But before he could finish, or before Mr. Curtis could push his way
towards him, a dozen stable boys and betting men had sprung away with
a yell towards the stable, and the mob dashed after them. It gathered
in volume as a landslide does when it goes down hill; and the people
in the grand stand and on the coaches stood up and asked what was the
matter; and some cried “Stop thief!” and others cried “Fight!” and
others said that a bookmaker had given big odds against Heroine, and
was “doing a welsh.” The mob swept around the corner of the long line
of stables like a charge of cavalry, and dashed at Heroine’s lodgings.
The door was open, and on his knees at the other end was Behren,
digging at the planks with his finger-nails. He had seen that the boy
had intentionally deceived him; and his first thought, even before that
of his great losses, was to get possession of the thousand dollars
that might be used against him. He turned his fat face, now white with
terror, over his shoulder, as the crowd rushed into the stable, and
tried to rise from his knees; but before he could get up, the first man
struck him between the eyes, and others fell on him, pummelling him and
kicking him and beating him down. If they had lost their money, instead
of having won, they could not have handled him more brutally. Two
policemen and a couple of men with pitchforks drove them back; and one
of the officers lifted up the plank, and counted the thousand dollars
before the crowd.
Either Mr. Maitland felt badly at having doubted Charley, or else he
admired his riding; for he bought Heroine when Behren was ruled off the
race tracks and had to sell his horses, and Charley became his head
jockey. And just as soon as Heroine began to lose, Mr. Maitland refused
to have her suffer such a degradation, and said she should stop while
she could still win. And then he presented her to Charley, who had won
so much and so often with her; and Charley gave up his license and went
back to the farm to take care of his mother, and Heroine played all day
in the clover fields.
BY GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL
The Wolf Hunters
A STORY OF THE BUFFALO PLAINS
_Edited and arranged from the Manuscript Diary of_ ROBERT M. PECK
Illustrated. $1.35 net; postage extra
The true adventures and thrilling experiences of three young cavalrymen
who spent the winter of 1861-62 in hunting wolves on the Western Plains.
Blackfeet Indian Stories
_With frontispiece and cover by_ N. C. WYETH
$1.00 net; postage extra
Twenty-five or more real Blackfeet Indian folk-lore stories are here
related as simply and as graphically as the Indians themselves told
them.
BY NOAH BROOKS
First Across the Continent
A CONCISE STORY OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION
Illustrated. $1.50 net
“For any one who has an interest in adventure and in the hardihood of
the pioneer this is a great story.”--_Boston Herald._
The Boy Emigrants
Illustrated. $1.25 net
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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