Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-08
The Tempter.


One night, after we'd reached the coffee
and smoke end Of the dinner, he looked me
over real carefully, and-s8To,> he:
1 s'pose you've noticed that I've got
that old six-furlonger of mine in tomorrow
aSain?'
Yep, said I. I s'pose they'll be laying
about l to 10 against him. He can't lose II
he falls down four times. hey?
Can't hep said my owner friend, keep
ing his lamps glued on me pretty hard. My
boy, can't Is a great big clumsy word in
this gee-gee business. So is can" l never
in racing
"'Huh% said 1, getting next In vague
kind Of a way. Go ahead, ii you want to-
Break it TO me gently
oh, there isn't much to it. sad my
owner friend, settling back comfortably n
his chair except that chat old plug Of m ne
isn't going to cop tomorrow. He just won't
know how to win tomorrow. He won't
know the right way home till the numbers
are sorted out. I'm merely passing this to
you for your information. and because
want you to do bit of laying for me, If
you don't mind.
Sure said / You just want to make
good to yourself for not getting the purse
Is that it?
"'Uh-huh, that's it, he replied Now,
my nag'n naturally be about a l-to-3 shot,
and the others will be at write your-oWn-
ticket figures. Here's a thousand and ne
stripped off two $500 bills from wad big
the suckers a shade the best of the odds
and draw in up to that thousand for ne
will you? TIN be a favor that l won't
overlook. I'm not going to come out hatly
and bawl at you to lay against my old
mutt. But am expressing keen confidence,
pal, that he isn't going to win.
'Whereupon we dispersed TO our respect
i've rooms
Now, didn't particularly like this prop
osition. 1t was a good deal more off the
level than l cared to work. although sure
was picking up heap of calioused con-
science over there on the block at the IS
land. And yet / didn't want TO turn this
fellow down. He was an attractive kind OF
a chap, and probably the warmest card
among all of the owners over there at Al5X-
ander Island. in the first place, and, in the
second, | doped it out that he knew 50
much about the game, and was so well on
the inside, that | couldn't afford TO furi
refusal into him the first time he asked me
to execute bit of job for him. l knew.
of course that he was too smooth an oil to
chuck away 90 on an uncertainty, ana
II struck me that if he had $1,000 wo-th OF
confidence that his horse wasn't going to
win. here'd be great chance for me to go
him several better and yank big haul
down. The more / thought this over the
less my conscience troubled me, but ali tha
same wiren L woke up the next morning L
not only side-stepped it, but passed 1t up,
so far as any profit of my own was con-
cerned.
The Plot Succeeds.
81 concluded to lay the owners $1,000 at
the regular prevailing odds, and. II his horse
lost so much the better for him and so
much the worse for me- When the race
came around l waited for the star layer,
and price-maker to open up. and he made
the horse that was going to lose 4 to z
shot. So did and all the rest of EN-. The
players ate the price up, so cinchy did the
race look for the horse belonging to the
man whose $1,000 had to lay against the
win. took down clean 5000 of the
public coin at to 2, and then. not caring
to fool with my own money ] made book
with the favorite out. l was able to round
the book, and took In quite bunch of
coin that way. Then ! watched the race.
MY owner friends nag was the top
weight with 118 up and there was husky
raw-boned boy on his back who looked as
II he might be able to fsold In six-mule
government team going down the side of a
mountain. For all that, the horse under
him jumped on In the lead. beating the flag,
and opened UP an Immediate gap of about
<rx.- I>>r 1xa1