Richard Harding Davis

“ When Red Wing won, the crowd beneath the box, the men in the box, and the people standing around it, most of whom had followed Carter’s plunge, cheered and fell over him, to shake hands and pound him on the back. From every side excited photographers pointed cameras, and Lander’s band played: “Every Little Bit Added to What You’ve Got Makes Just a Little Bit More.” As he left the box to collect his money, a big man with a brown mustache and two smooth-shaven giants closed in around him, as tackles interfere for the man who has the ball. The big man took him by the arm. ”

“ Once more Miss Winter read the message, but before she had finished half of those in the front rows were scrambling from their seats and racing up the aisles. Already the reporters were ahead of them, and in the neighborhood not one telephone booth was empty. Within five minutes, in those hotels along the White Way where sporting men are wont to meet, betting commissioners and hand-book men were suddenly assaulted by breathless gentlemen, some in evening dress, some without collars, and some without hats, but all with money to bet against the favorite. ”

“ With the other pikers, they sat in the free seats, with those who sat coatless and tucked their handkerchiefs inside their collars, and with those who mopped their perspiring countenances with rice-paper and marked their cards with a hat-pin. Their lunch consisted of a massive ham sandwich with a top dressing of mustard.
Dromedary did not run until the fifth race, and the long wait, before they could learn their fate, was intolerable. They knew most of the horses, and, to pass the time, on each of the first races Dolly made imaginary bets. ”

“ Mother-in-law WILL be pleased cried Carter. In some alarm as to what the newspapers might say on the morrow, he ordered that in the morning a copy of each be sent to his room. That night in his dreams he saw clouds of dust-covered jackets and horses with sweating flanks, and one of them named Ambitious led all the rest. When he woke, he said to Dolly: “That horse Ambitious will win to-day.”
“He can do just as he likes about THAT!” replied Dolly. “I have something on my mind much more important than horse-racing. To-day you are to learn how I spent your money. ”

“ And, an hour later, men, bent under stacks of newspaper “extras,” were vomited from the subway stations into the heart of Broadway, and in raucous tones were shrieking, “Winner of the Suburban,” sixteen hours before that race was run. That night to every big newspaper office from Maine to California, was flashed the news that Plunger Carter, in a Broadway theatre, had announced that the favorite for the Suburban would be beaten, and, in order, had named the three horses that would first finish. ”

“ From the curtain of dust, as lightning strikes through a cloud, darted a great, raw-boned, ugly chestnut. Like the Empire Express, he came rocking, thundering, spurning the ground. At his coming, Gold Heels, to the eyes of the crowd, seemed to falter, to slacken, to stand still. The crowd gave a great cry of amazement, a yell of disgust. The chestnut drew even with Gold Heels, passed him, and swept under the wire. Clinging to his neck was a little jockey in a green cap, green jacket, and hoops of green and white.
Dolly’s hand was at her side, clutching the bench. ”

“ But Dolly insisted that because he had been afraid of her money, or her mother, he had forced her to propose to him.
“You could not have loved me very much,” she complained, “if you’d let a little thing like money make you hesitate.”
“It’s not a little thing,” suggested Carter. “They say it’s several millions, and it happens to be YOURS. If it were MINE, now!” “Money,” said Dolly sententiously, “is given people to make them happy, not to make them miserable.”
“Wait until I sell my stories to the magazines,” said Carter, “and then I will be independent and can support you.” ”

“ Or, “Come at me again!” they called. “And, once more!” they challenged as they reached for a thousand-dollar bill.
And, when in time, each shook his head and grumbled: “That’s all I want,” or looked the other way, the mob around Carter jeered.
“He’s fought ‘em to a stand-still!” they shouted jubilantly. In their eyes a man who alone was able and willing to wipe the name of a horse off the blackboards was a hero.
To the horror of Dolly, instead of watching the horses parade past, the crowd gathered in front of her box and pointed and stared at her. ”

“ On arriving at the theatre they found their host had reserved a stage-box, and as there were but four in their party, and as, when they entered, the house lights were up, their arrival drew upon them the attention both of those in the audience and of those on the stage. The theatre was crowded to its capacity, and in every part were people who were habitual race-goers, as well as many racing men who had come to town for the Suburban. By these, as well as by many others who for three days had seen innumerable pictures of him, Carter was instantly recognized. ”

“ When Carter reached the track he found his notoriety had preceded him. Ambitious did not run until the fourth race, and until then, as he sat in his box, an eager crowd surged below. He had never known such popularity. The crowd had read the newspapers, and such head-lines as “He Cannot Lose!” “Young Carter Wins $70,000!” “Boy Plunger Wins Again!” “Carter Makes Big Killing!” “The Ring Hit Hard!” “The Man Who Cannot Lose!” “Carter Beats Book-makers!” had whetted their curiosity and filled many with absolute faith in his luck. ”

“ The same scarlet car bore them back triumphant to the bank.
“Twenty-two thousand dollars?” gasped Carter, “in CASH! How in the name of all that’s honest can we celebrate winning twenty-two thousand dollars? We can’t eat more than one dinner; we can’t drink more than two quarts of champagne—not without serious results.”
“I’ll tell you what we can do!” cried Dolly excitedly. “We can sail to-morrow on the CAMPANIA!”
“Hurrah!” shouted Carter. “We’ll have a second honey-moon. We’ll shoot up London and Paris. We’ll tear slices out of the map of Europe. ”

“ The crowd of hungry-eyed race-goers waiting below the box, and watching Carter’s every movement, distressed Dolly.
“I hate it!” she cried. “They look at you like a lot of starved dogs begging for a bone. Let’s go home; we don’t want to make any more money, and we may lose what we have. And I want it all to advertise the book.”
“If you’re not careful,” said Carter, “some one will buy that book and read it, and then you and Spink will have to take shelter in a cyclone cellar.” ”

“ If he loses, I give you my word I’ll not bet another cent, and we’ll sail on Saturday. If he wins Out, I’ll put all I make on the two others.”
“Can’t you see,” begged Dolly, “that your dreams are just a rehash of what you think during the day? You have been playing in wonderful luck, that’s all. Each of those horses is likely to win his race. When he does you will have more faith than ever in your silly dreams——”
“My silly dreams,” said Carter grinning, “are carrying you to Europe, first class, by the next steamer.” ”

“ When he reached the box a sun-burned man in a sombrero blocked his way.
“I’m the owner of Red Wing,” he explained, “bred him and trained him myself. I know he’ll be lucky if he gets the place. You’re backing him in thousands to WIN. What do you know about him?”
“Know he will win,” said Carter.
The veteran commissioner of the club stand buttonholed him. “Mr. Carter,” he begged, “why don’t you bet through me? I’ll give you as good odds as they will in that ring. You don’t want your clothes torn off you and your money taken from you.” ”

“ You can’t fix Belmont, you can’t fix Keene. There’s nothing in his picking Beldame, but only a crazy man would pick the horse for the place and to show, and shut out the favorite! The boy ought to be in Matteawan.”
Still undisturbed, still confident to those to whom he had promised them, Carter sent a wire. Nor did he forget his old enemy, “Sol” Burbank. “If you want to get some of the money I took,” he telegraphed, “wipe out the Belmont entry and take all they offer on Delhi. He cannot win.”
And that night, when each newspaper called him up at his flat, he made the same answer. ”

“ The ridiculous mother was not present at the races, but after Carter began to call at their house and was invited to dinner, Mrs. Ingram received him with her habitual rudeness. As an impediment in the success of her ambition she never considered him. As a boy friend of her daughter’s, she classed him with “her” lawyer and “her” architect and a little higher than the “person” who arranged the flowers. Nor, in her turn, did Dolly consider her mother; for within two months another matter of controversy between Dolly and Carter was as to who had first proposed to the other. ”

“ So, Carter ran to find Cuthbert, and told him The Scout had gone lame. When, on their return, Miss Ingram refused to loosen her hold on The Scout’s nose, Cuthbert apologetically mumbled Carter’s name, and in some awe Miss Ingram’s name, and then, to his surprise, both young people lost interest in The Scout, and wandered away together into the rain.
After an hour, when they parted at the club stand, for which Carter could not afford a ticket, he asked wistfully: “Do you often come racing?” and Miss Ingram said: “Do you mean, am I coming to-morrow?” ”

“ There was hardly a person at the track who did not back the luck of the man who “could not lose.” And when Ambitious won easily, it was not the horse or the jockey that was cheered, but the young man in the box.
In New York the extras had already announced that he was again lucky, and when Dolly and Carter reached the bank they found the entire staff on hand to receive him and his winnings. They amounted to a sum so magnificent that Carter found for the rest of their lives the interest would furnish Dolly and himself an income upon which they could live modestly and well. ”

“ Mr. Spink is only waiting to hear from me before he starts spending fifty thousand dollars; that’s only half of what you won on Red Wing. I’m only waiting for you to make me out a check before I tell Spink to start spending it.”
In a dazed state Carter drew a check for fifty thousand dollars and meekly handed it to his wife. They carried it themselves to the office of Mr. Spink. On their way, on every side they saw evidences of his handiwork. On walls, on scaffolding, on bill-boards were advertisements of “The Dead Heat.” ”

“ What did I do with it?”
“We both had the time of our lives with it!” said Carter stoutly. “And that’s all there is to that. Post-mortems,” he pointed out, “are useful only as guides to the future, and as our future will never hold a second three thousand dollars, we needn’t worry about how we spent the first one. No! What we must consider now is how we can grow rich quick, and the quicker and richer, the better. Pawning our clothes, or what’s left of them, is bad economics. There’s no use considering how to live from meal to meal. ”

“ From there, the crowd still following him, he was driven back into his box. Meanwhile, the interest shown in him had not been lost upon the press agent of the theatre, and he at once telephoned to the newspaper offices that Plunger Carter, the book-maker breaker, was at that theatre, and if that the newspapers wanted a chance to interview him on the probable out-come of the classic handicap to be run on the morrow, he, the press agent, would unselfishly assist them. In answer to these hurry calls, reporters of the Ten o’Clock Club assembled in the foyer. ”

“ The horses were going to the post. He must decide quickly. In front of him the book-maker cleaned his board, and, as a final appeal, opposite the names of three horses chalked thirty to one. Dromedary was among them. Such odds could not be resisted. Carter shoved his fifty at the man, and to that sum added the twenty dollars still in his pocket. They were the last dollars he owned in the world. And though he knew they were his last, he was fearful lest the book-maker would refuse them. ”

“ Dolly sighed bitterly.
“If only,” she exclaimed, “we had that three thousand dollars back again! I’d save SO carefully. It was all my fault. The races took it, but it was I took you to the races.”
“No one ever had to drag ME to the races,” said Carter. “It was the way we went that was extravagant. Automobiles by the hour standing idle, and a box each day, and——”
“And always backing Dromedary,” suggested Dolly. Carter was touched on a sensitive spot. “That horse,” he protested loudly, “is a mighty good horse. ”

“ Men he had not seen in years grasped him by the hand and carelessly asked if he could tell of something good. Friends old and new begged him to dine with them, to immediately have a drink with them, at least to “try” a cigar. Men who protested they had lost their all begged for just a hint which would help them to come out even, and every one, without exception, assured him he was going to buy his latest book. ”

“ He first thought he would like to be an assistant editor of a magazine. But he found editors of magazines anxious to employ new and untried assistants, especially in June, were very few. On the contrary, they explained they were retrenching and cutting down expenses—they meant they had discharged all office boys who received more than three dollars a week. They further “retrenched,” by taking a mean advantage of Carter’s having called upon them in person, by handing him three or four of his stories—but by this he saved his postage-stamps. ”