' Then he talks about The Dutchman or Lucretia gettin' the
influenza, an' that Andy Dixon is pretty fly about watchin' the mare.
Now what do you make of all that, Jake?"
"Well, you area mug. It don't need no makin' up. That book's all
rounded to. He wants the mare stopped, an' don't want no muddlin' about
with the jockey, see? Wasn't there a row over stoppin' Lucretia last
year? Wasn't the boy set down for the meetin'? You ought to know; you
had to pay through the nose for shuttin' his mouth. But what made the
old man talk about the mare gettin' sick?"
Langdon searched his memory; just how was that subject started? "Damn
it! yes, of course; I told him about the two-year-old havin' the
influenza."
"Well, Dick, my boy, you've guessed it, though you weren't trying.
Crane would like to see the Porter mare coughin'."
"But you can't take a strange horse into their stable, an' him sick,"
objected the Trainer.
"Right you are, Dick. But you could take the sickness there, if you had
a boy with the sabe."
"I was thinkin' of that," said Langdon, reflectively; "I was wonderin'
if that's what the Boss meant."
"Sure thing--that's his way; he never wants to stand in for none of the
blame, but he likes to feel sure that he's goin' to win"
"It looks a bit like it, damn me if it don't; an' I believe he was
givin' me a pointer about the proper boy for the job, too.
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