Sergeant Smith. Might be a good thing if we knew when Pitkin is goin'
to bet on him. He's been cheatin' with that hoss lately."

"He's always cheatin', suh. Yo'--yo' think they's a way to--to----"

"There's always a way, Gabe," answered Old Man Curry. "The main thing
is to find it."

"That's my hoss by right," said the negro, with a trace of
stubbornness in his tone.

"An' the world is your oyster," responded Curry, "but you can't go
bustin' into it with dynamite. Y