One hundred yards from the wire Last Chance checked to a walk and as Jockey Gillis turned the horse he tossed a small, dark object over the inside fence. It fell in a puddle of water and disappeared from sight. When the winner staggered stiffly into the ring, Gillis flicked the visor of his cap with his whip. "Judges?" he piped. The presiding judge answered the salute with a nod, but later when the rider was leaving the weighing room, he halted him with a curt command. "Bring that tack up here, boy!" The investigation, while brief, was thorough. The judges examined the saddle carefully for copper stitching, looked at the butt end of the whip, ran their hands over Calamity's thin loins and last of all felt in his bootlegs for wires connected with the spurs. All this time Jockey Gillis might have been posing as a statue of outraged innocence. "Nothing on him," said the presiding judge shortly. "Hang up the official." Jockey Gillis bowed and saluted. "Judges, can I go now?" said he. "Yes," said the presiding judge, "and don't come back. You're warned off, understand?" "Judges," whined Jockey Gillis, "I ain't done a thing wrong. That old horse, he----" "Git!" said the presiding judge. "Now where is that man Hopwood? If he bet much money on this race----" The Bald-faced Kid was waiting at the paddock gate. He greeted Little Calamity with blistering sarcasm. "You're a sweet little boy, ain't you? A _nice_ little boy! Here I stall for you for weeks and you didn't even tell me that the old skate was going to have the Thomas A. Edison trimmings with him to-day!" "Honest," said the jockey, "I didn't think there was enough 'lectricity in the world to make it a cinch. I took a long chance myself, that's all. I had to do it." "And got caught with the battery on you, too. Didn't you know any better'n to slip him the juice right in front of the wire? Think those judges are blind?" "Well," said Little Calamity, "I don't know how good their eyes are, at that. Jock Hennessey, he's been riding with a hand buzzer every time the stable checks are down. This morning he loaned it to me." "Oh, it was a hand buzzer, eh?" "Sure. I chucked it over the fence when I was turning him around after the race." "Fine work. What did the judges say to you?" "They warned me away from the track. I should worry. There's other tracks. Only thing is, they've got Hopwood in the stand now, and he'll be fool enough to tell 'em this was the first time he bet on the horse. Somehow, I'd hate to see the old bird get into trouble.... Say, by the way, how much did he bet?" The Bald-faced Kid began to laugh. He laughed until he had to lean on the rail for support. "Don't worry," said he, at last. "The judges won't be too hard on him. He hunted all over the ring until he found some 75 to 1 and then he bet the wad--two great big iron dobey dollars--all at once, mind you!" "Two dollars!" gasped Little Calamity. "_Two dollars?_"