The sun., 1901-05-26

the s opening and the orphan. Buck told me
had been kept thoroughly under cover
There was lot OF talk in the town anc
at the Fort about the gentlemen riders. race
and two pay or play future books had beer
open fol, three days-one in the Star Of the
West saloon on Shawnee street. and the
other handled by SPORTY citizen Of Leaven-
| worth Gopher. because he was the only
horSc In the race with no given breeding
| was at 20 Co In the two future books There
were nine 10 60 alt?gether. and three Of them
wore to be ridden by army officers from the
Fort. all Of them, by the way. friends OF mine
Neediess' to sSy % NsrxGo Buck 6nd %" taken all Of
the 20 q that he coul ID get from the two
! fut ire books and he already ,tood To win
sS hsSn. na fnbSsd S S ;SsT had %GIT
/ declined 70 give Buck any moro Gopher be-
cnnsc he seemed BIT Too nnNions for It
,bot Nn had d look look At BSks rsnse pickup
and made modest little Investment IN that
| 20 70 ! about his chances, The horse looked
RSrss 9 q SS nT's mc
! little bit after I'D had that look at Gopher
We'll. when the betting on the gentlcmen
races had been Tpe decided n the W i've boo bookmaEers
on the grounds had all they could do taking
I m the money on big, raw-boned six-year-
from the Fort was booked 70 ride, and before
| ten minutes had passed this horse was almost
| a hold-out favorte at TO on. ! took bit
more Of the 20 70 against Gopher; and had
whether II was up TO me to put my friends
from the post. and particularly tho of1cer
,S Who w, was going to ride the tSyorite. next 10 TO
race. and that horse Gopher decided
that my duty as an officer and a gentleman
was to maintain my faith toward Buck Nivens,
who had put me on my honor-and then |
went and took few more slices still OF
Gopher's 20 TO against.
81 never saw anything. funnier on a race;
track than when those nine horses paraded
TO the post. Gopher. as the only cold-bred
horse In the bunch. was the last 70 emerge
The crowd took just one look at him as he
pranced to the post, as handsome as any
Hanover, and then they swooped upon the
bookmakers with their money. They we're
SIN trying TO get II down in chunks a. price
got away like platoon OF cavalry. -,
L wss Gopher all the way. and Snnins by
thirty lengths pulled sideways The favorite
was second. and the rest strung out more
than sixteenth OF mile. The cry Of
'RingerI went up from the throats Of those
who hadn't succeeded In getting their money
down on Gopher. but the square reputation
OF the Young man who had ridden the horse
70 victory soon caused that ell TO subside
told the stewards what knew ~ the horse.
and IL was all right. Buck was about IS. 50
10 the good the bankers son who had ridden
something similac, while | contrived 10 pull
out enough on the :ange pickup to keep
my unforms IN rerair for a while. The
officers who had ridden IN the race looked
post that night and made ribald remarks
about people who got furoughed from their
stations Tor the purpose Of pulling on hog
slRnghterlngs. but they were jealous, and
didn't mind EN-.
When ! returned to my post found my
orders for the Presidio OF san Francisco
awaiting me About month after got there
met well-known Irish turfman who used
70 be big man on the California tracks
and is now racing in England mar
rated 10 him the story ot Gopher and he was
interested from the first word He asked
me 10 describe the horse. and did
"Ill send man to Nebraska for that
horse Tomorrow he said He's mine
He's four-year-old that had never
faced the nag. and last May shipped him
on with carload of other horscsto make a
killing with him In the East The car caught
fire somewhere in western Nebraska. in
the middle Of the night. and the hands had
TO turn all Of the horses loose on the pra ire
to save them from being burned 10 death
All Of them we're recovered in the morning
but that chestnut, and II was concluded that
his panic was such over the fire that he had
run over the prairie until he had dropped dead
I'll shoot a man to Nebraska for him to-
morrow
That" concluded the armr oHf1cer. is
one incident In the career Of horse that
nfterward won many a race on the Western
tracks and Is alive and kicking mp his heels
In california to-day