THE MAN WHO COULD NOT LOSE

by Richard Harding Davis

The Carters had married in haste and refused to repent at leisure. Soblindly were they in love, that they considered their marriage theirgreatest asset. The rest of the world, as represented by mutual friends, considered it the only thing that could be urged against either of them. While single, each had been popular. As a bachelor, young "Champ" Carterhad filled his modest place acceptably. Hostesses sought him for dinnersand week-end parties, men of his own years, for golf and tennis, andyoung girls liked him because when he talked to one of them he nevertalked of himself, or let his eyes wander toward any other girl. He hadbeen brought up by a rich father in an expensive way, and the richfather had then died leaving Champneys alone in the world, with nomoney, and with even a few of his father's debts. These debts of honorthe son, ever since leaving Yale, had been paying off. It had kept himvery poor, for Carter had elected to live by his pen, and, though hewrote very carefully and slowly, the editors of the magazines had beenequally careful and slow in accepting what he wrote. 

With an income so uncertain that the only thing that could be said of itwith certainty was that it was too small to support even himself, Carter should not have thought of matrimony. Nor, must it be said to hiscredit, did he think of it until the girl came along that he wanted tomarry. 

The trouble with Dolly Ingram was her mother. Her mother was a reallyterrible person. She was quite impossible. She was a social leader, andof such importance that visiting princes and society reporters, evenamong themselves, did not laugh at her. Her visiting list was so smallthat she did not keep a social secretary, but, it was said, wrote herinvitations herself. Stylites on his pillar was less exclusive. Nor didhe take his exalted but lonely position with less sense of humor. WhenIngram died and left her many millions to dispose of absolutely as shepleased, even to the allowance she should give their daughter, he lefther with but one ambition unfulfilled. That was to marry her Dolly toan English duke. Hungarian princes, French marquises, Italian counts, German barons, Mrs. Ingram could not see. Her son-in-law must be aduke. She had her eyes on two, one somewhat shopworn, and the other abankrupt; and in training, she had one just coming of age. Already shesaw her self a sort of a dowager duchess by marriage, discussing withreal dowager duchesses the way to bring up teething earls and viscounts. For three years in Europe Mrs. Ingram had been drilling her daughter forthe part she intended her to play. But, on returning to her native land, Dolly, who possessed all the feelings, thrills, and heart-throbs ofwhich her mother was ignorant, ungratefully fell deeply in lovewith Champneys Carter, and he with her. It was always a question ofcontroversy between them as to which had first fallen in love with theother. As a matter of history, honors were even. 

He first saw her during a thunder storm, in the paddock at the races, wearing a rain-coat with the collar turned up and a Panama hat with thebrim turned down. She was talking, in terms of affectionate familiarity, with Cuthbert's two-year-old, The Scout. The Scout had just lost arace by a nose, and Dolly was holding the nose against her cheek andcomforting him. The two made a charming picture, and, as Carter stumbledupon it and halted, the race-horse lowered his eyes and seemed to say:"Wouldn't YOU throw a race for this?" And the girl raised her eyes andseemed to say: "What a nice-looking, bright-looking young man! Why don'tI know who you are?"

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 TheScout's nose, Cuthbert apologetically mumbled Carter's name, and in someawe Miss Ingram's name, and then, to his surprise, both young peoplelost interest in The Scout, and wandered away together into the rain. 

After an hour, when they parted at the club stand, for which Cartercould not afford a ticket, he asked wistfully: "Do you often comeracing?" and Miss Ingram said: "Do you mean, am I coming to-morrow?"

"I do!" said Carter. 

"Then, why didn't you say that?" inquired Miss Ingram. "Otherwise Imightn't have come. I have the Holland House coach for to-morrow, and, if you'll join us, I'll save a place for you, and you can sit in ourbox. 

"I've lived so long abroad, " she explained, "that I'm afraid of notbeing simple and direct like other American girls. Do you think I'll geton here at home?"

"If you get on with every one else as well as you've got on with me, "said Carter morosely, "I will shoot myself. "

Miss Ingram smiled thoughtfully. "At eleven, then, " she said, "in frontof the Holland House. "

Carter walked away with a flurried, heated suffocation around his heartand a joyous lightness in his feet. Of the first man he met he demanded, "Who was the beautiful girl in the rain-coat?" And when the man toldhim, Carter left him without speaking. For she was quite the richestgirl in America. But the next day that fault seemed to distress her solittle that Carter, also, refused to allow it to rest on his conscience, and they were very happy. And each saw that they were happy because theywere together. 

The ridiculous mother was not present at the races, but after Carterbegan to call at their house and was invited to dinner, Mrs. Ingramreceived him with her habitual rudeness. As an impediment in thesuccess of her ambition she never considered him. As a boy friend of herdaughter's, she classed him with "her" lawyer and "her" architect anda little higher than the "person" who arranged the flowers. Nor, inher turn, did Dolly consider her mother; for within two months anothermatter of controversy between Dolly and Carter was as to who had firstproposed to the other. Carter protested there never had been any formalproposal, that from the first they had both taken it for granted thatmarried they would be. But Dolly insisted that because he had beenafraid 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 alittle thing like money make you hesitate. "

"It's not a little thing, " suggested Carter. "They say it's severalmillions, and it happens to be YOURS. If it were MINE, now!" "Money, "said Dolly sententiously, "is given people to make them happy, not tomake them miserable. "

"Wait until I sell my stories to the magazines, " said Carter, "and thenI will be independent and can support you. "

The plan did not strike Dolly as one likely to lead to a hasty marriage. But he was sensitive about his stories, and she did not wish to hurt hisfeelings. 

"Let's get married first, " she suggested, "and then I can BUY you amagazine. We'll call it CARTER'S MAGAZINE and we will print nothing init but your stories. Then we can laugh at the editors!"

"Not half as loud as they will, " said Carter. 

With three thousand dollars in bank and three stories accepted andseventeen still to hear from, and with Dolly daily telling him that itwas evident he did not love her, Carter decided they were ready, handin hand, to leap into the sea of matrimony. His interview on the subjectwith Mrs. Ingram was most painful. It lasted during the time it took herto walk out of her drawing-room to the foot of her staircase. Shespoke to herself, and the only words of which Carter was sure were"preposterous" and "intolerable insolence. " Later in the morning shesent a note to his flat, forbidding him not only her daughter, but thehouse in which her daughter lived, and even the use of the United Statesmails and the New York telephone wires. She described his conduct inwords that, had they come from a man, would have afforded Carter everyexcuse for violent exercise. 

Immediately in the wake of the note arrived Dolly, in tears, andcarrying a dressing-case. 

"I have left mother!" she announced. "And I have her car downstairs, anda clergyman in it, unless he has run away. He doesn't want to marry us, because he's afraid mother will stop supporting his flower mission. Youget your hat and take me where he can marry us. No mother can talk aboutthe man I love the way mother talked about you, and think I won't marryhim the same day!"

Carter, with her mother's handwriting still red before his eyes, and hisself-love shaken with rage flourished the letter. 

"And no mother, " he shouted, "can call ME a 'fortune-hunter' and a'cradle-robber' and think I'll make good by marrying her daughter! Notuntil she BEGS me to!"

Dolly swept toward him like a summer storm. Her eyes were wet andflashing. "Until WHO begs you to?" she demanded. "WHO are you marrying;mother or me?"

"If I marry you, " cried Carter, frightened but also greatly excited, "your mother won't give you a penny!"

"And that, " taunted Dolly, perfectly aware that she was ridiculous, "iswhy you won't marry me!"

For an instant, long enough to make her blush with shame and happiness, Carter grinned at her. "Now, just for that, " he said, "I won't kiss you, and I WILL marry you!" But, as a matter of fact, he DID kiss her. Thenhe gazed happily around his small sitting-room. "Make yourself at homehere, " he directed, "while I pack my bag. "

"I MEAN to make myself very much at home here, " said Dolly joyfully, "for the rest of my life. "

From the recesses of the flat Carter called: "The rent's paid only tillSeptember. After that we live in a hall bedroom and cook on a gas-stove. And that's no idle jest, either. "

Fearing the publicity of the City Hall license bureau, they released theclergyman, much to the relief of that gentleman, and told the chauffeurto drive across the State line into Connecticut. 

"It's the last time we can borrow your mother's car, " said Carter, "andwe'd better make it go as far as we can. "

It was one of those days in May. Blue was the sky and sunshine was inthe air, and in the park little girls from the tenements, in white, were playing they were queens. Dolly wanted to kidnap two of them forbridesmaids. In Harlem they stopped at a jeweler's shop, and Carter gotout and bought a wedding-ring. 

In the Bronx were dogwood blossoms and leaves of tender green and bedsof tulips, and along the Boston Post Road, on their right, the Soundflashed in the sunlight; and on their left, gardens, lawns, and orchardsran with the road, and the apple trees were masses of pink and white. 

Whenever a car approached from the rear, Carter pretended it was Mrs. Ingram coming to prevent the elopement, and Dolly clung to him. When thecar had passed, she forgot to stop clinging to him. 

In Greenwich Village they procured a license, and a magistrate marriedthem, and they were a little frightened and greatly happy and, they bothdiscovered simultaneously, outrageously hungry. So they drove throughBedford Village to South Salem, and lunched at the Horse and Hounds Inn, on blue and white china, in the same room where Major Andre was once aprisoner. And they felt very sorry for Major Andre, and for everybodywho had not been just married that morning. And after lunch they satoutside in the garden and fed lumps of sugar to a charming collie andcream to a fat gray cat. 

They decided to start housekeeping in Carter's flat, and so turned backto New York, this time following the old coach road through North Castleto White Plains, across to Tarrytown, and along the bank of the Hudsoninto Riverside Drive. Millions and millions of friendly folk, chieflynurse-maids and traffic policemen, waved to them, and for some reasonsmiled. 

"The joke of it is, " declared Carter, "they don't know! The mostwonderful event of the century has just passed into history. We aremarried, and nobody knows!"

But when the car drove away from in front of Carter's door, they saw ontop of it two old shoes and a sign reading: "We have just been married. "While they had been at luncheon, the chauffeur had risen to theoccasion. 

"After all, " said Carter soothingly, "he meant no harm. And it's theonly thing about our wedding yet that seems legal. "

Three months later two very unhappy young people faced starvation in thesitting-room of Carter's flat. Gloom was written upon the countenance ofeach, and the heat and the care that comes when one desires to live, andlacks the wherewithal to fulfill that desire, had made them pallid andhad drawn black lines under Dolly's eyes. 

Mrs. Ingram had played her part exactly as her dearest friends hadsaid she would. She had sent to Carter's flat, seven trunks filled withDolly's clothes, eighteen hats, and another most unpleasant letter. Inthis, on the sole condition that Dolly would at once leave her husband, she offered to forgive and to support her. 

To this Dolly composed eleven scornful answers, but finally decided thatno answer at all was the most scornful. 

She and Carter then proceeded joyfully to waste his three thousanddollars with that contempt for money with which on a honey-moon itshould always be regarded. When there was no more, Dolly called upon hermother's lawyers and inquired if her father had left her anything inher own right. The lawyers regretted he had not, but having loved Dollysince she was born, offered to advance her any money she wanted. Theysaid they felt sure her mother would "relent. "

"SHE may, " said Dolly haughtily. "I WON'T! And my husband can give meall I need. I only wanted something of my own, because I'm going to makehim a surprise present of a new motor-car. The one we are using now doesnot suit us. "

This was quite true, as the one they were then using ran through thesubway. 

As summer approached, Carter had suddenly awakened to the fact that hesoon would be a pauper, and cut short the honey-moon. They returned tothe flat, and he set forth to look for a position. Later, while stilllooking for it, he spoke of it as a "job. " He first thought he wouldlike to be an assistant editor of a magazine. But he found editors ofmagazines anxious to employ new and untried assistants, especiallyin June, were very few. On the contrary, they explained they wereretrenching and cutting down expenses--they meant they had dischargedall office boys who received more than three dollars a week. Theyfurther "retrenched, " by taking a mean advantage of Carter's havingcalled upon them in person, by handing him three or four of hisstories--but by this he saved his postage-stamps. 

Each day, when he returned to the flat, Dolly, who always expected eacheditor would hastily dust off his chair and offer it to her brillianthusband, would smile excitedly and gasp, "Well?" and Carter would throwthe rejected manuscripts on the table and say: "At least, I have notreturned empty-handed. " Then they would discover a magazine that neitherthey nor any one else knew existed, and they would hurriedly readdressthe manuscripts to that periodical, and run to post them at theletter-box on the corner. 

"Any one of them, if ACCEPTED, " Carter would point out, "might bring usin twenty-five dollars. A story of mine once sold for forty; so to-nightwe can afford to dine at a restaurant where wine is NOT 'included. '"

Fortunately, they never lost their sense of humor. Otherwise the narrowconfines of the flat, the evil smells that rose from the bakedstreets, the greasy food of Italian and Hungarian restaurants, and theever-haunting need of money might have crushed their youthful spirits. But in time even they found that one, still less two, cannotexist exclusively on love and the power to see the bright side ofthings--especially when there is no bright side. They had come to thepoint where they must borrow money from their friends, and that, thoughthere were many who would have opened their safes to them, they hadagreed was the one thing they would not do, or they must starve. Thealternative was equally distasteful. 

Carter had struggled earnestly to find a job. But his inexperience andthe season of the year were against him. No newspaper wanted a dramaticcritic when the only shows in town had been running three months, andon roof gardens; nor did they want a "cub" reporter when veterans werebeing "laid off" by the dozens. Nor were his services desired as aprivate secretary, a taxicab driver, an agent to sell real estateor automobiles or stocks. As no one gave him a chance to prove hisunfitness for any of these callings, the fact that he knew nothingof any of them did not greatly matter. At these rebuffs Dolly wasdistinctly pleased. She argued they proved he was intended to pursue hisnatural career as an author. 

That their friends might know they were poor did not affect her, but shedid not want them to think by his taking up any outside "job" that theywere poor because as a literary genius he was a failure. She believedin his stories. She wanted every one else to believe in them. Meanwhile, she assisted him in so far as she could by pawning the contents of fiveof the seven trunks, by learning to cook on a "Kitchenette, " and tolaundry her handkerchiefs and iron them on the looking-glass. 

They faced each other across the breakfast-table. It was only nineo'clock, but the sun beat into the flat with the breath of a furnace, and the air was foul and humid. 

"I tell you, " Carter was saying fiercely, "you look ill. You are ill. You must go to the sea-shore. You must visit some of your proud, friendsat East Hampton or Newport. Then I'll know you're happy and I won'tworry, and I'll find a job. I don't mind the heat-and I'll write youlove letters"--he was talking very fast and not looking at Dolly--"likethose I used to write you, before----"

Dolly raised her hand. "Listen!" she said. "Suppose I leave you. Whatwill happen? I'll wake up in a cool, beautiful brass bed, won't I--withcretonne window-curtains, and salt air blowing them about, and a maidto bring me coffee. And instead of a bathroom like yours, next to anelevator shaft and a fire-escape, I'll have one as big as a church, and the whole blue ocean to swim in. And I'll sit on the rocks in thesunshine and watch the waves and the yachts--"

"And grow well again!" cried Carter. "But you'll write to me, " he addedwistfully, "every day, won't you?"

In her wrath, Dolly rose, and from across the table confronted him. 

"And what will I be doing on those rocks?" she cried. "You KNOW whatI'll be doing! I'll be sobbing, and sobbing, and calling out to thewaves: 'Why did he send me away? Why doesn't he want me? Because hedoesn't love me. That's why! He doesn't LOVE me!' And you DON'T!" criedDolly. "You DON'T!"

It took him all of three minutes to persuade her she was mistaken. 

"Very well, then, " sobbed Dolly, "that's settled. And there'll be nomore talk of sending me away!

"There will NOT!" said Champneys hastily. "We will now, " he announced, "go into committee of the whole and decide how we are to face financialfailure. Our assets consist of two stories, accepted, but not paid for, and fifteen stories not accepted. " In cash, he spread upon the tablea meagre collection of soiled bills and coins. "We have twenty-sevendollars and fourteen cents. That is every penny we possess in theworld. "

Dolly regarded him fixedly and shook her head. 

"Is it wicked, " she asked, "to love you so?"

"Haven't you been listening to me?" demanded Carter. 

Again Dolly shook her head. 

"I was watching the way you talk. When your lips move fast they do suchcharming things. "

"Do you know, " roared Carter, "that we haven't a penny in the world, that we have nothing in this flat to eat?"

"I still have five hats, " said Dolly. 

"We can't eat hats, " protested Champneys. 

"We can sell hats!" returned Dolly. "They cost eighty dollars apiece!"

"When you need money, " explained Carter, "I find it's just as hard tosell a hat as to eat it. "

"Twenty-seven dollars and fourteen cents, " repeated Dolly. She exclaimedremorsefully: "And you started with three thousand! What did I do withit?"

"We both had the time of our lives with it!" said Carter stoutly. "Andthat's all there is to that. Post-mortems, " he pointed out, "are usefulonly as guides to the future, and as our future will never hold a secondthree thousand dollars, we needn't worry about how we spent the firstone. No! What we must consider now is how we can grow rich quick, andthe quicker and richer, the better. Pawning our clothes, or what's leftof them, is bad economics. There's no use considering how to live frommeal to meal. We must evolve something big, picturesque, that will bringa fortune. You have imagination; I'm supposed to have imagination, wemust think of a plan to get money, much money. I do not insist on ourplan being dignified, or even outwardly respectable; so long as it keepsyou alive, it may be as desperate as--"

"I see!" cried Dolly; "like sending mother Black Hand letters!"

"Blackmail----" began that lady's son-in-law doubtfully. 

"Or!" cried Dolly, "we might kidnap Mr. Carnegie when he's walking inthe park alone, and hold him for ransom. Or"--she rushed on--"we mightforge a codicil to father's will, and make it say if mother shouldn'tlike the man I want to marry, all of father's fortune must go to myhusband!"

"Forgery, " exclaimed Champneys, "is going further than I----"

"And another plan, " interrupted Dolly, "that I have always had in mind, is to issue a cheaper edition of your book, 'The Dead Heat. ' The reasonthe first edition of 'The Dead Heat' didn't sell----"

"Don't tell ME why it didn't sell, " said Champneys. "I wrote it!"

"That book, " declared Dolly loyally, "was never properly advertised. Noone knew about it, so no one bought it!"

"Eleven people bought it!" corrected the author. 

"We will put it in a paper cover and sell it for fifty cents, " criedDolly. "It's the best detective story I ever read, and people have gotto know it is the best. So we'll advertise it like a breakfast food. "

"The idea, " interrupted Champneys, "is to make money, not throw it away. Besides, we haven't any to throw away. Dolly sighed bitterly. 

"If only, " she exclaimed, "we had that three thousand dollars backagain! 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 waywe went that was extravagant. Automobiles by the hour standing idle, anda box each day, and----"

"And always backing Dromedary, " suggested Dolly. Carter was touched ona sensitive spot. "That horse, " he protested loudly, "is a mighty goodhorse. Some day----"

"That's what you always said, " remarked Dolly, "but he never seems tohave his day. "

"It's strange, " said Champneys consciously. "I dreamed of Dromedaryonly last night. Same dream over and over again. " Hastily he changed thesubject. 

"For some reason I don't sleep well. I don't know why. "

Dolly looked at him with all the love in her eyes of a mother over herailing infant. 

"It's worrying over me, and the heat, "' she said. "And the garagenext door, and the skyscraper going up across the street, might havesomething to do with it. And YOU, " she mocked tenderly, "wanted to sendme to the sea-shore. "

Carter was frowning. As though about to speak, he opened his lips, andthen laughed embarrassedly. 

"Out with it, " said Dolly, with an encouraging smile. "Did he win?"

Seeing she had read what was in his mind, Carter leaned forward eagerly. The ruling passion and a touch of superstition held him in their grip. 

"He 'win' each time, " he whispered. "I saw it as plain as I see you. Each time he came up with a rush just at the same place, just asthey entered the stretch, and each time he won!" He slapped his handdisdainfully upon the dirty bills before him. "If I had a hundreddollars!"

There was a knock at the door, and Carter opened it to the elevator boywith the morning mail. The letters, save one, Carter dropped uponthe table. That one, with clumsy fingers, he tore open. He exclaimedbreathlessly: "It's from PLYMPTON'S MAGAZINE! Maybe--I've sold a story!"He gave a cry almost of alarm. His voice was as solemn as though theletter had announced a death. 

"Dolly, " he whispered, "it's a check--a check for a HUNDRED DOLLARS!"

Guiltily, the two young people looked at each other. 

"We've GOT to!" breathed Dolly. "GOT to! If we let TWO signs like thatpass, we'd be flying in the face of Providence. "

With her hands gripping the arms of her chair, she leaned forward, hereyes staring into space, her lips moving. 

"COME ON, you Dromedary!" she whispered. 

They changed the check into five and ten dollar bills, and, as Carterwas far too excited to work, made an absurdly early start for therace-track. 

"We might as well get all the fresh air we can, " said Dolly. "That's allwe will get!"

From their reserve fund of twenty-seven dollars which each had solemnlyagreed with the other would not be risked on race-horses, Dollysubtracted a two-dollar bill. This she stuck conspicuously across theface of the clock on the mantel. 

"Why?" asked Carter. 

"When we get back this evening, " Dolly explained, "that will be thefirst thing we'll see. It's going to look awfully good!"

This day there was no scarlet car to rush them with refreshing swiftnessthrough Brooklyn's parkways and along the Ocean Avenue. Instead, theyhung to a strap in a cross-town car, changed to the ferry, and again tothe Long Island Railroad. When Carter halted at the special car of theTurf Club, Dolly took his arm and led him forward to the day coach. 

"But, " protested Carter, "when you're spending a hundred dollars withone hand, why grudge fifty cents for a parlor-car seat? If you're goingto be a sport, be a sport. " "And if you've got to be a piker, " saidDolly, "don't be ashamed to be a piker. We're not spending a hundreddollars because we can afford it, but because you dreamt a dream. Youdidn't dream you were riding in parlor-cars! If you did, it's time Iwoke you. "

This day there was for them no box overlooking the finish, no club-houseluncheon. With the other pikers, they sat in the free seats, with thosewho sat coatless and tucked their handkerchiefs inside their collars, and with those who mopped their perspiring countenances with rice-paperand marked their cards with a hat-pin. Their lunch consisted of amassive ham sandwich with a top dressing of mustard. 

Dromedary did not run until the fifth race, and the long wait, beforethey could learn their fate, was intolerable. They knew most of thehorses, and, to pass the time, on each of the first races Dolly madeimaginary bets. Of these mental wagers, she lost every one. 

"If you turn out to be as bad a guesser when you're asleep as I am whenI'm awake, " said Dolly, "we're going to lose our fortune. "

"I'm weakening!" declared Carter. "A hundred dollars is beginning tolook to me like an awful lot of money. Twenty-seven dollars, and there'sonly twenty of that left now, is mighty small capital, but twentydollars plus a hundred could keep us alive for a month!"

"Did you, or did you not, dream that Dromedary would win?" demandedDolly sternly. 

"I certainly did, several times, " said Carter. "But it may be Iwas thinking of the horse. I've lost such a lot on him, my mind mayhave----"

"Did you, " interrupted Dolly, "say if you had a hundred dollars you'dbet it, and did a hundred dollars walk in through the door instantly?"

Carter, reassured, breathed again. "It certainly did!" he repeated. 

Even in his proud days, Carter had never been able to bet heavily, andinstead of troubling the club-house commissioners with his small wagers, he had, in the ring, bet ready money. Moreover, he believed in thering he obtained more favorable odds, and, when he won, it pleased him, instead of waiting until settling day for a check, to stand in a lineand feel the real money thrust into his hand. So, when the fourth racestarted he rose and raised his hat. 

"The time has come, " he said. 

Without looking at him, Dolly nodded. She was far too tremulous tospeak. 

For several weeks Dromedary had not been placed, and Carter hoped forodds of at least ten to one. But, when he pushed his way into the arena, he found so little was thought of his choice that as high as twentyto one was being offered, and with few takers. The fact shattered hisconfidence. Here were two hundred book-makers, trained to their calling, anxious at absurd odds to back their opinion that the horse he likedcould not win. In the face of such unanimous contempt, his dream becamefantastic, fatuous. He decided he would risk only half of his fortune. Then, should the horse win, he still would be passing rich, and shouldhe lose, he would, at least, have all of fifty dollars. 

With a book-maker he wagered that sum, and then, in unhappy indecision, stood, in one hand clutching his ticket that called for a potentialthousand and fifty dollars, and in the other an actual fifty. It was nota place for meditation. From every side men, more or less sane, sweptupon him, jostled him, and stamped upon him, and still, struggling for afoothold, he swayed, hesitating. Then he became conscious that the ringwas nearly empty, that only a few shrieking individuals still ran downthe line. The horses were going to the post. He must decide quickly. Infront of him the book-maker cleaned his board, and, as a final appeal, opposite the names of three horses chalked thirty to one. Dromedary wasamong them. Such odds could not be resisted. Carter shoved his fifty atthe 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 knewthey were his last, he was fearful lest the book-maker would refusethem. But, mechanically, the man passed them over his shoulder. 

"And twenty-one hundred to seventy, " he chanted. 

When Carter took his seat beside Dolly, he was quite cold. Still, Dollydid not speak. Out of the corner of her eyes she questioned him. 

"I got fifty at twenty to one, " replied Carter, "and seventy at thirty!"

In alarm, Dolly turned upon him. 

"SEVENTY!" she gasped. 

Carter nodded. "All we have, " he said. "We have sixty cents left, tostart life over again!"

As though to encourage him, Dolly placed her finger on her race-card. 

"His colors, " she said, "are 'green cap, green jacket, green and whitehoops. '"

Through a maze of heat, a half-mile distant, at the starting-gate, little spots of color moved in impatient circles. The big, good-naturedcrowd had grown silent, so silent that from the high, sun-warmed grassin the infield one could hear the lazy chirp of the crickets. As thoughrepeating a prayer, or an incantation, Dolly's lips were moving quickly. 

"Green cap, " she whispered, "green jacket, green and white hoops!"

With a sharp sigh the crowd broke the silence. "They're off!" it cried, and leaned forward expectant. 

The horses came so fast. To Carter their conduct seemed outrageous. It was incredible that in so short a time, at a pace so reckless, theywould decide a question of such moment. They came bunched together, shifting and changing, with, through the dust, flashes of blue andgold and scarlet. A jacket of yellow shot out of the dust and showed infront; a jacket of crimson followed. So they were at the half; so theywere at the three-quarters. 

The good-natured crowd began to sway, to grumble and murmur, then toshout in sharp staccato. 

"Can you see him?" begged Dolly. 

"No, " said Carter. "You don't see him until they reach the stretch. "

One could hear their hoofs, could see the crimson jockey draw his whip. At the sight, for he rode the favorite, the crowd gave a great gasp ofconcern. 

"Oh, you Gold Heels!" it implored. 

Under the whip, Gold Heels drew even with the yellow jacket; stride bystride, they fought it out alone. 

"Gold Heels!" cried the crowd. 

Behind them, in a curtain of dust, pounded the field. It charged ina flying wedge, like a troop of cavalry. Dolly, searching for a greenjacket, saw, instead, a rainbow wave of color that, as it rose and fell, sprang toward her in great leaps, swallowing the track. 

"Gold Heels!" yelled the crowd. 

The field swept into the stretch. Without moving his eyes, Carter caughtDolly by the wrist and pointed. As though giving a signal, he shot hisfree hand into the air. 

"Now!" he shouted. 

From the curtain of dust, as lightning strikes through a cloud, darteda great, raw-boned, ugly chestnut. Like the Empire Express, he camerocking, thundering, spurning the ground. At his coming, Gold Heels, tothe 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 chestnutdrew 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. Carter's hand stillclasped it. Neither spoke or looked at the other. For an instant, whilethe crowd, no longer so good-natured, mocked and jeered at itself, thetwo young people sat quite still, staring at the green field, at thewhite clouds rolling from the ocean. Dolly drew a long breath. 

"Let's go!" she gasped. "Let's thank him first, and then take me home!"

They found Dromedary in the paddock, and thanked him, and Carter leftDolly with him, while he ran to collect his winnings. When he returned, he showed her a sheaf of yellow bills, and as they ran down the coveredboard walk to the gate, they skipped and danced. 

Dolly turned toward the train drawn up at the entrance. 

"Not with me!" shouted Carter. "We're going home in the reddest, mostexpensive, fastest automobile I can hire!"

In the "hack" line of motor-cars was one that answered thoserequirements, and they fell into it as though it were their own. 

"To the Night and Day Bank!" commanded Carter. 

With the genial democracy of the race-track, the chauffeur lifted hishead to grin appreciatively. "That listens good to me!" he said. 

"I like him!" whispered Dolly. "Let's buy him and the car. "

On the way home, they bought many cars; every car they saw, that theyliked, they bought. They bought, also, several houses, and a yacht thatthey saw from the ferry-boat. And as soon as they had deposited the mostof their money in the bank, they went to a pawnshop in Sixth Avenue andbought back many possessions that they had feared they never would seeagain. 

When they entered the flat, the thing they first beheld was Dolly'stwo-dollar bill. 

"What, " demanded Carter, with repugnance, "is that strange piece ofpaper?"

Dolly examined it carefully. "I think it is a kind of money, " she said, "used by the lower classes. "

They dined on the roof at Delmonico's. Dolly wore the largest ofthe five hats still unsold, and Carter selected the dishes entirelyaccording to which was the most expensive. Every now and again theywould look anxiously down across the street at the bank that held theirmoney. They were nervous lest it should take fire. 

"We can be extravagant to-night, " said Dolly, "because we owe it toDromedary to celebrate. But from to-night on we must save. We've had anawful lesson. What happened to us last month must never happen again. Wewere down to a two-dollar bill. Now we have twenty-five hundred acrossthe street, and you have several hundreds in your pocket. On that we canlive easily for a year. Meanwhile, you can write 'the' great Americannovel without having to worry about money, or to look for a steady job. And then your book will come out, and you will be famous, and rich, and----"

"Passing on from that, " interrupted Carter, "the thing of firstimportance is to get you out of that hot, beastly flat. I propose westart to-morrow for Cape Cod. I know a lot of fishing villages therewhere we could board and lodge for twelve dollars a week, and row andplay tennis and live in our bathing suits. "

Dolly assented with enthusiasm, and during the courses of the dinnerthey happily discussed Cape Cod from Pocasset to Yarmouth, and fromSandwich to Provincetown. So eager were they to escape, that Cartertelephoned the hallman at his club to secure a cabin for the nextafternoon on the Fall River boat. As they sat over their coffee in thecool breeze, with, in the air, the scent of flowers and the swing ofmusic, and with, at their feet, the lights of the great city, the worldseemed very bright. 

"It has been a great day, " sighed Carter. "And if I hadn't had nervousprostration I would have enjoyed it. That race-course is always cool, and there were some fine finishes. I noticed two horses that would bearwatching, Her Highness and Glowworm. If we weren't leaving to-morrow, I'd be inclined----" Dolly regarded him with eyes of horror. 

"Champneys Carter!" she exclaimed. As she said it, it sounded like"Great Jehoshaphat!"

Carter protested indignantly. "I only said, " he explained, "if I werefollowing the races, I'd watch those horses. Don't worry!" he exclaimed. "I know when to stop. "

The next morning they took breakfast on the tiny terrace of a restaurantoverlooking Bryant Park, where, during the first days of theirhoneymoon, they had always breakfasted. For sentimental reasons theynow revisited it. But Dolly was eager to return at once to the flat andpack, and Carter seemed distraught. He explained that he had had a badnight. 

"I'm so sorry, " sympathized Dolly, "but to-night you will have a finesleep going up the Sound. Any more nightmares?" she asked. 

"Nightmares!" exploded Carter fiercely. "Nightmares they certainly were!I dreamt two of the nightmares won! I saw them, all night, just as I sawDromedary, Her Highness and Glowworm, winning, winning, winning!"

"Those were the horses you spoke about last night, " said Dolly severely. "After so wonderful a day, of course you dreamt of racing, and those twohorses were in your mind. That's the explanation. "

They returned to the flat and began, industriously, to pack. Abouttwelve o'clock Carter, coming suddenly into the bedroom where Dollywas alone, found her reading the MORNING TELEGRAPH. It was open at theracing page of "past performances. "

She dropped the paper guiltily. Carter kicked a hat-box out of his wayand sat down on a trunk. 

"I don't see, " he began, "why we can't wait one more day. We'd be justas near the ocean at Sheepshead Bay race-track as on a Fall River boat, and----" He halted and frowned unhappily. "We needn't bet more than tendollars, " he begged. 

"Of course, " declared Dolly, "if they SHOULD win, you'll always blameME!" Carter's eyes shone hopefully. 

"And, " continued Dolly, "I can't bear to have you blame me. So----"

"Get your hat!" shouted Carter, "or we'll miss the first race. "

Carter telephoned for a cab, and as they were entering it said guiltily:"I've got to stop at the bank. "

"You have NOT!" announced Dolly. "That money is to keep us alive whileyou write the great American novel. I'm glad to spend another day at theraces, and I'm willing to back your dreams as far as ten dollars, butfor no more. "

"If my dreams come true, " warned Carter, "you'll be awfully sorry. "

"Not I, " said Dolly. "I'll merely send you to bed, and you can go ondreaming. "

When Her Highness romped home, an easy winner, the look Dolly turnedupon her husband was one both of fear and dismay. 

"I don't like it!" she gasped. "It's--it's uncanny. It gives me a creepyfeeling. It makes you seem sort of supernatural. And oh, " she cried, "ifonly I had let you bet all you had with you!"

"I did, " stammered Carter, in extreme agitation. "I bet four hundred. I got five to one, Dolly, " he gasped, in awe; "we've won two thousanddollars. "

Dolly exclaimed rapturously: "We'll put it all in bank, " she cried. 

"We'll put it all on Glowworm!" said her husband. 

"Champ!" begged Dolly. "Don't push your luck. Stop while----" Cartershook his head. 

"It's NOT luck!" he growled. "It's a gift, it's second sight, it'sprophecy. I've been a full-fledged clairvoyant all my life, and didn'tknow it. Anyway, I'm a sport, and after two of my dreams breaking right, I've got to back the third one!"

Glowworm was at ten to one, and at those odds the book-makers to whom hefirst applied did not care to take so large a sum as he offered. Carterfound a book-maker named "Sol" Burbank who, at those odds, accepted histwo thousand. 

When Carter returned to collect his twenty-two thousand, there was somelittle delay while Burbank borrowed a portion of it. He looked at Cartercuriously and none too genially. 

"Wasn't it you, " he asked, "that had that thirty-to-one shot yesterdayon Dromedary?" Carter nodded somewhat guiltily. A man in the crowdvolunteered: "And he had Her Highness in the second, too, for fourhundred. "

"You've made a good day, " said Burbank. "Give me a chance to get mymoney back to-morrow. 

"I'm sorry, " said Carter. "I'm leaving New York to-morrow. "

The same scarlet car bore them back triumphant to the bank. 

"Twenty-two thousand dollars?" gasped Carter, "in CASH! How in thename of all that's honest can we celebrate winning twenty-two thousanddollars? We can't eat more than one dinner; we can't drink more than twoquarts of champagne--not without serious results. "

"I'll tell you what we can do!" cried Dolly excitedly. "We can sailto-morrow on the CAMPANIA!"

"Hurrah!" shouted Carter. "We'll have a second honey-moon. We'll shootup London and Paris. We'll tear slices out of the map of Europe. You'llride in one motor-car, I'll ride in another, we'll have a maid and avalet in a third, and we'll race each other all the way to Monte Carlo. And, there, I'll dream of the winning numbers, and we'll break the bank. When does the CAMPANIA sail?"

"At noon, " said Dolly. 

"At eight we will be on board, " said Carter. 

But that night in his dreams he saw King Pepper, Confederate, and RedWing each win a race. And in the morning neither the engines of theCAMPANIA nor the entreaties of Dolly could keep him from the race-track. 

"I want only six thousand, " he protested. "You can do what you like withthe rest, but I am going to bet six thousand on the first one of thosethree to start. If he loses, I give you my word I'll not bet anothercent, and we'll sail on Saturday. If he wins Out, I'll put all I make onthe two others. "

"Can't you see, " begged Dolly, "that your dreams are just a rehash ofwhat 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 doesyou 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. "

They had been talking while on their way to the bank. When Dolly saw shecould not alter his purpose, she made him place the nineteen thousandthat remained, after he had taken out the six thousand, in her name. Shethen drew out the entire amount. 

"You told me, " said Dolly, smiling anxiously, "I could do what I likedwith it. Maybe I have dreams also. Maybe I mean to back them. "

She drove away, mysteriously refusing to tell him what she intendedto do. When they met at luncheon, she was still much excited, stillbristling with a concealed secret. 

"Did you back your dream?" asked Carter. 

Dolly nodded happily. 

"And when am I to know?"

"You will read of it, " said Dolly, "to-morrow, in the morning papers. It's all quite correct. My lawyers arranged it. "

"Lawyers!" gasped her husband. "You're not arranging to lock me in aprivate madhouse, are you?"

"No, " laughed Dolly; "but when I told them how I intended to invest themoney they came near putting me there. "

"Didn't they want to know how you suddenly got so rich?" asked Carter. 

"They did. I told them it came from my husband's 'books'! It was a very'near' false-hood. "

"It was worse, " said Carter. "It was a very poor pun. "

As in their honey-moon days they drove proudly to the track, and whenCarter had placed Dolly in a box large enough for twenty, he pushed hisway into the crowd around the stand of "Sol" Burbank. That veteran ofthe turf welcomed him gladly. 

"Coming to give me my money back?" he called. 

"No, to take some away, " said Carter, handing him his six thousand. 

Without apparently looking at it, Burbank passed it to his cashier. "King Pepper, twelve to six thousand, " he called. 

When King Pepper won, and Carter moved around the ring with eighteenthousand dollars in thousand and five hundred dollar bills in his fist, he found himself beset by a crowd of curious, eager "pikers. " They bothimpeded his operations and acted as a body-guard. Confederate was analmost prohibitive favorite at one to three, and in placing eighteenthousand that he might win six, Carter found little difficulty. WhenConfederate won, and he started with his twenty-four thousand to backRed Wing, the crowd now engulfed him. Men and boys who when they wageredfive and ten dollars were risking their all, found in the sight ofa young man offering bets in hundreds and thousands a thrilling andfascinating spectacle. 

To learn what horse he was playing and at what odds, racing touts andrunners for other book-makers and individual speculators leaped intothe mob that surrounded him, and then, squirming their way out, ranshrieking down the line. In ten minutes, through the bets of Carter andthose that backed his luck, the odds against Red Wing were forceddown from fifteen to one to even money. His approach was hailed by thebook-makers either with jeers or with shouts of welcome. Those who hadlost demanded a chance to regain their money. Those with whom he had notbet, found in that fact consolation, and chaffed the losers. Some curtlyrefused even the smallest part of his money. 

"Not with me!" they laughed. From stand to stand the layers of oddstaunted him, or each other. "Don't touch it, it's tainted!" theyshouted. "Look out, Joe, he's the Jonah man?" Or, "Come at me again!"they called. "And, once more!" they challenged as they reached for athousand-dollar bill. 

And, when in time, each shook his head and grumbled: "That's all Iwant, " or looked the other way, the mob around Carter jeered. 

"He's fought 'em to a stand-still!" they shouted jubilantly. In theireyes a man who alone was able and willing to wipe the name of a horseoff the blackboards was a hero. 

To the horror of Dolly, instead of watching the horses parade past, thecrowd gathered in front of her box and pointed and stared at her. Fromthe club-house her men friends and acquaintances invaded it. 

"Has Carter gone mad?" they demanded. "He's dealing out thousand-dollarbills like cigarettes. He's turned the ring into a wheat Pit!"

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 himmyself. I know he'll be lucky if he gets the place. You're backing himin 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 goododds as they will in that ring. You don't want your clothes torn off youand your money taken from you. "

"They haven't taken such a lot of it yet, " said Carter. 

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'splunge, cheered and fell over him, to shake hands and pound him onthe back. From every side excited photographers pointed cameras, andLander's band played: "Every Little Bit Added to What You've Got MakesJust a Little Bit More. " As he left the box to collect his money, a bigman with a brown mustache and two smooth-shaven giants closed in aroundhim, as tackles interfere for the man who has the ball. The big man tookhim by the arm. Carter shook himself free. 

"What's the idea?" he demanded. 

"I'm Pinkerton, " said the big man genially. "You need a body-guard. Ifyou've got an empty seat in your car, I'll drive home with you. FromCavanaugh they borrowed a book-maker's hand-bag and stuffed it withthousand-dollar bills. When they stepped into the car the crowd stillsurrounded them. 

"He's taking it home in a trunk!" they yelled. 

That night the "sporting extras" of the afternoon papers gave prominenceto the luck at the races of Champneys Carter. From Cavanaugh and thebook-makers, the racing reporters had gathered accounts of his winnings. They stated that in three successive days, starting with one hundreddollars, he had at the end of the third day not lost a single bet, andthat afternoon, on the last race alone, he had won sixty to seventythousand dollars. With the text, they "ran" pictures of Carter atthe track, of Dolly in her box, and of Mrs. Ingram in a tiara andball-dress. 

Mother-in-law WILL be pleased cried Carter. In some alarm as to whatthe newspapers might say on the morrow, he ordered that in the morning acopy of each be sent to his room. That night in his dreams he saw cloudsof dust-covered jackets and horses with sweating flanks, and one of themnamed Ambitious led all the rest. When he woke, he said to Dolly: "Thathorse Ambitious will win to-day. "

"He can do just as he likes about THAT!" replied Dolly. "I havesomething on my mind much more important than horse-racing. To-day youare to learn how I spent your money. It's to be in the morning papers. "

When he came to breakfast, Dolly was on her knees. For his inspectionshe had spread the newspapers on the floor, opened at an advertisementthat appeared in each. In the Centre of a half-page of white paper werethe lines:

 SOLD OUT IN ONE DAY!

 ENTIRE FIRST EDITION

 THE DEAD HEAT

 BY

 CHAMPNEYS CARTER

 SECOND EDITION ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND

"In Heaven's name!" roared Carter. "What does this mean?"

"It means, " cried Dolly tremulously, "I'm backing my dream. I've alwaysbelieved in your book. Now, I'm backing it. Our lawyers sent me to anadvertising agent. His name is Spink, and he is awfully clever. I askedhim if he could advertise a book so as to make it sell. He said with mymoney and his ideas he could sell last year's telephone book to peoplewho did not own a telephone, and who had never learned to read. He isproud of his ideas. One of them was buying out the first edition. Yourpublishers told him your book was 'waste paper, ' and that he could haveevery copy in stock for the cost of the plates. So he bought the wholeedition. That's how it was sold out in one day. Then we ordered a secondedition of one hundred thousand, and they're printing it now. 

"The presses have been working all night to meet the demand!"

"But, " cried Carter, "there isn't any demand!"

"There will be, " said Dolly, "when five million people read ouradvertisements. "

She dragged him to the window and pointed triumphantly into the street. 

"See that!" she said. "Mr. Spink sent them here for me to inspect. "

Drawn up in a line that stretched from Fifth Avenue to Broadway were anarmy of sandwich men. On the boards they carried were the words: "Read'The Dead Heat. ' Second Edition. One Hundred Thousand!" On the fencein front of the building going up across the street, in letters a foothigh, Carter again read the name of his novel. In letters in size moremodest, but in colors more defiant, it glared at him from ash-cans andbarrels. 

"How much does this cost?" he gasped. 

"It cost every dollar you had in bank, " said Dolly, "and before we arethrough it will cost you twice as much more. Mr. Spink is only waitingto hear from me before he starts spending fifty thousand dollars; that'sonly half of what you won on Red Wing. I'm only waiting for you to makeme out a check before I tell Spink to start spending it. "

In a dazed state Carter drew a check for fifty thousand dollars andmeekly handed it to his wife. They carried it themselves to the officeof Mr. Spink. On their way, on every side they saw evidences of hishandiwork. On walls, on scaffolding, on bill-boards were advertisementsof "The Dead Heat. " Over Madison Square a huge kite as large as aZeppelin air-ship painted the name of the book against the sky, on"dodgers" it floated in the air, on handbills it stared up from thegutters. 

Mr. Spink was a nervous young man with a bald head and eye-glasses. He grasped the check as a general might welcome fifty thousand freshtroops. 

"Reinforcements!" he cried. "Now, watch me. Now I can do things that arebig, national, Napoleonic. We can't get those books bound inside of aweek, but meanwhile orders will be pouring in, people will be growingcrazy for it. Every man, woman, and child in Greater New York will wanta copy. I've sent out fifty boys dressed as jockeys on horseback to rideneck and neck up and down every avenue. 'The Dead Heat' is printed onthe saddle-cloth. Half of them have been arrested already. It's a littleidea of my own. "

"But, " protested Carter, "it's not a racing story, it's a detectivestory!"

"The devil it is!" gasped Spink. "But what's the difference!" heexclaimed. "They've got to buy it anyway. They'd buy it if it was acook-book. And, I say, " he cried delightedly, "that's great press workyou're doing for the book at the races! The papers are full of you thismorning, and every man who reads about your luck at the track will seeyour name as the author of 'The Dead Heat, ' and will rush to buy thebook. He'll think 'The Dead Heat' is a guide to the turf!"

When Carter reached the track he found his notoriety had preceded him. Ambitious did no run until the fourth race, and until then, as he satin his box, an eager crowd surged below. He had never known suchpopularity. 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 CannotLose!" "Carter Beats Book-makers!" had whetted their curiosity andfilled many with absolute faith in his luck. Men he had not seen inyears grasped him by the hand and carelessly asked if he could tell ofsomething good. Friends old and new begged him to dine with them, toimmediately have a drink With them, at least to "try" a cigar. Men whoprotested they had lost their all begged for just a hint which wouldhelp them to come out even, and every one, without exception, assuredhim he was going to buy his latest book. 

"I tried to get it last night at a dozen news-stands, " many of themsaid, "but they told me the entire edition was exhausted. "

The crowd of hungry-eyed race-goers waiting below the box, and watchingCarter's every movement, distressed Dolly. 

"I hate it!" she cried. "They look at you like a lot of starved dogsbegging 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 andread it, and then you and Spink will have to take shelter in a cyclonecellar. "

When he arose to make his bet on Ambitious, his friends from the clubstand and a half-dozen of Pinkerton's men closed in around him and in aflying wedge pushed into the ring. The news-papers had done their work, and he was instantly surrounded by a hungry, howling mob. In comparisonwith the one of the previous day, it was as a foot-ball scrimmage to arun on a bank. When he made his first wager and the crowd learnedthe name of the horse, it broke with a. Yell into hundreds of flyingmissiles which hurled themselves at the book-makers. Under their attack, as on the day before, Ambitious receded to even money. There was hardlya person at the track who did not back the luck of the man who "couldnot lose. " And when Ambitious won easily, it was not the horse or thejockey 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 staffon hand to receive him and his winnings. They amounted to a sum somagnificent that Carter found for the rest of their lives the interestwould furnish Dolly and himself an income upon which they could livemodestly and well. 

A distinguished-looking, white-haired official of the bank congratulatedCarter warmly. "Should you wish to invest some of this, " he said, "Ishould be glad to advise you. My knowledge in that direction may bewider than your own. "

Carter murmured his thanks. The white-haired gentleman lowered hisvoice. "On certain other subjects, " he continued, "you know many thingsof which I am totally ignorant. Could you tell me, " he asked carelessly, "who will win the Suburban to-morrow?"

Carter frowned mysteriously. "I can tell you better in the morning, " hesaid. "It looks like Beldame, with Proper and First Mason within call. "

The white-haired man showed his surprise and also that his ignorance wasnot as profound as he suggested. 

"I thought the Keene entry----" he ventured. 

"I know, " said Carter doubtfully. "If it were for a mile, I would sayDelhi, but I don't think he can last the distance. In the morning I'llwire you. "

As they settled back in their car, Carter took both of Dolly's handsin his. "So far as money goes, " he said, "we are independent of yourmother--independent of my books; and I want to make you a promise. Iwant to promise you that, no matter what I dream in the future, I'llnever back another horse. " Dolly gave a gasp of satisfaction. 

"And what's more, " added Carter hastily, "not another dollar can yourisk in backing my books. After this, they've got to stand or fall ontheir legs!"

"Agreed!" cried Dolly. "Our plunging days are over. "

When they reached the flat they found waiting for Carter the juniorpartner of a real publishing house. He had a blank contract, and hewanted to secure the right to publish Carter's next book. 

"I have a few short stories----" suggested Carter. 

Collections of short stories, protested the visitor truthfully, "donot sell. We would prefer another novel on the same lines as 'The DeadHeat. '"

"Have you read 'The Dead Heat'?" asked Carter. 

"I have not, " admitted the publisher, "but the next book by the sameauthor is sure to----. We will pay in advance of royalties fifteenthousand dollars. "

"Could you put that in writing?" asked Carter. When the publisher wasleaving he said:

"I see your success in literature is equaled by your success at theraces. Could you tell me what will win the Suburban?"

"I will send you a wire in the MORNING, " said Carter. 

They had arranged to dine with some friends and later to visit a musicalcomedy. Carter had changed his clothes, and, while he was waiting forDolly to dress, was reclining in a huge arm-chair. The heat of the day, the excitement, and the wear on his nerves caused his head to sink back, his eyes to close, and his limbs to relax. 

When, by her entrance, Dolly woke him, he jumped up in some confusion. 

"You've been asleep, " she mocked. 

"Worse!" said Carter. "I've been dreaming! Shall I tell you who is goingto win the Suburban?"

"Champneys!" cried Dolly in alarm. 

"My dear Dolly, " protested her husband, "I promised to stop betting. Idid not promise to stop sleeping. "

"Well, " sighed Dolly, with relief, "as long as it stops at that. Delhiwill win, " she added. "Delhi will not, " said Carter. "This is how theywill finish----" He scribbled three names on a piece of paper which Dollyread. 

"But that, " she said, "is what you told the gentleman at the bank. "

Carter stared at her blankly and in some embarrassment. 

"You see!" cried Dolly, "what you think when you're awake, you dreamwhen you're asleep. And you had a run of luck that never happened beforeand could never happen again. "

Carter received her explanation with reluctance. "I wonder, " he said. 

On arriving at the theatre they found their host had reserved astage-box, and as there were but four in their party, and as, when theyentered, the house lights were up, their arrival drew upon them theattention both of those in the audience and of those on the stage. Thetheatre was crowded to its capacity, and in every part were people whowere habitual race-goers, as well as many racing men who had come totown for the Suburban. By these, as well as by many others who forthree days had seen innumerable pictures of him, Carter was instantlyrecognized. To the audience and to the performers the man who always wonwas of far greater interest than what for the three-hundredth night wasgoing forward on the stage. And when the leading woman, Blanche Winter, asked the comedian which he would rather be, "The Man Who Broke theBank at Monte Carlo or the Man Who Can Not Lose?" she gained from theaudience an easy laugh and from the chorus an excited giggle. 

When, at the end of the act, Carter went into the lobby to smoke, he wasso quickly surrounded that he sought refuge on Broadway. From there, thecrowd 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 thetheatre, and he at once telephoned to the newspaper offices that PlungerCarter, the book-maker breaker, was at that theatre, and if that thenewspapers wanted a chance to interview him on the probable out-come ofthe classic handicap to be run on the morrow, he, the press agent, wouldunselfishly assist them. In answer to these hurry calls, reporters ofthe Ten o'Clock Club assembled in the foyer. How far what later followedwas due to their presence and to the efforts of the press agent onlythat gentleman can tell. It was in the second act that Miss BlancheWinter sang her topical song. In it she advised the audience whenanxious to settle any question of personal or national interest to "Putit up to the Man in the Moon. '" This night she introduced a verse inwhich she told of her desire to know which horse on the morrow would winthe Suburban, and, in the chorus, expressed her determination to "Put itup to the Man in the Moon. "

Instantly from the back of the house a voice called: "Why don't you putit up to the Man in the Box?" Miss Winter laughed-the audience laughed;all eyes were turned toward Carter. As though the idea pleased them, from different parts of the house people applauded heartily. Inembarrassment, Carter shoved back his chair and pulled the curtainof the box between him and the audience. But he was not so easily toescape. Leaving the orchestra to continue unheeded with the prelude tothe next verse, Miss Winter walked slowly and deliberately toward him, smiling mischievously. In burlesque entreaty, she held out her arms. She made a most appealing and charming picture, and of that fact she waswell aware. In a voice loud enough to reach every part of the house, sheaddressed herself to Carter:

"Won't you tell ME?" she begged. 

Carter, blushing unhappily, shrugged his shoulders in apology. 

With a wave of her hand Miss Winter designated the audience. "Then, " shecoaxed, reproachfully, "won't you tell THEM?"

Again, instantly, with a promptness and unanimity that soundedsuspiciously as though it came from ushers well rehearsed, several voiceechoed her petition: "Give us all a chance!" shouted one. "Don't keepthe good things to yourself!" reproached another. "I want to get rich, TOO!" wailed a third. In his heart, Carter prayed they would choke. Butthe audience, so far from resenting the interruptions, encouraged them, and Carter's obvious discomfort added to its amusement. It proceeded toassail him with applause, with appeals, with commands to "speak up. "

The hand-clapping became general-insistent. The audience would notbe denied. Carter turned to Dolly. In the recesses of the box shewas enjoying his predicament. His friends also were laughing at him. Indignant at their desertion, Carter grinned vindictively. "All right, "he muttered over his shoulder. "Since you think it's funny, I'll showyou!" He pulled his pencil from his watch-chain and, spreading hisprogramme on the ledge of the box, began to write. 

From the audience there rose a murmur of incredulity, of surprise, ofexcited interest. In the rear of the house the press agent, after onestartled look, doubled up in an ecstasy of joy. "We've landed him!" hegasped. "We've landed him He's going to fall for it!"

Dolly frantically clasped her husband by the coat-tail. 

"Champ!" she implored, "what are you doing?"

Quite calmly, quite confidently, Carter rose. Leaning forward with a nodand a smile, he presented the programme to the beautiful Miss Winter. That lady all but snatched at it. The spot-light was full in her eyes. Turning her back that she might the more easily read, she stood for amoment, her pretty figure trembling with eagerness, her pretty eyesbent upon the programme. The house had grown suddenly still, and withan excited gesture, the leader of the orchestra commanded the music tosilence A man, bursting with impatience, broke the tense quiet. "Readit!" he shouted. 

In a frightened voice that in the sudden hush held none of its usualconfidence, Miss Winter read slowly: "The favorite cannot last thedistance. Will lead for the mile and give way to Beldame. Proper takesthe place. First Mason will show. Beldame will win by a length. "

Before she had ceased reading, a dozen men had struggled to theirfeet and a hundred voice were roaring at her. "Read that again!" thechorused. Once more Miss Winter read the message, but before she hadfinished half of those in the front rows were scrambling from theirseats and racing up the aisles. Already the reporters were ahead ofthem, and in the neighborhood not one telephone booth was empty. Withinfive minutes, in those hotels along the White Way where sporting menare wont to meet, betting commissioners and hand-book men were suddenlyassaulted by breathless gentlemen, some in evening dress, some withoutcollars, and some without hats, but all with money to bet againstthe favorite. And, an hour later, men, bent under stacks of newspaper"extras, " were vomited from the subway stations into the heart ofBroadway, and in raucous tones were shrieking, "Winner of the Suburban, "sixteen hours before that race was run. That night to every bignewspaper office from Maine to California, was flashed the news thatPlunger Carter, in a Broadway theatre, had announced that the favoritefor the Suburban would be beaten, and, in order, had named the threehorses that would first finish. 

Up and down Broadway, from rathskellers to roof-gardens, in cafesand lobster palaces, on the corners of the cross-roads, in clubs andall-night restaurants, Carter's tip was as a red rag to a bull. 

Was the boy drunk, they demanded, or had his miraculous luck turned hishead? Otherwise, why would he so publicly utter a prophecy that on themorrow must certainly smother him with ridicule. The explanationswere varied. The men in the clubs held he was driven by a desire fornotoriety, the men in the street that he was more clever than theyguessed, and had made the move to suit his own book, to alter the oddsto his own advantage. Others frowned mysteriously. With superstitiousfaith in his luck, they pointed to his record. "Has he ever lost a bet?How do WE know what HE knows?" they demanded. "Perhaps it's fixed and heknows it!"

The "wise" ones howled in derision. "A Suburban FIXED!" they retorted. "You can fix ONE jockey, you can fix TWO; but you can't fix sixteenjockeys! You can't fix Belmont, you can't fix Keene. There's nothing inhis picking Beldame, but only a crazy man would pick the horse for theplace and to show, and shut out the favorite! The boy ought to be inMatteawan. "

Still undisturbed, still confident to those to whom he had promisedthem, 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 cannotwin. "

And that night, when each newspaper called him up at his flat, he madethe same answer. "The three horses Will finish as I said. You can statethat I gave the information as I did as a sort of present to the peopleof New York City. "

In the papers the next morning "Carter's Tip" was the front-pagefeature. Even those who never in the racing of horses felt any concerncould not help but take in the outcome of this one a curious interest. The audacity of the prophecy, the very absurdity of it, presupposing, asit did, occult power, was in itself amusing. And when the curtain roseon the Suburban it was evident that to thousands what the Man Who CouldNot Lose had foretold was a serious and inspired utterance. 

This time his friends gathered around him, not to benefit by his advice, but to protect him. "They'll mob you!" they warned. "They'll tear theclothes off your back. Better make your getaway now. "

Dolly, with tears in her eyes, sat beside him. Every now and again shetouched his hand. Below his box, as around a newspaper office on thenight when a president is elected, the people crushed in a turbulentmob. Some mocked and jeered, some who on his tip had risked their everydollar, hailed him hopefully. On every side policemen, fearful of comingtrouble, hemmed him in. Carter was bored extremely, heartily sorryhe had on the night before given way to what he now saw as a perverseimpulse. But he still was confident, still undismayed. 

To all eyes, except those of Dolly, he was of all those at the track theleast concerned. To her he turned and, in a low tone, spoke swiftly. "Iam so sorry, " he begged. "But, indeed, indeed, I can't lose. You musthave faith in me. "

"In you, yes, " returned Dolly in a whisper, "but in your dreams, no!"

The horses were passing on their way to the post. Carter brought hisface close to hers. 

"I'm going to break my promise, " he said, "and make one more bet, thisone with you. I bet you a kiss that I'm right. "

Dolly, holding back her tears, smiled mournfully. "Make it a hundred, "she said. 

Half of the forty thousand at the track had backed Delhi, the otherhalf, following Carter's luck and his confidence in proclaiming hisconvictions, had backed Beldame. Many hundred had gone so far as to betthat the three horses he had named would finish as he had foretold. But, in spite of Carter's tip, Delhi still was the favorite, and when thethousands saw the Keene polka-dots leap to the front, and by two lengthsstay there, for the quarter, the half, and for the three-quarters, theair was shattered with jubilant, triumphant yells. And then suddenly, with the swiftness of a moving picture, in the very moment of hisvictory, Beldame crept up on the favorite, drew alongside, drew aheadpassed him, and left him beaten. It was at the mile. 

The night before a man had risen in a theatre and said to two thousandpeople: "The favorite will lead for the mile, and give way to Beldame. "Could they have believed him, the men who now cursed themselves mightfor the rest of their lives have lived upon their winnings. Those whohad followed his prophecy faithfully, superstitiously, now shrieked inhappy, riotous self-congratulation. "At the MILE!" they yelled. "He TOLDyou, at the MILE!" They turned toward Carter and shook Panama hats athim. "Oh, you Carter!" they shrieked lovingly. 

It was more than a race the crowd was watching now, it was the workingout of a promise. And when Beldame stood off Proper's rush, and Properfell to second, and First Mason followed three lengths in the rear, andin that order they flashed under the wire, the yells were not that arace had been won, but that a prophecy had been fulfilled. 

Of the thousands that cheered Carter and fell upon him and indeed didtear his clothes off his back, one of his friends alone was sufficientlyunselfish to think of what it might, mean to Carter. 

"Champ!" roared his friend, pounding him on both shoulders. "You oldwizard! I win ten thousand! How much do you win?"

Carter cast a swift glance at Dolly. He said, "I win much more thanthat. "

And Dolly, raising her eyes to his, nodded and smiled contentedly.