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"Wait till I get the makin's 'n' I'll tell you," he said, as he got up and entered a stall. "One winter I'm swipin' fur Jameson," he began, when he returned with tobacco and papers. "We ships to New Awlins early that fall. We have twelve dogs half of 'em hop-heads 'n' the other half dinks. "In them days I ain't much bigger 'n a peanut, but I sure thinks I'm a clever guy.

Te-e-a Kettle third and coming fast! "If I gets a shock from that telegraph wire I don't jump any higher. "'Howdy, howdy! He's boilin now, yells ole man Johnson loud enough to bust your ear. "Then that cussed telegraph stops right off. "'Wire trouble at New Orleans, says the operator. "I sure hopes I never spends no more half-hours like I does then waitin' fur the New Awlins message.

"When we turns the bend, way down the road, she's still standin' there watchin' us . . . "I sends the colt down with a swipe, 'n' he's been at the track a week when I gets to New Awlins. The boys have begun to talk 'bout him already, he's such a grand looker. He don't give me no trouble at all.

It'll be a good riddance." "Were you ever ruled off the track?" I asked Blister, as the boy, exhaling clouds of cigarette smoke, returned to the slow walking of his horse. He studied in silence a moment. "Yep once," he replied. "I got mine at New Awlins fur ringin' a hoss. That little ole town has got my goat." "When was this?" I asked. "The year I first starts conditionin' hosses," he answered.

"'Shall you see him again? she asks me. "'Yes'm, I'll see him at New Awlins, I says. "'You may tell him, she says, her face gettin' pink, 'that as far as my horse is concerned I haven't changed my mind. "On the way back to the house I gets to thinkin'. "'I'm goin' round to the kitchen 'n' say hello to Aunt Liza, I says to Miss Goodloe. "Liza's glad to see me this time mighty glad.

Why, you ain't nothin' but a child! A break like I has to-day don't come but seldom. If I cops the coin easy, like you figgers, why am I chambermaid to two dogs in a bum show at twenty-five per? Now slip me the price of a ticket to New York, I says, 'or I goes 'n' buys it out of my own roll, 'n' then I ain't got enough left to get to New Awlins.

So I enters him from New Awlins to Pimlico. "I've had all kinds of offers fur the colt, but I always tell 'em nothin' doin'. One day a lawyer named Jack Dillon, who owns a big stock farm near Lexington, comes to me 'n' says he wants to buy him. "'He ain't fur sale, I tells him. "'Everything's for sale at a price, he says. 'Now I want that colt worse than I do five thousand. What do you say?

"'Same here, I says. "'You poor kid! she says. 'What'll you do? "'Don't worry none about me, I says. 'I can get to New Awlins somehow they're racin' down there. But what about you? "'If I could get back East, she says, 'I know a floor-walker at Macy's who'll stake me to a job till I can get placed.

"'You act just suffocated with pleasure, says the chicken. But I don't pay no attention. "'You'll be lucky if you gets a job swipin' fur your eats when you hit New Awlins, I says to myself. 'Wouldn't you look immense with a doll on your staff? "'Now, listen, I says to her, 'how long is this here panic goin' to last? "'You can search me, she says.

"Well, never mind just when it happened," I said. "Tell me about it." "All right," said Blister. "Like I've just said it happens one winter at New Awlins, the year after I starts conditionin' hosses. "Things break bad fur me that winter. Whenever a piker can't win a bet he comes 'round, slaps me on the wrist, 'n' separates me from some of my kale.