“Denver Bay leads!” shouts another, amid the wildest cheers. Nick Carter stands close by the side of Amos as the horses turn into the home-stretch. The detective sees that the man’s face is as pale as death, and that his hands are trembling. “You beat me on the jumping match,” said Nick, turning to the excited man, “but I’ll bet you an even ten that Denver Bay wins the race.” Amos makes no reply. He pushes his way hither and yon in the crowd, muttering incoherently to himself. “It must be time,” Nick hears him say, as the thunder of hoofs grows louder. “If it don’t happen, they’ll all blame me.” With straining muscles and glaring eyes, the horses pound up the track, Denver Bay still in the lead. “This is ruin!” gasps Amos, now utterly regardless of the people about him. The horses are only a few rods away. Then Nick sees the excited man grasped by the throat, and realizes that Martin, desperate and unable to control his passion, is fighting with his tool, as dogs fight in the gutter. The horses thunder past, and Denver Bay wins by a good length. The great handicap race is over and Denver Bay is officially declared the winner. As the crowd surges around the winning horse and the jockey is being weighed, there is a cry from the grand stand that some one has fainted. Nick sees that the excitement is about the spot the Wall Street broker selected as his seat, and hastens in that direction. As he reaches the place Wheeler slowly opens his eyes and reaches out his hand. “Not a word here,” whispers the detective, as he bends over him. “Are you able to walk?” “I think so. You see, it rather knocked me out.” “Well, get a carriage here and drive away.” Nick places the broker in a carriage, and then turns back toward the track. “You did nobly,” he says to the jockey, a moment later. “Keep what took place last night to yourself, and come to this address to-morrow forenoon.” The detective hands the boy the broker’s card and hastens away. “Now, then,” he says to the broker, as they drive slowly along, “I want to tell you, now that it is all over, that I don’t like these kind of cases.” “But you have saved my reputation, and have saved the property of two innocent children. Besides this, you have defeated one of the wickedest conspiracies ever put on the turf.” “Yes, but I don’t like it for all that. I don’t like the idea of mixing up in these affairs of the turf. My business is to assist the officers of the law in bringing criminals to justice.” “If the note you sent me this morning is correct you have also done this.” “How is that?” “In defeating the race-track gamblers you have captured the men who robbed me of twenty thousand dollars.” “That is all that makes me feel in any way easy about my part in the transaction.” “You have even recovered ten thousand dollars of the stolen money.” “Yes, but that part of it was all involuntary--I did not set out to catch the thieves or to recover the stolen money.”