The sun., 1908-06-21

to omaeo him for It II can spring him; they
tell me has there with q bank wad now.
IF don't neck him. I'll try n. mako dig
sonnewheres else. There's bunch Of 'em
OWN mo. Stick around. hun. and maybe
I'll be comm back with somethin' on mo.
and he pinched her cheek and went out OF
the bleak little room. putting on mask Of
oheefulness to screen the heaviness which
weighed him down.
For long time after he had gone she sat
by the window. no hanger looking out. but
studying. with filmed eyes, the wedding ring
which he had thrust back upon her finger.
And all tho time the name, MAY j.. May j..
May j." raped in her ears like the pelting
Of hoofs on hard track. Her husbands
hunch looked like just q possible way out
to her.
The girl had budded into womanhood
In the racing atmosphere. She had mar
ried Chuck Leahy, thenth topnotch steepie-
chase rider Of the country, ten years before
when only Is. and for eight Of those years
her world had swum in the rose OF which
racing folk, riding the crest Of that shifting
billow Luck, so dearly love the glamour.
A luxurious way Of life. travel from sea to sea
with the changing racing seasons jewels.
the cream of all ornate things-these. during
the eight years Of unfailing luck. had been
SKINNED by Cluck, and by her. too. from the
top Of the racing caldron. -,
Why not again? Such way out was all
she could imagine. Ono lucky play, to be
parlayed long, as the racing folk say, into q
van load-why not3
The last two years, since Cluck's acci-
dent that had disqualified him for further
riding, had been hard, gruelling. sort OF
precarious hanging upon the fringe OF
q mere existence. Cluck, with pikers
capital, had been trying &c beat them from
the ground. And 80, after the easy. opulent
years, here they were herded In a miserable
little back room. the final meal ticket at
Jake's punched out and
May j., May j.. May 1.-THE name
pulsed in her ears like the throb OF an en-
gine.
1t was the pane Of the famous joke mare
of the New York racetraoks six years ago.
Running three or four times week almost
throughout'the season. and finishing dead
last every time, May j. became at once
the most distinguished badge horse and
tho most notable also ran Of her racing
epoch. Her very name suggested a laugh
10 regular lOiOW0ib VI tiO boaho'
Once that summer. when running with
good HORSES. the highest price ever quoted
against O raoehorse In America had been
chalked up against May j. by three or four
faoetious bookmakers-1o,00 900 to to win,
1000 to for the place. and 1000 to third;
and May j. had justified that colossal price
by running, as usual. last. Yet always
there had been hackers Of May j.. every
time she ran-moonshooters who dared
to hope that one day the miracle might
happen and May j. would. totter home In
the lead.
Cluck's wife, who knew horses too and
all the dope on them. had been one OF these
And here, on this bleak rainy October day.
at the fag end Of the racing season around
New York, was May j. entered with q mis-
cellaneous lot Of impossibly bad horses at
the Aqueduct track. and Cluck Ohimself
had hunch that she would do the trick,
and
Il am going to take the chance said
Mrs. Cluck Leahy to herself, suddenly for
saking the rickety chair by the window and
beginning to tumble with her hairpins before
the blurred little bureau glass. "Itn be
different II pawn it.
aIm awfully glad he wouldn't pawn it..
But he won't mind-so much-if put 1t in.
And then his hunch. Mine. too. I've got a
terrible May j. hpnch to-day.
And If didn't take the chance and she
should win, and Cluck 80 cleaned and blue
and down in the mouth as he is, why. I'd
never forgive myself. And wouldn't I
love to bring a handful home to him and
see the funny look on his face. and-oh.
I'm going to do it, that's all. and no more
hesitating."
Five minutes later, in her seedy little
cheap ready made suit and warped.
worn hat, she was out in the raw October
rain. bound for the pawnshop.
@Mornink. Missus Cuck." said the iron
beaked pawnbroker to her chummily as
she entered-he had had transactions with
her and her husband odd times for half
dozen years. Has Cluck made killing
and are you going to get all the junk out? ?
That it2"
finger and placed 1t on the counter befofe
him. ;. s,.,
she said quietly. "Ten. you can
The pawnbroker whistled.
"Eh, goink down. goink down. eh2' he
commented with widening eyes. Don't
tell me that Cluok knows you're pushing
this ring in
aTen. IL you can. Sol.' Cuoks wife.
rather resenting the advantage he was
taking of long acquaintanceship. cut In on
him there. "And when you can. / want
to make the track"
The pawnbroker weighed the heavy
hoop on his goldsmith's scales.
Eight for you, Missus Cluok,' he said
to her.
She remembered how odd times she had
pawned thousands Of dollars worth Of
iewelry with that pawnbroker, raying
his usurious interest on the nail.
@I'm in bad need Of ten.' she said.
Fights the best, Mrs. Cluck." said tho
pawnbroker raspingly. and she nodded.
He scrawled ticket. handed 1t to her
with O five and three one dollar bills and
she went out into the rain, the third finger
of her left hand feeling oddly bare and
Embraced under the broken glove. Except
when she had offered 1t to Cluck a few hours
before tic wedding ring had not been of
her finger since she had become the girl
wife Of ten years before.
On the train to tho Aqueduct track a