92 CHARLIE SING. 



stepping up in the bunch. Splan had Protection. 

 While he had not as yet acquired the faculty of win- 

 ning, he could make a whole lot of bother and would 

 win a heat now and then if you were not looking. 



When the betting on the race began to drag 

 Herdic tried the free-for-all pace and then jumped to 

 the 2 124 trot. This was the race that Del Monte was 

 in. It opened with Graylight at "50 all over the 

 house." Every one appeared to want a ticket on him, 

 or, as Herdic remarked, "it looked as if all of them 

 had a tip direct from the Fifth Avenue Hotel," which 

 was at that time under the management of that horse's 

 owner. As Frank Herdic rattled along it was appar- 

 ent that Feek thought well of William Kearney's 

 chances, as the Syracuse contingent bought him stead- 

 ily at $25, but their confidence was not a whit stronger 

 than Mortimer Thompson's in Lucille's Baby, until 

 he had reached his limit. When he began to fall off 

 Herdic lifted his hat and asked Mort not to forsake the 

 Baby, as she was better than her mother, referring, of 

 course, to the old race mare Lucille Golddust, which 

 produced Lucille's Baby, and that good race horse 

 Sprague Golddust, which was later on a winner for 

 Charlie Green. No one appeared to want very much 

 of Company, as it was known that he was a rank 

 puller, while the big horse St. Elmo was counted out 

 of it for some reason or other. "Then it was how 

 much for Jeremiah?" Some one said 15, and Herdic 

 knocked it down with the comment that it was a 

 rather small figure for such a well-known character. 

 Del Monte's name was at the bottom of the sheet, and 

 when it was called I heard some one near me cry 5. 

 It was Ragan. A man on the other side of the box 



