Blister Jones | Page 4

seen the bird's mouth wide open as they come home, 'n' Joe has double
wraps on him. 'He won't beat fifty under that pull!' I says to myself. But
when I stops the clock at the finish it was at forty-four-'n'-three-quarters.
Joe ain't got a clock to go by neither--that's judgin' pace!--take it from
me!
"'He's diseased with speed,' says Joe, when he gets down. 'He can do
thirty-eight sure--just look at my hands!'
"I does a dance a-bowin' to the bird, 'n' Joe stands there laughin' at me,
squeezin' the blood back into his mitts.
"We leads the hoss to the gate, 'n' there's a booky's clocker named Izzy

Goldberg.
"'You an exercise-boy now?' he asks Joe.
"'Not yet,' says Joe. 'Mu cousin here owns this trick, 'n' I'm givin' him a
work.'
"'Up kind-a early, ain't you? Say! He's good, ain't he, Joe?' says Izzy; 'n'
looks at the bird close.
"'Naw, he's a mutt,' says Joe.
"'What's he doin' with his mouth open at the end of that mile?' Izzy says,
'n' laughs.
"'He only runs it in fifty,' says Joe, careless. 'I takes hold of him 'cause
he's bad in front, 'n' he's likely to do a flop when he gets tired. So long,
Bud!' Joe says to me, 'n' I takes the bird to the barn.
"I'm not thinkin' Izzy ain't wise. It's a cinch Joe don't stall him. Every
booky would hear about that work-out by noon. Sure enough the Item's
pink sheet has this among the tips the next day:
"'Count Noble'--that was the bird's name--'a mile in forty-four. Pulled
to a walk at the end. Bet the works on him; his first time out, boys!'
"That was on a Saturday. On Monday I enters the bird among a bunch
of dogs to start in a five furlong sprint Thursday. I'm savin' every
soomarkee I gets my hands on 'n' I pays the entrance to the secretary
like it's a mere bag of shells. Joe Nickel can't ride fur me--he's under
contract. I meets him the day before my race.
"'You're levelin' with your hoss, ain't you?' he says. 'I'll send my valet
in with you, 'n' after you get yours on, he'll bet two hundred fur me.'
"'Nothin' doin', Joe!' I says. 'Stay away from it. I'll tell you when I gets
ready to level. You can't bet them bookies nothin'--they're wise to him.'
"'Look-a-here, Bud!' says Joe. 'That bird'll cake-walk among them

crabs. No jock can make him lose, 'n' not get ruled off.'
"'Leave that to me,' I says.
"Just as I figgers--my hoss opens up eight-to-five in the books.
"I gives him all the water he'll drink afore he goes to the post, 'n' I has
bandages on every leg. The paddock judge looks at them bandages, but
he knows the bird's a cripple, 'n' he don't feel 'em.
"'Them's to hold his legs on, ain't they?' he says, 'n' grins.
"'Surest thing you know,' I says. But I feels some easier when he's on
his way--there's seven pounds of lead in each of them bandages.
"I don't want the bird whipped when he ain't got a chance.
"'This hoss backs up if you use the bat on him,' I says to the jock, as
he's tyin' his reins.
"'He backs up anyway, I guess,' he says, as the parade starts.
"The bird gets away good, but I'd overdone the lead in his socks. He
finished a nasty last--thirty len'ths back.
"'Roll over, kid!' says the jock, when I go up to slip him his fee. 'Not
fur ridin' that hippo. It 'ud be buglary--he couldn't beat a piano!'
"I meets Colonel King comin' out of the judge's stand that evenin'.
"'An owner's life has its trials and tribulations--eh, my boy?' he says.
"'Yes, sir!' I says. That's the first time Colonel King ever speaks to me,
'n' I swells up like a toad. 'I'm gettin' to be all the gravy 'round here,' I
says to myself.
"Two days after this they puts an overnight mile run fur maidens on the
card, 'n' I slips the bird into it. I knowed it was takin' a chance so soon
after his bad race, but it looks so soft I can't stay 'way from it. I goes to

Cal Davis, 'n' tells him to put a bet down.
"'Oh, ho!' he says. 'Lendin' me a helpin' hand, are you?' Then I tells him
about Nickel.
"'Did Joe Nickel work him out for you?' he says. 'The best is good
enough fur you, ain't it? I'll see Joe, 'n' if it looks good to him I'll take a
shot at it. Much obliged to you.'
"'Don't never mention it,' I says.
"'How do you mean that?' he says, grinnin'.
"'Both ways,' says I.
"The mawnin'