been presented to the Steel Wheel Club
of Euston by President Vanderveer of the great New York and Western
Railroad, who made his summer home at that place. The race for this trophy
was the principal event at the annual meet of the club, which always took
place on the first Wednesday of September. If any member won it three
years in succession it was to be his to keep, and every winner was
entitled to have his name engraved on it.

Snyder Appleby or "Cider Apples" as the boys, with their love for
nicknames, sometimes called him, had won it two years in succession, and
was confident of doing the same thing this year. He had just obtained,
through President Vanderveer, a position in the office of the Railroad
Company, and only waited to ride this last race for the "Railroad Cup,"
as it was called in honor of its donor, before going to the city and
entering upon his new duties.

Now to be beaten so badly, and by that young upstart, for so he called
Rod Blake, was a mortification almost too great to be borne. As Snyder
left the track without finishing the last race and made his way to the
dressing-room under the grand stand, he ground his teeth, and vowed to get
even with his victorious rival yet. The cheers and yells of delight with
which the fellows were hailing the victor, made him feel his defeat all
the more bitterly, and seek the more eagerly for some plan for that
victor's humiliation.

Snyder Appleby was generally considered by the boys as one of the meanest
fellows in Euston, and that is the reason why they called him "Cider
Apples"; for those, as everybody knows, are most always the very poorest
of the picking. So the name seemed to be appropriate, as well as a happy
parody on that to which he was really entitled. He was the son, or rather
the adopted son, of Major Arms Appleby, who, next to President Vanderveer,
was the richest man in Euston, and lived in the great, rambling stone
mansion that had been in his family for generations.

The Major, who was a bachelor, was also one of the kindest-hearted, most
generous, and most obstinate of men. He loved to do good deeds; but he
loved to do them in his own way, and his way was certain to be the one
that was contrary to the advice of everybody else. Thus it happened that
he determined to adopt the year-old baby boy who was left on his doorstep
one stormy night, a little more than sixteen years before this story
opens. He was not fond of babies, nor did he care to h