As captured January 25, 2025

9 files changed, 5962 insertions, 3394 deletions

diff --git a/69890-0.txt b/69890-0.txt
index 1e1d473..ab5ec46 100644
--- a/69890-0.txt
+++ b/69890-0.txt
@@ -1,1599 +1,1229 @@
-The Project Gutenberg eBook of The golden bridle, by Jane Rice

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms

-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you

-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before

-using this eBook.

-

-Title: The golden bridle

-

-Author: Jane Rice

-

-Release Date: January 28, 2023 [eBook #69890]

-

-Language: English

-

-Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed

-             Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

-

-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN BRIDLE ***

-

-

-

-

-

-                           THE GOLDEN BRIDLE

-

-                             By Jane Rice

-

-                         Illustrated by Alfred

-

-           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

-                      Unknown Worlds April 1943.

-         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that

-         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

-

-

-Say, that is mighty white. I do not mind if I do, though I remembers

-the day when I would not of touched beer with a ten-foot pole. Weight.

-Jockeys has got to watch their weight like it is tombstones they is

-putting on instead of pounds.

-

-Well, here's luck, mister. May all your double parlays give the bookies

-fits.

-

-What's that? Yeah, sure I am a jockey. Was. There is not no point in

-giving you the old three and five. You look like a right guy. Why

-should I kid you? I have not been up on a horse for four years. Six

-months cold for a jock is a wide turn, but four years--say, four years

-is--what the devil, I am washed up cleaner than a choirboy's ears.

-

-And this is not my fault. That is what gives me the burn. It is not my

-fault. When Lady Luck smiles in the racing game she has got a grin so

-broad you can count her back fillings, but, when she quits smiling,

-brother, she just quits and you might as well go wrap your head in a

-sweat blanket and forget it.

-

-You know, you is going along good, not winning no Champagne Stakes nor

-nothing like that, but hitting the percentages and going along O.K.,

-see, when all of a sudden you finds that things begin to happen. And

-they keeps right on happening and you can spit in the wind all you want

-to and chew four-leaf clovers and take a horseshoe to bed with you

-and it does not have no effect. Things just keeps right on happening

-until after a while the trainers puts the double O on you and you can

-not even get a leg up on a spavined brood mare and everybody takes to

-calling you "Jinx."

-

-That is me, mister. Jinx Jackson.

-

-Oh, I am not beefing none. I manages, what with one thing and another.

-But believe me, buddy, it is enough to give you the yelping wipes when

-you stands there by the fence with the sun beating down on you, and the

-crowd milling around excitedlike, and the bugles blowing, and the flags

-waving, and the horses walking past--nervous--and the colors up with

-their pants skintight and their shirts bellying out like silk balloons,

-and then they are wheeling the barrier in, and you look at the track

-and it is smooth and sweet and fast as a filly with bees in her ears,

-and everything gets still except the popcorn peddlers, and there is

-that awful minute when you is waiting and the shirt sticks to your back

-and you gets that old, familiar, tight feeling on the inside of your

-thighs, and your tongue is like a sponge bit between your teeth, and

-then that cry--like a rising wind--"THEY'RE OFF!"

-

-That is when it hits you. Right here. As if somebody has yanked your

-stomach out and let it go _wham_ back at you, like a pair of

-suspenders.

-

-That--and when you see a snipe getting hisself boxed on a inside turn,

-or bearing out in the run through the stretch, or--aw, nuts with it. It

-gets you, that is all. It gets you.

-

-Once you has got the feel of horses in your blood you is a goner. A

-gone goner. It is there, brother, and there is not no use fighting it.

-You cannot no more keep away from a paddock than you can stop blinking

-your eyes.

-

-Jimmie Winkie used to say, "You can shake grief and sorrow, you can

-bury remorse--but you can't never lose the feel o' a horse."

-

-Jimmie Winkie. Yeah, Wee Willie. That is the same.

-

-Good! Man, he had the magic touch. Why, he could add twenty lengths to

-anything on four legs. Easy. Jimmie was tops. Why, I has seen him come

-from behind the hard way and spot them a extra advantage by pulling out

-and still win and there was not no photo finishes, neither. When he

-won, mister, he won.

-

-He was a funny guy, he was. Had a kind of puckery face and big ears.

-Walked springy, like a banty rooster. Used to use a special bridle when

-he was up. Superstitious? It is not superstition exactly. It is just

-a kind of a feeling you get about certain things. Lots of us jocks

-are thataway. I know I would of had a hissy--four years ago--if I had

-of mislaid a old wore-out crop I always carried. Moe Prentice had a

-buckeye he would not of parted with for nobody. Jackie Watson had some

-sort of a medal on a silver chain. Cry Baby Noolan would not no more of

-thought of riding with his cap anyway but hind side to than he would

-of thought of riding without any clothes on. In fact, if he would of

-had to make a choice, I reckon he would of rode in his skin before he

-would of changed his cap proper. And, like I said, Jimmie has this here

-special bridle, though there is not much special about it except that

-it is goldish-looking if you hold it in the right light. But seems he

-takes a fancy to it and from the way he acts you would of thought it

-is made from the tanned hide of a Derby winner. But it is not no such

-thing, of course. It is just a bridle like any racing bridle only, like

-I said, it is goldish-looking in a unnoticeable manner.

-

-He gets it one year when we is finishing up the circuit down in

-Tijuana. This is before he hits his stride. When he is going along,

-like me, not snaffling no tall money nor nothing but knocking off his

-percentages. He is plain Jimmie Winkie then. The newspapers has not

-tagged that there Wee Willie on to him yet and he is not endorsing no

-leather jackets, nor saying as how he likes Puffie Wuffies because they

-is superroasted and rolled on hoops.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Well, as I was saying, we is down in Tijuana and it is nighttime and

-we is walking down one of them crooked streets which is about as thick

-in Tijuana as saddle sores is in a riding academy. We is walking along

-with our hands in our pockets and not much else, being as how we has

-inadvertently got mixed up in a game knowed as faro, the same which is

-like being on the wrong end of a loco bronc, and which we would not of

-got into if Jimmie had not of wanted to increase a five-dollar bill

-into a ten-dollar bill so as to buy a real nice present for Ditsy.

-Anyhow, like I said, we is walking along minding our own business when

-there is--

-

-Ditsy? Oh, Ditsy was Jimmie's sister. Name was Dorothy, but Jimmie

-called her Ditsy. He was crazy about her. Seemed like he had raised

-her since she was knee high to a feed box. Guess they had some muddy

-tracks, them two, and what with their not having nobody but theirselves

-and her being crippled, why, one way and another, he set a lot of store

-by her.

-

-Anyway, we is walking along, Jimmie and me, and I am thinking about

-what we is going to eat for breakfast the next day, and lunch, and

-supper, and Jimmie is thinking about how is he going to buy Ditsy

-something when we hear a rumpus going on around a corner up ahead.

-It increases graduallike and when we gets to the corner we meets it,

-head-on you might say.

-

-There is about a dozen people who is all personal acquaintances of

-John Barleycorn, and they is pestering a woman who looks like she is

-on her way to a masquerade at a insane asylum. She has got on a sheet

-all draped and wrapped every which way and her feet is laced up in

-sandals and there is a wreath on her hair, only now it is setting

-cockeyed on account of as how these here people has been chasing her,

-and she is carrying a bridle. In fact, if I had of spent my money on

-John Barleycorn instead of faro, I probably would of joined in on the

-side of these here people who is laughing theirselves sick and grabbing

-at this here sheet and having a big time, for which I cannot blame them

-any as this woman is sure a curious sight.

-

-While I am thinking what a curious sight she is, Jimmie busts up the

-party. He does this with very little fuss, hitting merely one guy who

-goes down like a sack of wet oats and the rest takes to their heels as

-I am doubling up my fists preparing to wade in.

-

-"Now, sister," Jimmie says, rubbing his knuckles tenderlike, "if I was

-you I would vamoose. Tijuana is no place for a lady without as how she

-has got company to see that she gets where she has started out for."

-

-Well, this woman straightens her wreath and breaks out in some kind of

-a foreign language which sounds like nothing I ever heard unless it is

-"Chopsticks" played on a piano which is out of tune and is minus some

-of the keys.

-

-"Look, sister," Jimmie says, "vamoose while the vamoosing is favorable."

-

-The woman makes some motions and spouts some more of this here talk and

-there is just one word I get and that is "grease." She says this over

-and over, "Grease, grease," meanwhile gesturing for all she is able.

-

-"Grease?" Jimmie says, puzzled, and she nods violently and shakes the

-bridle she is carrying and does a act like she is putting it on a horse

-and then flaps her arms like she is flying.

-

-"Grease," she says.

-

-I begins to get uneasy. "Say," I says to Jimmie, sotto voice, "let's us

-get out of here--this gal has got bats in her belfry."

-

-"I think she has lost a horse," Jimmie says slow.

-

-"Horse!" I says. "How is she going to straddle a horse in that getup?

-She has lost her mind. Let's us get out of here. Loonies is not no

-picnic."

-

-Jimmie does not pay no attention to me. He takes the bridle away from

-her--gentle--so as not to scare her and _he_ does a act like

-_he_ is putting it on a horse. "Horse?" he says.

-

-This looney looks at him a minute, then her face kind of brightenslike.

-She points to the bridle Jimmie is holding and says, "Hippos."

-

-"She has got the D. T.'s," I cheeps. "She is talking about a

-hippopotamus what flies or I will eat that there bridle. Come on,"

-I says, "this is not no place for--" But I do not get no further

-because there is a faint whinny and this here woman shrieks joyfully

-and--without so much as a kiss-my-foot--lams in the direction of this

-here nickering which, judging from the sound, is a block or so to our

-rear--though we has not seen no sign of no horse when we is walking by

-thataway.

-

-We stands there gawking after this dame while she disappears in the

-night and Jimmie, suddenlike, yells, "Hey, here is your bridle," and

-starts after her and me after Jimmie, because I has not got no wish to

-see Jimmie sucked in on something that is not kosher, and it is plain

-that there is something here that does not meet the eye right off.

-

-I dope it that this here dame is a kind of a lead rein for some guys

-which is laying low in a alley or some place figuring to roll whoever

-she ropes in, and it is a unpleasant statistic that persons is often

-beat up severe when it is discovered they has not got no wherewith to

-make such a business profitable.

-

-When we gets down the street a ways I catches up to Jimmie and stops

-him and I says, "Has you taken leave of your senses? This here is one

-of them cul-de-sacs or I am a ring-tailed--" But I do not say baboon,

-which I had intended, because somewhere I hears a noise like a lot of

-pigeons taking off--like they has been shooed--and from way up, like

-on a roof, I hears this woman laughing and it dwindles away and, then,

-it is quiet and a little white feather drifts down and lands in the

-gutter. It is all very weird and I do not like it.

-

-"I would of swore a horse nickered down here a minute ago," Jimmie says.

-

-"Shut up," I says, "and let's us get out of here before we is knifed in

-the back."

-

-So we does and that is how Jimmie come by the bridle.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Well, say, I do not mind if I do. There is this about beer. You do not

-have to worry none the next morning about tying your shoes. Ever try

-sticking a hot knife in it? Many's the time I has seen my old man heat

-the poker until it is as red as the old Scratch hisself and then plunge

-it into the pail. That was when you could get all you wanted for a dime

-with boiled ham and cheese and bologna throwed in to boot and, like as

-not, a slice of liver for the cat.

-

-Here's bumps, mister. And may you never tear up your ducats without

-looking twice.

-

-Where was I? Oh, yeah, Tijuana. Well, here we is without a buffalo

-between us. Broke as a skillet of scrambled eggs and up in the fifth

-the next day, the same which dawns bright and early and finds me and

-Jimmie nearly splitting a girth trying to trade that there bridle for a

-plate of buckwheat cakes, but everybody gives us the zero gaze until I

-begins to wonder if we is coming down with smallpox. So we hunts up a

-dopester by the name of Stew Hatcher and he stakes us to a meal after

-which we hangs around until he has got up his sheet and then we rides

-out to the track with him and his girl. We asks Stew, just kidding, who

-he is picking in the fifth and Stew says it is not us and he is not

-kidding. For his money, he says, it is High Jinks, Admirella and Sky

-Eagle. One, two, three.

-

-I am up on Black Boy and Jimmie he is up on Peajacket, so we thumbs

-our noses at Stew and gives him the buzz and says as how we is pleased

-to have met this girl he is with--which is a lie because she is very

-snooty--and we goes on in.

-

-We gets into our colors and sets around with the fellows dishing out

-a lot of bull about what we done in Tijuana and Jimmie gives me the

-wink and says he has got hold of a nifty bridle he is willing to take

-a loss on. And he gets this here bridle out of his locker and says if

-anybody will give him a fin for it they can have it, though they will

-be rooking him on the deal.

-

-Boy, does he get the laugh. Moe says he will give him a fin for it if

-Jimmie will throw in Peajacket and shine his boots for a week, too. And

-Cry Baby Noolan says if it is such a hot bridle why don't he bridle

-Peajacket with it. And everybody starts gaffing Jimmie and I acts real

-indignant and I says what is it worth to them if he _does_ bridle

-Peajacket with it, them being such sports. Jimmie, seeing the lay of

-the land, plays up to me and says, "No," and everybody chimes in giving

-him the merry ha-ha and when there is three bucks up he will not do it,

-why, then Jimmie says O.K., he will do it, see.

-

-Does a holler go up when they catches on to how they has been taken!

-But Jimmie says a bet is a bet and he is game enough to live up to his

-end of the bargain if they is. "Of course, if they _isn't_--"

-he says, inferring that anybody who reneges is a horse's patoot, so,

-naturally, nobody reneges, though there is some grousing.

-

-I used to say to Jimmie, I would say, "Jimmie, remember the day at

-Tijuana when we nicked Moe and them for three bucks?" And Jimmie, he

-would say, "Yeah," and kind of draw in his breath like he was thinking

-about it--hard. Remembering how Peajacket upset the bookies' apple cart.

-

-You see, Stew Hatcher is wrong. It is Peajacket, High Jinks and

-Admirella. One, two, three. And the owner of Peajacket--I forget his

-name, big loose-mouthed chap with a face like a side of beef--is fair

-to be hobbled because he has not bet on his own entry on account of as

-how it is a cinch to lose. It is a two-year-old he has picked up for

-seven and a quarter at a public sale and he is just feeling him out and

-damn if Jimmie does not bring in a win.

-

-Me? Oh, I comes in with the tailbearers. I could of got in a lame

-fourth, but I am so whooper-jawed watching Jimmie go down the stretch

-like a lighted fuse that I lets this here Black Boy I am up on bear

-out--he was death on bearing out--and, of course, that puts the quietus

-on us. There is not no percentage in whipping a horse over for fourth

-place. A horse has got sense enough to know when you is making a fool

-out of him.

-

-No, I do not guess you will recollect Peajacket. He turns out to be a

-foozle, after all. He is entered a couple of more times, Saratoga, I

-thinks, and Empire City--Syl Patton up--but he does not do nothing but

-pick up a coupla pounds of mud.

-

-But he sure is not no foozle that afternoon at Tijuana.

-

-There is not no barrier. You just keeps back of the line as best you

-can. That is one way to lose a race before the gun. I has seen them do

-it on purpose. You know, too tight a rein, get your horse skittered,

-make him break three or four times, and, when the gun goes, hold him

-back just long enough to let him see that he is a cooked potato. Nine

-times out of ten you can whip him raw and he will run, but he will not

-run fast enough. But _your_ nose is clean. The trainer cannot say

-as how _you_ did not try.

-

-Say, am I boring you with this? If I am--okke doke, any time you has

-had a sufficiency, say so.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Well, as I was saying, there is not no barrier. Outside of a little

-tail flicking and head tossing, Black Boy is as calm as a Jersey cow.

-High Jinks breaks once and Sky Eagle and some of the field prances

-around a bit, but Peajacket he acts like he has been fed hopped oats.

-In fact, there is some talk of it later on, but they cannot never prove

-nothing. Anyway, this here Peajacket is taking on for a fare-you-well

-with Jimmie trying to gentle him down and the starter getting mad and a

-jock, name of Happy Slauderwasser--that is a moniker for you, nice guy

-though--who is next to Peajacket swearing something fierce. Finally,

-Jimmie gets this here Peajacket backed in and he is lathered up like a

-ad for saddle soap, and the gun goes, and out of the tail of my eye as

-me and Black Boy takes off I sees Peajacket rearing up and I thinks,

-"Oh, Lordy," because it is a rule last one in has to pitch a buck in

-the kitty. And it is plain to see, in a field of fifteen, Jimmie is

-slated to be the last one in and then we will only have a buck apiece

-instead of a buck fifty.

-

-I settles down and starts easing over to the inside track hoping for

-a pocket. High Jinks is up ahead and he is not anywheres near let out

-yet. There is three or four horses in between, then Admirella nosing

-up, Sky Eagle alongside, doing like me, playing a wait, and Jimmie and

-the rest of the field bunched in behind.

-

-I am not thinking about Jimmie no more, though. I am concentrating on

-them three or four babies cutting off my view of High Jinks. I am not

-worried about them none, but when there is a opening I wants to be

-there instead of Sky Eagle. So I am concentrating, like I said, and I

-hear this horse coming. You do not actually hear them as much as you

-_feel_ them. It is a mixture of both. It is like you got an alarm

-system inside of you and all of a sudden it is ringing like who popped

-Mollie and you know with a kind of a ... of a ... a kind of a awareness

-that you got heavy competition.

-

-I remembers wondering who it could be. There is High Jinks and

-Admirella in plain sight. Sky Eagle and me practically pat-a-caking at

-each other, some of the field ahead, but they is giving by now and, so

-far as I know, what is left in tow is not capable of doing nothing but

-horse apples.

-

-I do not take my mind off this here opening, though. It is getting

-ripe, I can see that, and I am bound I am going to be there when it is

-due before it closes in and strings out.

-

-Then, I catches a glimpse of this here horse on the off side of Sky

-Eagle. A kind of consciousness it is of this here third horse and I am

-sort of cheered when I see it is not bothering none about no openings,

-nor no inside track, nor nothing like that. And, while I am being

-cheered and thinking what a smart guy I am, this here third horse

-pounds ahead past Sky Eagle, a shoulder, half a length, a length, and

-that opening I been hovering over swings wide as a barn door and Sky

-Eagle is through it because I am yawping at Jimmie Winkie with his ears

-skinned back crouched high on Peajacket, and if I had not of knowed

-better I would of swore he was scared green, and while I am yawping,

-Black Boy bears out so, as I said, that puts the quietus on us.

-

-There has been better races run and bigger ones has been won by darker

-horses, but, off-hand, I cannot call any to mind that I got such a

-thrill out of. I do not know whether it is because I am so cocksure

-Jimmie is bringing up the rear, or because Moe Prentice--he is up on

-High Jinks--is took down a peg or two, or maybe because there is a

-certain something about the way that there horse runs with his nostrils

-red and wide, and his tail streaming out behind him like it has been

-starched, and his hoofs beating music out of that there track like a

-crazy drummer, and Jimmie pasted to him close as a surcingle and with

-a kind of a look about him like night wind sounds, if you know what I

-mean. A kind of a queer, wild, blowy look. But most of all I guess it

-is the horse.

-

-Jimmie says it is the horse and he ought to of knowed being as how he

-was up on him. Jimmie says it is also a great surprise to him that

-Peajacket wins, but, naturally, he does not say this out--but just to

-me--as it is not a good policy to let on that you are surprised when

-you bring in a winner.

-

-How does it feel to bring in a winner? Brother, you can have the

-greatest symphony that was ever wrote; I will take the thunder of

-a winner's hoofs coming down the straightaway. That is something,

-brother. That is really _some_thing. It is like a ... like a ...

-well, like I said, a kind of a awareness. Like you was conscious of the

-noise and the feel all at the same minute. Take that there Peajacket. I

-got it right away. The noise and the feel together, I mean. Like there

-was two horses running. One on top the other.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-We bums a ride back after the seventh and gets out on the main drag and

-flips a coin to see whether we eats or buys Ditsy something. It comes

-out buying Ditsy something so we goes to one of these here shops that

-has a window full of everything from jewelry to tablecloths and we

-picks out a powder box that plays a tune when the lid is lifted off. A

-thin, tinkly, sort of _plink, plink_ tune, but pretty. Reminds you

-of the way ladies used to rustle when they walked, if you know what I

-mean.

-

-While the guy is wrapping it up, Jimmie goes over and picks up a vase

-which is setting on a shelf with a lot of other vases. This here vase

-he picks up is blue and has a lot of well-built dames on it holding

-garlands of flowers. Jimmie kind of whistles.

-

-"Look at this here," he says.

-

-I agrees it is nice, but points out that we has got exactly twenty-nine

-cents between us and the price is marked clear two fifty.

-

-"This is a strange coincidence," he says, more to hisself than me, and

-I says it is not no coincidence it is a vase and if he is thinking

-about switching over, why, there is a vase on the shelf above which is

-better-looking on account of as how it has a scene painted on it and

-the price is twenty-five cents cheaper.

-

-This guy comes up about this time and washes his hands in the air and

-asks if we are interested in a vase.

-

-"No," I says.

-

-"Yes," Jimmie says. "Who is this here middle dame on this here vase?"

-

-"They represent the Muses," this guy says. "A marvelous buy for the

-money."

-

-"This here middle dame is a Muse?" asks Jimmie.

-

-"They are all Muses," this guy says, "goddesses of the arts and poetry

-and science. A very artistic vase. Only two fifty."

-

-"Did any of them have a horse?" Jimmie asks.

-

-"Horse?"

-

-"Horse."

-

-"I could not say. It is a very handsome vase, howinever, and I will

-make you a special price of two twenty-five, if you are interested."

-

-"Where can I find out if any of them had a horse?"

-

-"I could not say, unless it is the library. Two dollars even I will

-make it. Below that I cannot go."

-

-"Very well," I chimes in, being tired of Jimmie ribbing this here guy

-about a horse, "we will take it in place of the powder box."

-

-With that this guy freezes over like the outside of a mint julep and he

-says chillylike, "I have just remembered that this vase has been put

-aside for another party."

-

-And I says, "That is very odd being as how you were so all fired set on

-us having it at reduced cost."

-

-"Herman," this guys says.

-

-And another guy with a neck like a Percheron, shoulders his way through

-a curtain in the back and stands there like as if he is itching for

-somebody to say "When." So we takes our package and we leaves.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-I am in favor of hunting up a crap game and shooting our twenty-nine

-cents and Jimmie says that is a splendid idea and for me to do so and

-he will meet me at the pool parlor in a hour. I asks where is he going?

-And he says the library. And as he has never been inside a library in

-his life to my certain knowledge, I figure he is telling me in a nice

-way to mind my own business. Which I does. And in a hour I has run the

-twenty-nine cents into eight bits and a Masonic emblem.

-

-I meets Jimmie like he said and I can see right away he is exceptional

-thoughtful. We go to a place called La Cucuracha where the second cup

-of coffee is free and you gets gravy with your potatoes, although

-Jimmie seems to have lost his appetite. He keeps transferring his food

-from one side of his plate to the other until I outs and asks him

-pointblank what is ailing him.

-

-"Did you ever hear tell of a horse called Pegasus?" he says by way of

-answer.

-

-"No," I says. "Who sired him?"

-

-"He is out of Medusa by Neptune," says Jimmie.

-

-"I never heard of them, neither," I says shoveling in a mouthful of

-potatoes and gravy. "What has this here Peg-whoit got to do with you?"

-

-"I am not certain for sure," he says, "but I has got a idea,"

-

-"Which is?"

-

-"Could be he got blowed off his course," Jimmie says, "or got scared by

-another gadfly or some such, landed in Tijuana and this here Muse comes

-after him and--"

-

-"Look," I says, "one of us has got a screw loose and it is not me.

-Begin over and repeat slow and there is apple pie with the dinner and

-if you do not want it I will eat your piece, if it is all the same to

-you. Now what was you saying?"

-

-He shoves his plate back. "I am going to break the track record

-tomorrow," he says, and there is something about the way he says it,

-some quality in his voice that makes me sit up and take notice all of a

-sudden.

-

-A kind of creepy sensation comes over me and I am reminded of when I

-am a kid and the grandfather's clock in the hall would strike during

-the night. It would go _bong--bong--bong_ real slow and soft, but

-filling the house, howinever, and making the air vibrate. I would lie

-there and think, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall," but

-that did not make no difference. My feet would get cold and my eyes

-near bug out of my head, and I would not have no swallow and I would

-lie there thinking, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall."

-

-I gives Jimmie one of them searching looks you read about, but it does

-not tell me nothing except that he is a mite tightened-uplike and is

-letting some fifty cents worth of food go to waste.

-

-"Thanks for the tip," I says. "Who you planning on being up on?

-Man-o'-War?"

-

-"Ditsy has always wanted a grand piano," he says, "since she was not

-bigger'n a boot-jack." And he says, "I will get her the best one money

-can buy."

-

-It is obvious that he tightened up more than I think because there is

-not enough space in that two-room flat in Cleveland to hold both Ditsy

-and a grand piano at the same time.

-

-"That will be dandy," I says, "but I am afraid there will not be no

-grand piano in it. Them things cost folding money."

-

-"Folding money," he repeats and the words sounds like a three-inch

-sirloin the way he says them--thick and red and juicy. "You know what

-I am going to have," he says, "I am going to have a pair of handmade

-boots--them that laces at the ankle--and I am going to have a suit with

-buttonholes under the buttons on the sleeves. Not just thread sewed to

-look like buttonholes--_real_ buttonholes I am going to have under

-the buttons and a yellow chamois bag."

-

-"A yellow chamois bag under the buttons," I says and, recalling to mind

-a chap named Joe Hankins who fought a bunch of Comanches all one night

-in a psycopathic ward at a hospital in Louisville, I continues to smile

-pleasantly while I eases my chair back.

-

-"Yeah," Jimmie says, "lined with flannel so as the bridle will not get

-scratched up none."

-

-"Sure," I agrees, "flannel."

-

-"Saratoga," says Jimmie, "Havre de Grace, Narragansett, Hialeah,

-Aqueduct."

-

-"Hawthorne, Churchill Downs, Empire City, Belmont Park, Thistledown," I

-chimes in nodding like a Chinese laundryman who has lost your wash. I

-holds my breath and gets to my feet praying that I will be able to ease

-him out quiet.

-

-"Through?" Jimmie says, cool as a cucumber. "What say we see if we can

-get a game of pool on the cuff?"

-

-The next day he breaks the track record.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-I has thought about it a great deal since then and do you know what I

-figure? I figure it like this. I figure that Jimmie had got on to a

-secret. There is a secret to doing everything. Like tight-rope walking,

-or shooting par golf consistent, or whizzing a ball over a tennis net

-so as it falls just so and dribbles off before it can be got up off

-the ground. There is a secret to juggling plates and a secret to pole

-vaulting higher than anybody else. The plates and the pole and the

-rope and the golf clubs and tennis racquet is all the same. What I

-mean is you could take half a dozen plates and throw them up in the

-air and they would land behind the eight ball. But take these here

-same identical plates and give them to a juggler and he will make them

-perform without so much as mussing his tie. Why? Because he knows the

-secret.

-

-Well, then, why can it not be the same way with horses? I am not saying

-you can take a plow horse and make him win a race any more than that

-there juggler can juggle plates made out of pig iron. But I am saying,

-if you know the secret, you can take a _race horse_ and make him

-win a race. And, like I said, I has thought about it a lot and I figure

-there is a secret and Jimmie has got on to it. I figure the secret

-comes to him in a flash like when you know, in a sort of a burst of

-knowing, that the dealer has aces back to back. Because from that day

-on he never rides a loser. Except one. I will get around to that in a

-second.

-

-Saratoga and Hialeah and Havre de Grace and all of them is not no pipe

-dream. And neither is Ditsy's grand piano, though it is not in no

-two-room flat. It is in a living room as big as from here to there.

-One of them two-storied jobs that goes all the way up to the roof.

-One of them studio living rooms. And done real classy with drapes and

-hand-carved furniture and lamps with rose silk on the underneath parts

-of their shades, and them black-and-white, pen-and-ink-looking pictures

-on the walls, and a rug that feels like it will arch in the middle and

-purr if you rub it, it is that soft.

-

-Of course, it does not happen pronto. It starts out gradual with

-Jimmie's name in the papers--"Keep your eye on So-and-So up on

-So-and-So"--and then it takes a up curve with the sports writers

-pegging him with this here Wee Willie and first thing you know he is

-appearing regular Sundays in the rotogravure, him and Ditsy, holding

-a horseshoe or a shamrock or this here bridle or such as that, and

-persons are talking about the "Winkie Technique" and children is eating

-their weight in cereal because Wee Willie Winkie says as how it has got

-Vitamin Q and for six box tops or reasonable facsimiles thereof the

-cereal people will send you a handsome, autographed photograph of Wee

-Willie on Martinique or Little John or Fireflow or some such as them.

-And his stock is going up like a fever chart. And he is in the bucks.

-But I mean _in_, brother.

-

-It changes him some. I do not mean he goes around putting out like

-he has hung the moon and painted the blue sky; if anything, he

-quietens down and kind of draws into hisself like. In fact, when he

-is congratulated on his ability, which he is every time he turns

-around, he acts like it is making him sick to his stomach. And when the

-write-ups come out about how modest he is and shy and retiring and how

-he always tries to give the credit for a win to the horse, why then he

-acts like he is even sicker and getting no better fast.

-

-Naturally, while most of the publicity is along the lines of sweetness

-and light, there is some of it as squeezes out a few lemons. Like them

-that says as how Winkie rides a horse walleyed, and them as hints it

-is mighty peculiar he does not never lose and a pity, furthermore,

-because the odds on a horse what is toting Winkie is something to

-behold in a new all-time low.

-

-Then there is the follow-up gang that always seems to heel to a celeb.

-Whether he gets to be a celeb by riding horses or eating goldfish

-or drinking thirty buckets of beer does not make no noticeable

-difference--they follows. It gets so Jimmie cannot go nowheres without

-getting the press took out of his pants and he is lucky if the pants is

-not also took out with the press.

-

-People sends him alligators from Florida and salmon from Alaska. He

-gets lariats made out of tail hair plaited, and high-heeled boots with

-tooling. He gets silver spurs, and leather jackets, and saddles, and

-gloves, and sombreros. He gets blankets and pipes and racks for this

-and holders for that. He gets a sheep dog, a pair of love birds, a

-coon cat, a baby leopard, a bearskin rug with the teeth still in it, a

-stuffed owl, a collection of butterflies, and some twisty horns off a

-mountain goat all set and glued on a wooden thing to hang on the wall.

-He gets socks by the gross, handkerchiefs by carloads and one dame even

-sends him a box of pink silk underwear with his initials stitched in

-fancy in orchid embroidery.

-

-To give you the idea, one day he appears in the papers cutting a

-piece out of one of them round coffee cakes and the next day there is

-nineteen round coffee cakes delivered to his address and he does not

-_like_ round coffee cakes nor no kind of coffee cakes, but is

-cutting this here piece to please the press photographer who wants a

-homey touch.

-

-But for everybody what is giving him something there is two wanting him

-to give _them_ something. Jimmie used to say he got so he could

-tell right off who was a givee and who was a gimme. Not that he does

-not appreciate what is give him, even if he does not keep it, and not

-that he does not hand out to the gimmes--it is just that he does not

-want nothing off of nobody and does not want nobody to want nothing off

-of him.

-

-But when you gets in the major brackets that is not the way things is.

-So, like I said, it changes him some. Some way, he reminds me of a kid

-what has eat a quarter's worth of jelly beans all one flavor.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-It changes Ditsy, too. Her hair is not loose-like and fluffy no more.

-It is on the order of a cocker spaniel's, only precise, and her ears

-has got earbobs in them, and instead of wearing print housedresses she

-is all diked out in them dresses which is not referred to as dresses,

-but as "creations." She has got a new wheelchair which is streamlined

-and has more chrome on it than a limousine, and some bird with a

-Vandyke and a accent you can spread like marmalade is giving her some

-kind of underwater massage for her legs, so she should be very happy.

-She is not, though.

-

-She puts on like she is happy and anybody what does not know her would

-say, "My, she is happy," and they would be ninety-nine and forty-four

-hundreds percent wrong because she is not happy by no means. She fools

-Jimmie because Jimmie is so anxious for her to be happy that, when she

-keeps saying she is happy, he believes she is happy and it does not

-occur to him that when you are happy you does not go around saying,

-"My, I am happy," like you was learning a lesson in memorizing.

-

-When a woman is happy she sings and brushes her hair a lot and says

-stuff like, "I declare, it is four o'clock _already_, can you beat

-that?" and she looks smily even when she is not actually smiling. So

-it is obvious Ditsy is not happy because she is not doing none of them

-things. When she smiles it is more or less of a lip movement going on

-under her nose and not having nothing to do with the rest of her face,

-and she does not sing spontaneous, though when she is in that two-room

-flat the landlady has had to request her several times to pipe down.

-And, instead of saying, "I declare it is four o'clock _already_,"

-she just says, "It is four o'clock," like you would say, "The dodo

-is now become extinct," or, "I see where there in a population of

-ninety-two in East Gleep, Nevada."

-

-So, as I said, it changes Ditsy, too. And it is pathetic to watch them

-two, him and her, working so hard at being happy and pretending that

-life is a bowl of cherries when it is plain life is a onion poultice.

-

-Some time passes and I am here, there, and yonder and word gets around

-that Jimmie Winkie is hitting the paint which occasions me to be

-surprised because Jimmie Winkie is never one to hit the paint even in a

-mild manner. So I am not paying any attention to these here remarks and

-I am once or twice very near smacking persons in the puss who say that

-it is a fact that Ditsy is turned into a red-hot momma.

-

-What's that? Oh, that. Well, it seems that this here underwater massage

-is the stuff and she is able to get around some--not good, understand,

-but some.

-

-What! Her! Say, listen here, bub--well, all right, no offense taken,

-but she is not that kind. O. K. O. K. Let it ride. Sure I will have

-another beer, only do not make no more remarks like that, see. O. K. O.

-K.

-

-Maybe I do not make myself clear. I mean she has gone in for

-double-jointed cigarette holders and red fingernails and them

-long-haired guys what paints a picture of somebody so as they have one

-eye here and one here and clockwork springs for the top of their head

-and maybe a spare tire for one hand and a fiddle for the other with a

-bunch of carrots sprouting out of it.

-

-Anyway, that is what I am hearing and--here's bumps, brother. You know

-I set and watched a glass of beer bubble from the bottom one night

-and it bubbled for three hours and a half 'fore it got flat. That was

-when Ditsy--But I will get around to that quick enough. Now and again

-I still catches myself trying _not_ to think about it. And it has

-been a long time. A long time.

-

-What was I saying? Oh, yeah, Jimmie hitting the paint. He _is_ all

-right because I am setting in a place in Cleveland--having just got off

-the train--and some fellow comes in and I does not pay no attention

-until I see he is walking like a banty rooster which is sea-sick. And

-I yells, "Jimmie!" And he looks up and focuses on me and I see it is

-true he is hitting the paint and, if his present condition is a fair

-example, he is hitting it with a capital H.

-

-I am not one to stick my nose in other people's business. I am one who

-says other people's business is their own business and no business of

-mine, having found that a nose stuck in other people's business usually

-gets itself pinned up so as it does not look like a nose for quite a

-while after.

-

-But this is different. First, it is Jimmie Winkie. Second, he is

-running a race the next day I have seen by the papers. Third, it will

-not put no shine on his shoes if somebody says, "Oh, look, is that not

-Wee Winkie and is he not skizzled?"

-

-To make a long story short, I gets him out of there. I thinks about

-checking into a hotel, but there is those somebodies again, so there is

-not nothing to do but get a cab and take him home. The same which I

-does.

-

-When I first sees Ditsy I also thinks it is true that she has turned

-into a red-hot momma. She has done something to her mouth so it looks

-like it has been swatted by a ripe plum, and she is wearing one of them

-"creations" that does not leave but very little to the imagination, and

-she is walking with two silver-headed canes, and her fingernails looks

-like they has been dipped in calves' liver while it is still in the

-calf.

-

-She is quite a sight for sore eyes until you remembers it is Ditsy

-and, then your collar gets too tight and you say, "Hello, Ditsy," and

-she does not say nothing. She just looks at Jimmie until you thinks

-she does not know who it is and, then, she looks at me and her eyes

-is the color of a horse's flanks after a workout--dark and wet and

-velvety--and she says, "Bring him in, Jacks," and, some way, her voice

-sounds like it is bleeding. And, all at once, you know that underneath

-all this cover-up she has put on is the same old Ditsy. Worn finer, and

-kind of tired, but Ditsy.

-

-She knows what to do, too. She does not put him to bed. She has me set

-him up in the bathroom with his head over the basin and she feeds him

-soapy water and as fast as one glass full comes up down goes another.

-And when he says he cannot do it no more, she wheedles him into doing

-it until his insides is as clean as a old maid's conscience, and his

-head is woozy but not boozy. Also, I am under the impression this is

-not the first time them two has underwent this here same procedure.

-

-Soapy water? Best thing on earth. Makes you feel like you has been

-hollowed out and whittled thin, but it does not leave nothing in you

-that you would want to wake up with the next morning. Of course, it is

-not exactly a pleasant treatment while it is going on, but, after it is

-done, although you could not fight no mess of apes, you could give them

-a run for their money, if such become necessary.

-

-After some time, Jimmie says in a washed-out voice, "O.K., go ahead.

-Tell me I am a louse."

-

-Ditsy does not say nothing and I does not say nothing, neither, being

-busy examining my cuticles.

-

-"I know I am a louse," he continues. "Go on. Get it over with. Go on,

-tell me I am a louse."

-

-So I says, "You are a louse, period," and I leaves off examining my

-cuticles and takes up examining Jimmie like he is a rare specimen of

-garbage that has got in among us while we are occupied elsewhere.

-

-"I was not asking _you_," Jimmie says, and he looks at Ditsy and

-Ditsy looks at him and Ditsy does not say nothing.

-

-"I beg your pardon," I says, "I thought you was addressing the general

-public of which there are several that says you has lost hold of your

-senses."

-

-"Shut up," Jimmie says. "SHUT UP. I did not ask you to butt in, did I?

-Why do you not go back where you come from?"

-

-"Sure," I says, "I will be delighted. But when you is handing out

-your interviews tomorrow do not give the credit for the win to the

-horse--give it to Ditsy, here. _If_ you win."

-

-"What do you mean 'if'?" Jimmie says. "It is in the bag." He laughs.

-"Literal," he says. "You and Ditsy need not worry none."

-

-"I am not worrying," Ditsy says toneless-like. "It does not matter

-either way. Nothing does not matter. Any more."

-

-The way she tags that "any more" on to it is horrible to listen to. It

-has a dead, flat, hopeless sound and I keep thinking, if I look down,

-I will see it laying there on the bath mat spread out on its back with

-its eyes rolled up.

-

-It gets Jimmie, too, because it is clear that if Ditsy had batted him

-on the bean with a lead sock he would not be more took back.

-

-"What do you mean?" he says. "What do you mean?" like that, see, with a

-up on the end.

-

-"I mean it is no good," Ditsy says. "I cannot stand it. You are not

-Jimmie Winkie any more. You are somebody else. Somebody else I do not

-know. Somebody else who I do not want to know. I hope you do lose

-tomorrow," she says and her words bump into each other and bunch up,

-like the field in a steeple-chase taking the first hedge. "I hope you

-lose tomorrow," she says, "and the next day, and the next and the next

-and next and next, and we can go back to that two-room flat and eat

-beef stew and take turns washing the dishes and put toothpicks in the

-windows to keep them from rattling, and play pinochle and watch the car

-lights come over the Freeway and, maybe, have a pint of ice cream for a

-treat and ... and ... be ... happy"--and her voice breaks in the middle

-and she puts her face in her hands and starts crying.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-It is a awful experience to see a girl cry. It makes you feel like all

-your joints has swelled and your ears and feet belong to a two-humped

-camel.

-

-Jimmie says, "You want me to _lose_?" like he is suffering from

-hallucinations.

-

-Ditsy keeps on crying.

-

-I gives her my handkerchief and wonders if I ought to pat at her or

-something.

-

-"I cannot lose," Jimmie says.

-

-"Look," I says, "I think I has had sufficient. I am going."

-

-"I cannot lose," Jimmie says, "and, if I do, they will not call me Wee

-Willie no more. Guys like Moe Prentice will give me the laugh. I got to

-keep on winning. I cannot stop now."

-

-"You has not _got_ to do nothing but die," I says, "and if what

-guys like Moe Prentice says means more to you than Ditsy, here, I would

-go on off and die if I was you."

-

-"What about your grand piano?" Jimmie says to Ditsy.

-

-"I hate it," Ditsy says through her fingers. "I would like a c-c-canary

-b-b-bird."

-

-"But I cannot lose," Jimmie says, shaking his fist. "I

-cannot--unless--" And he quits shaking his fist and uncloses it and

-looks at it like he expects to find it has varicose veins. And he looks

-at Ditsy setting there on the floor.

-

-"You mean what you said?" he says.

-

-Ditsy makes a kind of soft _oooooo_ing noise like a stable hound

-what has been stepped on.

-

-"O.K.," Jimmie says. "O.K." He gets up and sort of wavers a minute

-and then he goes out and Ditsy keeps on crying and I clears my throat

-once or twice and wishes she is a horse so as I could gentle her and

-then Jimmie comes back in and he is carting this here bridle.

-

-"From me to you," he says, plunking it on the floor. And there is a

-long pause and then he adds, "Temporarily."

-

-Ditsy looks at the bridle, hiccuping slightly like a baby what has been

-having colic.

-

-"I do not get it," she says, hiccuping again.

-

-Jimmie indicates the bridle. "Remember the time," he says, "that we was

-in the Home and you found a four-leaf clover in a book what belonged to

-Miss Watson? I had a toothache, so you snitched the four-leaf clover

-to put in my shoe so as it would go away--the toothache I mean. Only

-you said it was 'temporarily' because it was somebody else's four-leaf

-clover and might have repre ... repercussions being as how it does not

-actually belong to me. So I did--put it in my shoe I mean--and I got a

-blind abscess and it was--well, you know how it was."

-

-"I still do not get it," Ditsy says looking at the bridle like she is

-expecting it to turn into a four-leaf clover.

-

-"It is like this," Jimmie says. "That there"--he points to the

-bridle--"is the same as the four-leaf clover. Maybe you got a toothache

-now, but, if I lose, it might turn out to be a blind abscess. So it is

-only temporary. I am not giving it to you. I am only letting you keep

-it for me."

-

-"I _still_ do not get it," Ditsy says, blowing her nose in my

-handkerchief.

-

-"I do," I says. "He is saying you thinks you wants a canary bird when

-what you really wants is a grand piano, which you have already got."

-

-"You stay out of this," Jimmie says.

-

-"Lay off Jacks," Ditsy says to Jimmie. "He is all right."

-

-"Jacks is a old lady," Jimmie says to Ditsy.

-

-"I am going," I says. Which I does.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-No. No more beer. I am not half through with this one. I do not like to

-crowd them. And, speaking of crowding, that is what I think happens to

-Jimmie.

-

-Lose? I reckon he does. He does not even get away from the post.

-

-What I mean about crowding, I figure this here horse Jimmie is up on

-gets crowded quick. There is some crows slow, some easy, some quick.

-Jimmie happens to be up on Beeknight and, the way I figure, I figure

-Beeknight crowds quick. You know how it is, out of the barrier,

-everybody trying for a inside track, some pushing maybe, though this is

-not noticeable unless you is up. Now them that crowds slow gets out and

-tries, and them that crowds easy falls in, but them that crowds quick

-rears up and starts doing the Highland fling. There is not many. But

-there is some. And, like I said, the way I figure, Beeknight is one of

-the some.

-

-After it is all over, there is plenty who say there is something fishy

-because Beeknight is never one to crowd slow, easy, _or_ quick.

-Jimmie has been up on Beeknight before and Beeknight has always came in

-home free. In fact, before this here episode I am getting ready to tell

-you about, Beeknight is being touted for the Jockey Gold Cup, so there

-is plenty who say the atmosphere smells highly of cod.

-

-Jimmie pull him? You mean on account of Ditsy saying what she said?

-Maybe. I thought about that angle, but I am almost sure for certain

-that is not the case. I seen him right after it is over and, if he is

-putting on a show, I am a snub-tailed bloodhound.

-

-No, I figure horses like I figure human beings. They is subject to

-change. This here Beeknight might of slept restless, he might of been

-overtrained, he might of been scary, he might of had gas, he might of

-sensed Jimmie was not in no mood. Them things affects a horse. So I say

-there is nothing off-color, but that this here Beeknight has underwent

-a change and happens to crowd quick.

-

-It is like this, see. I avoided Jimmie like he has got the plague and

-this is reciprocated on his part. I see he is jittery and keyed up, but

-this is no mud on my boots, so I leave him be. Not that he is left be,

-because there is many who do not think he has got the plague. It is

-very sickening to watch.

-

-I wonder if Ditsy is in the stands, but I do not wonder long as

-somebody asks him if his sister is in the stands and he says, "No, she

-is home." And somebody says, "Don't she like horse races?" And he says,

-"No." And somebody says, "Well, that is odd. Your own sister." And he

-says, "How would you like to go bag your ears," which shows that he is

-keyed up to a considerable degree.

-

-He is up in the first, again in the third, and again in the fourth. I

-am not up at all until the next day. In fact, I am only there because

-I cannot stay away, so I goes out and hangs over the veranda rail to

-watch the first.

-

-It is a swell day. One of them high, blue ones. There is music

-coming out of the announcing system and people is walking around and

-everything is kind of stirred up like--like it is before the start. It

-is a fast track and pretty to look at and Happy Slauderwasser comes out

-and says, "Move over," and we both hangs over the veranda rail and just

-look at how everything looks, if you know what I mean.

-

-Then the horses is mincing past, Jimmie about as big as a good-sized

-pea, and then the barrier is in, and it is Beeknight in No. 6, and

-everything gets quiet with a little murmur running through it like a

-breeze with a lid on it, and you can hear the popcorn peddlers real

-plain, and then there is that swelling cry, "THEY'RE OFF!" But it

-chokes in the middle and there is a surge for the fence and the stands

-rise up and cranes their necks and Happy says, "My God!" and I near

-falls over the veranda rail because Beeknight is pawing the air and

-kicking and acting in general like he is a prize exhibition at a rodeo

-and for all them shenanigans he does not go nowheres. It is like he is

-trying to kick his way through a wall or something. Jimmie is stuck

-closer than a plaster, but not for long. Beeknight gives a lunge and

-Jimmie goes over, and a sort of a soft, gusty sound goes up from the

-crowd like a thousand breaths has been let out at once.

-

-By the time Jimmie has hit the ground, they is taking Beeknight out and

-do you know that confounded horse is as calm as a June morning? Jimmie

-gets out under his own power.

-

-Yeah. You see it coming, kick loose and roll with the fall and it does

-not no more than scrape off the top fuzz.

-

-It seems like a hour at least has gone past, but it cannot be no more

-than a handful of seconds because it is all clear when the field moves

-into the stretch.

-

-Happy and me look at each other.

-

-Happy says, "Wow."

-

-I says, "It looks like somebody is going to get a bird."

-

-"Yeah," Happy says, "a Bronx one."

-

-"No," I says, "a yellow one with feathers what sings," and I go on down

-to stand on the edge of the crowd what is surrounding Jimmie and listen

-to what is being said.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-What is being said is all the same color and cut equal. Howinever, I am

-positive that Jimmie did not do no pull. He is white as death and keeps

-shaking his head like there is lead shot in it and he is listening

-to it rattle. He keeps saying, "I cannot understand it, I cannot

-understand it," over and over. No, he did not do no pull. Spencer Tracy

-cannot act that good and Jimmie Winkie is not no Spencer Tracy.

-

-I mosey on off and am popping my knuckles and thinking when it comes

-over the announcing system that Winkie is not hurt none and will be up

-in the third as scheduled.

-

-But this does not take place, as before the third, Gus Wever comes up

-to me and he is pale and his Adam's apple is riding up and down on his

-collar and he says, "Jacks, I got something for you to do."

-

-"Shoot," I says.

-

-"I want you should break the news to Winkie."

-

-"What news?" I says. "They is not going to disqualify him for falling

-off a horse, I hopes."

-

-"No," Gus says. "Word has just came that his sister has met with a

-accident."

-

-I says, "Ditsy," or I tries to, but it sticks in my throat and, some

-way, I finds I am grabbing hold of Gus and there is guys endeavoring to

-pull us apart thinking we is having a altercation.

-

-"Leave go," Gus says, shrugging them off--he is a big guy--"I am asking

-Jacks, peaceful, if he will tell Winkie his sister has met with a fatal

-accident. He is a friend of Winkie and if your sister is dead, it is

-better it comes from a friend. That is all I am asking. I, myself,

-cannot do it."

-

-So I does it.

-

-When we gets there everything is confusion. There is people everywhere

-and a important-acting guy is asking the maid questions, only this does

-not do no good as she is setting in a chair having hysterics. And there

-is other men down on their knees examining the floor and blowing powder

-on the doorknobs and there is a doctor putting his stuff away in a

-little black bag.

-

-And there is Ditsy.

-

-It does not look like Ditsy. It does not look human even. It is just a

-smashed-in, crumpled-up thing what is wearing Ditsy's clothes, and it

-has blood all over.

-

-It reminds me of the way Tod Beemis looks when he is drug out and laid

-on a shutter after he is caught in a stall with a crazy stallion. Kind

-of ... kind of ... trampled-looking. It makes me feel kind of numblike,

-like maybe I has got a scream in me that has froze solid before it can

-get out.

-

-The important-acting guy, by now, has saw us and advances forward.

-

-"The maid, here," he says, "says she left Miss Winkie setting by the

-window and holding a bridle in her lap. Mooning over it kind of, she

-says. She goes downstairs, the maid does, and she has not no more'n got

-good and down when she hears a racket and she runs back up fast as she

-can and it is like this. We has not touched nothing. This," he, says

-pointing to a scruffed-looking place on the rug, "I guess is where she

-fell down and got up again, and this"--pointing to a spot where the

-plaster has been gouged out of the wall--"this here is where whoever

-done it must of swung and missed--and, from the evidence, whoever must

-of done it was strong as a horse. And this here is the bridle she was

-holding, which looks as if it was tore out of her hands and--" He

-pauses and squints at Jimmie. "Hey," he says, "you do not look like no

-coroner, who are you?"

-

-"He is her brother," I says, and my voice seems to come from some

-far-off place and does not seem to belong to me at all.

-

-"Oh," the man says embarrassed. "I am sorry, buddy. I did not know

-about you being related to the deceased. I am mighty sorry."

-

-Jimmie does not answer. He is looking at the bridle like it is Lazarus

-arose from the dead and it is plain he is going to keel over.

-

-He puts out his hand, as if he is in a trance, and takes the bridle

-from the man.

-

-"It is all right," I says, "it is his bridle. Leave him have it. I will

-take him out of here." Which I do as they bring in a wicker basket and

-set it down by this thing on the floor around which they draws a white

-chalk mark before ... before they--

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Guess I must be coming down with a cold. Yeah. Sure I will have another

-one. Just to wet my whistle. I seems to be kind of dried up like.

-Talking too much, I guess. There is times, though, when you has got

-to get it out of your system--the cold, I mean. Yeah. Well, here's to

-nothing, mister. If you got nothing, you got nothing to lose and, even

-if you does, it stands to advantage.

-

-What did who win after what? Oh, Winkie. He does not win no more. And

-does not lose no more. Because he does not ride no more. No, I mean

-no more. Never. You see, he ... he bumped hisself off. I took it for

-granted you knew.

-

-Yeah. Yeah. It was one of them things. After Ditsy--why, he kind of

-went haywire. I tried talking to him. Thought if he got to riding again

-it would take his mind off what it was brooding on. No, no, they never

-did catch whoever done it. I wish they _had_ of. If I could of got

-just within reaching distance--

-

-No, Jimmie would not pay no attention to me. He would just set there

-staring straight ahead and sometimes he would look at me like he could

-see clean through my backbone and out the other side.

-

-"Do not bother none, Jacks," he would say. "You do not understand. It

-was my fault. I should of knowed."

-

-And I would say, "Do not be like that. Them ... them kind of accidents

-is figured out statistical. You could not of knowed in a million

-years."

-

-"I was wrong. I was the one who had the blind abscess. Not Ditsy,"

-he would say. Morose, see. Only I thought he would snap out of it,

-eventual. But he does not. When he snaps, he snaps the other way.

-

-I remember the night that he done it. I set up with him until midnight

-talking up Parvalu, which Colonel Crandall wanted him to ride in the

-Bay Shore. I says, "Look here, Jimmie, if you will just get out and mix

-around some, you will be O. K." And I says, "Do not forget what you

-always said: 'You can shake grief or sorrow, you can bury remorse--but

-you can't never lose the feel o' a horse.'"

-

-"Yeah," he says, and he looks at me for the first time like he really

-sees me. "Yeah," he says, straightening up, "you can shake grief or

-sorrow, you can bury remorse ... bury remorse--"

-

-"But you can't never lose the feel o' a horse," I finishes for him.

-

-"Yeah," he says--slow. "Yeah, that is it."

-

-So I goes home brightened up, thinking I has at last got him squared

-around and the next morning--it is in the papers.

-

-They was two thoroughbreds, them two was. Yessir, two thoroughbreds

-that, some way, got boxed on a inside turn.

-

-What's that? Bridle? Oh, that. I had it buried with Jimmie. He had made

-a will leaving everything he possessed to me. Can you beat it? That is

-the kind of guy he was. Yeah. Oh, I could of kept it if I had of had a

-mind to, but bridles is cheap and he had set such a store by that one

-that it did not seem right to keep it. Besides, I could not ever of

-used it and kept my mind on what I was doing. He ... he hung hisself

-with it, see. He was out of his head with grief, that is all. He did

-not think. Jimmie was not no coward to take the easy way out. I know

-that. But I could not of had it around me just the same. So I buried it

-with him. Holding the reins in his hand. I think he would of liked it

-if he could of knowed.

-

-Well, bottoms up. I got to be going.

-

-Thanks, brother, and the same to you. It has been a pleasure. No, I do

-not reckon you will be seeing me in no papers, unless it is the funny

-papers. Did I not tell you? Horses has got a habit of slowing down when

-I am up on them. Like they has got a dead weight swinging on the bridle

-holding them back. They calls me Jinx. Yeah. Jinx Jackson.

-

-Well, so long, buddy.

-

-

-                               THE END.

-

-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN BRIDLE ***

-

-Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will

-be renamed.

-

-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright

-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,

-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the

-United States without permission and without paying copyright

-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part

-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project

-Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™

-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,

-and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following

-the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use

-of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for

-copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very

-easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation

-of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project

-Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may

-do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected

-by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark

-license, especially commercial redistribution.

-

-START: FULL LICENSE

-

-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

-

-To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free

-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work

-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project

-Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full

-Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at

-www.gutenberg.org/license.

-

-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project

-Gutenberg™ electronic works

-

-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™

-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to

-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property

-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all

-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or

-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your

-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a

-Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound

-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the

-person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph

-1.E.8.

-

-1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be

-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who

-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few

-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See

-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project

-Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this

-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™

-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

-

-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the

-Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection

-of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual

-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United

-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the

-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not

-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,

-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as

-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope

-that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting

-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™

-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the

-Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily

-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the

-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when

-you share it without charge with others.

-

-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern

-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are

-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,

-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this

-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,

-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any

-other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no

-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any

-country other than the United States.

-

-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

-

-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear

-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work

-on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the

-phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,

-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

-

-  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no

-  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it

-  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this

-  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the

-  United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where

-  you are located before using this eBook.

-

-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is

-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not

-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the

-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in

-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are

-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project

-Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply

-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or

-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™

-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-

-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted

-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution

-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any

-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms

-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works

-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the

-beginning of this work.

-

-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™

-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this

-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.

-

-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without

-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with

-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project

-Gutenberg™ License.

-

-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,

-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including

-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access

-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format

-other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official

-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website

-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense

-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means

-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain

-Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the

-full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

-

-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works

-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-

-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

-provided that:

-

-• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from

-  the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method

-  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed

-  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has

-  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project

-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid

-  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are

-  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty

-  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project

-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in

-  Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg

-  Literary Archive Foundation.”

-

-• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies

-  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he

-  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™

-  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all

-  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue

-  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™

-  works.

-

-• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

-  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the

-  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of

-  receipt of the work.

-

-• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free

-  distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

-

-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project

-Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than

-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing

-from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of

-the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set

-forth in Section 3 below.

-

-1.F.

-

-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable

-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread

-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project

-Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™

-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may

-contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate

-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other

-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or

-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or

-cannot be read by your equipment.

-

-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right

-of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project

-Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project

-Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all

-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal

-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT

-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE

-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE

-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE

-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR

-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH

-DAMAGE.

-

-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a

-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can

-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a

-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you

-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium

-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you

-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in

-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person

-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second

-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If

-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing

-without further opportunities to fix the problem.

-

-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth

-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you “AS-IS”, WITH NO

-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT

-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

-

-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of

-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement

-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the

-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or

-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or

-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the

-remaining provisions.

-

-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the

-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone

-providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in

-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the

-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™

-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,

-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of

-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this

-or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or

-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any

-Defect you cause.

-

-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™

-

-Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of

-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of

-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It

-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations

-from people in all walks of life.

-

-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™'s

-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will

-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure

-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future

-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see

-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at

-www.gutenberg.org

-

-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation

-

-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit

-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the

-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal

-Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification

-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by

-U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

-

-The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,

-Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up

-to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website

-and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

-

-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg

-Literary Archive Foundation

-

-Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without

-widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of

-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be

-freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest

-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations

-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt

-status with the IRS.

-

-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating

-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United

-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a

-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up

-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations

-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND

-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular

-state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate

-

-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we

-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition

-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who

-approach us with offers to donate.

-

-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make

-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from

-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

-

-Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation

-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other

-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To

-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate

-

-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

-

-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project

-Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be

-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and

-distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of

-volunteer support.

-

-Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed

-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in

-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not

-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper

-edition.

-

-Most people start at our website which has the main PG search

-facility: www.gutenberg.org

-

-This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,

-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to

-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 69890 ***
+
+                           THE GOLDEN BRIDLE
+
+                             By Jane Rice
+
+                         Illustrated by Alfred
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+                      Unknown Worlds April 1943.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+Say, that is mighty white. I do not mind if I do, though I remembers
+the day when I would not of touched beer with a ten-foot pole. Weight.
+Jockeys has got to watch their weight like it is tombstones they is
+putting on instead of pounds.
+
+Well, here's luck, mister. May all your double parlays give the bookies
+fits.
+
+What's that? Yeah, sure I am a jockey. Was. There is not no point in
+giving you the old three and five. You look like a right guy. Why
+should I kid you? I have not been up on a horse for four years. Six
+months cold for a jock is a wide turn, but four years--say, four years
+is--what the devil, I am washed up cleaner than a choirboy's ears.
+
+And this is not my fault. That is what gives me the burn. It is not my
+fault. When Lady Luck smiles in the racing game she has got a grin so
+broad you can count her back fillings, but, when she quits smiling,
+brother, she just quits and you might as well go wrap your head in a
+sweat blanket and forget it.
+
+You know, you is going along good, not winning no Champagne Stakes nor
+nothing like that, but hitting the percentages and going along O.K.,
+see, when all of a sudden you finds that things begin to happen. And
+they keeps right on happening and you can spit in the wind all you want
+to and chew four-leaf clovers and take a horseshoe to bed with you
+and it does not have no effect. Things just keeps right on happening
+until after a while the trainers puts the double O on you and you can
+not even get a leg up on a spavined brood mare and everybody takes to
+calling you "Jinx."
+
+That is me, mister. Jinx Jackson.
+
+Oh, I am not beefing none. I manages, what with one thing and another.
+But believe me, buddy, it is enough to give you the yelping wipes when
+you stands there by the fence with the sun beating down on you, and the
+crowd milling around excitedlike, and the bugles blowing, and the flags
+waving, and the horses walking past--nervous--and the colors up with
+their pants skintight and their shirts bellying out like silk balloons,
+and then they are wheeling the barrier in, and you look at the track
+and it is smooth and sweet and fast as a filly with bees in her ears,
+and everything gets still except the popcorn peddlers, and there is
+that awful minute when you is waiting and the shirt sticks to your back
+and you gets that old, familiar, tight feeling on the inside of your
+thighs, and your tongue is like a sponge bit between your teeth, and
+then that cry--like a rising wind--"THEY'RE OFF!"
+
+That is when it hits you. Right here. As if somebody has yanked your
+stomach out and let it go _wham_ back at you, like a pair of
+suspenders.
+
+That--and when you see a snipe getting hisself boxed on a inside turn,
+or bearing out in the run through the stretch, or--aw, nuts with it. It
+gets you, that is all. It gets you.
+
+Once you has got the feel of horses in your blood you is a goner. A
+gone goner. It is there, brother, and there is not no use fighting it.
+You cannot no more keep away from a paddock than you can stop blinking
+your eyes.
+
+Jimmie Winkie used to say, "You can shake grief and sorrow, you can
+bury remorse--but you can't never lose the feel o' a horse."
+
+Jimmie Winkie. Yeah, Wee Willie. That is the same.
+
+Good! Man, he had the magic touch. Why, he could add twenty lengths to
+anything on four legs. Easy. Jimmie was tops. Why, I has seen him come
+from behind the hard way and spot them a extra advantage by pulling out
+and still win and there was not no photo finishes, neither. When he
+won, mister, he won.
+
+He was a funny guy, he was. Had a kind of puckery face and big ears.
+Walked springy, like a banty rooster. Used to use a special bridle when
+he was up. Superstitious? It is not superstition exactly. It is just
+a kind of a feeling you get about certain things. Lots of us jocks
+are thataway. I know I would of had a hissy--four years ago--if I had
+of mislaid a old wore-out crop I always carried. Moe Prentice had a
+buckeye he would not of parted with for nobody. Jackie Watson had some
+sort of a medal on a silver chain. Cry Baby Noolan would not no more of
+thought of riding with his cap anyway but hind side to than he would
+of thought of riding without any clothes on. In fact, if he would of
+had to make a choice, I reckon he would of rode in his skin before he
+would of changed his cap proper. And, like I said, Jimmie has this here
+special bridle, though there is not much special about it except that
+it is goldish-looking if you hold it in the right light. But seems he
+takes a fancy to it and from the way he acts you would of thought it
+is made from the tanned hide of a Derby winner. But it is not no such
+thing, of course. It is just a bridle like any racing bridle only, like
+I said, it is goldish-looking in a unnoticeable manner.
+
+He gets it one year when we is finishing up the circuit down in
+Tijuana. This is before he hits his stride. When he is going along,
+like me, not snaffling no tall money nor nothing but knocking off his
+percentages. He is plain Jimmie Winkie then. The newspapers has not
+tagged that there Wee Willie on to him yet and he is not endorsing no
+leather jackets, nor saying as how he likes Puffie Wuffies because they
+is superroasted and rolled on hoops.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Well, as I was saying, we is down in Tijuana and it is nighttime and
+we is walking down one of them crooked streets which is about as thick
+in Tijuana as saddle sores is in a riding academy. We is walking along
+with our hands in our pockets and not much else, being as how we has
+inadvertently got mixed up in a game knowed as faro, the same which is
+like being on the wrong end of a loco bronc, and which we would not of
+got into if Jimmie had not of wanted to increase a five-dollar bill
+into a ten-dollar bill so as to buy a real nice present for Ditsy.
+Anyhow, like I said, we is walking along minding our own business when
+there is--
+
+Ditsy? Oh, Ditsy was Jimmie's sister. Name was Dorothy, but Jimmie
+called her Ditsy. He was crazy about her. Seemed like he had raised
+her since she was knee high to a feed box. Guess they had some muddy
+tracks, them two, and what with their not having nobody but theirselves
+and her being crippled, why, one way and another, he set a lot of store
+by her.
+
+Anyway, we is walking along, Jimmie and me, and I am thinking about
+what we is going to eat for breakfast the next day, and lunch, and
+supper, and Jimmie is thinking about how is he going to buy Ditsy
+something when we hear a rumpus going on around a corner up ahead.
+It increases graduallike and when we gets to the corner we meets it,
+head-on you might say.
+
+There is about a dozen people who is all personal acquaintances of
+John Barleycorn, and they is pestering a woman who looks like she is
+on her way to a masquerade at a insane asylum. She has got on a sheet
+all draped and wrapped every which way and her feet is laced up in
+sandals and there is a wreath on her hair, only now it is setting
+cockeyed on account of as how these here people has been chasing her,
+and she is carrying a bridle. In fact, if I had of spent my money on
+John Barleycorn instead of faro, I probably would of joined in on the
+side of these here people who is laughing theirselves sick and grabbing
+at this here sheet and having a big time, for which I cannot blame them
+any as this woman is sure a curious sight.
+
+While I am thinking what a curious sight she is, Jimmie busts up the
+party. He does this with very little fuss, hitting merely one guy who
+goes down like a sack of wet oats and the rest takes to their heels as
+I am doubling up my fists preparing to wade in.
+
+"Now, sister," Jimmie says, rubbing his knuckles tenderlike, "if I was
+you I would vamoose. Tijuana is no place for a lady without as how she
+has got company to see that she gets where she has started out for."
+
+Well, this woman straightens her wreath and breaks out in some kind of
+a foreign language which sounds like nothing I ever heard unless it is
+"Chopsticks" played on a piano which is out of tune and is minus some
+of the keys.
+
+"Look, sister," Jimmie says, "vamoose while the vamoosing is favorable."
+
+The woman makes some motions and spouts some more of this here talk and
+there is just one word I get and that is "grease." She says this over
+and over, "Grease, grease," meanwhile gesturing for all she is able.
+
+"Grease?" Jimmie says, puzzled, and she nods violently and shakes the
+bridle she is carrying and does a act like she is putting it on a horse
+and then flaps her arms like she is flying.
+
+"Grease," she says.
+
+I begins to get uneasy. "Say," I says to Jimmie, sotto voice, "let's us
+get out of here--this gal has got bats in her belfry."
+
+"I think she has lost a horse," Jimmie says slow.
+
+"Horse!" I says. "How is she going to straddle a horse in that getup?
+She has lost her mind. Let's us get out of here. Loonies is not no
+picnic."
+
+Jimmie does not pay no attention to me. He takes the bridle away from
+her--gentle--so as not to scare her and _he_ does a act like
+_he_ is putting it on a horse. "Horse?" he says.
+
+This looney looks at him a minute, then her face kind of brightenslike.
+She points to the bridle Jimmie is holding and says, "Hippos."
+
+"She has got the D. T.'s," I cheeps. "She is talking about a
+hippopotamus what flies or I will eat that there bridle. Come on,"
+I says, "this is not no place for--" But I do not get no further
+because there is a faint whinny and this here woman shrieks joyfully
+and--without so much as a kiss-my-foot--lams in the direction of this
+here nickering which, judging from the sound, is a block or so to our
+rear--though we has not seen no sign of no horse when we is walking by
+thataway.
+
+We stands there gawking after this dame while she disappears in the
+night and Jimmie, suddenlike, yells, "Hey, here is your bridle," and
+starts after her and me after Jimmie, because I has not got no wish to
+see Jimmie sucked in on something that is not kosher, and it is plain
+that there is something here that does not meet the eye right off.
+
+I dope it that this here dame is a kind of a lead rein for some guys
+which is laying low in a alley or some place figuring to roll whoever
+she ropes in, and it is a unpleasant statistic that persons is often
+beat up severe when it is discovered they has not got no wherewith to
+make such a business profitable.
+
+When we gets down the street a ways I catches up to Jimmie and stops
+him and I says, "Has you taken leave of your senses? This here is one
+of them cul-de-sacs or I am a ring-tailed--" But I do not say baboon,
+which I had intended, because somewhere I hears a noise like a lot of
+pigeons taking off--like they has been shooed--and from way up, like
+on a roof, I hears this woman laughing and it dwindles away and, then,
+it is quiet and a little white feather drifts down and lands in the
+gutter. It is all very weird and I do not like it.
+
+"I would of swore a horse nickered down here a minute ago," Jimmie says.
+
+"Shut up," I says, "and let's us get out of here before we is knifed in
+the back."
+
+So we does and that is how Jimmie come by the bridle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Well, say, I do not mind if I do. There is this about beer. You do not
+have to worry none the next morning about tying your shoes. Ever try
+sticking a hot knife in it? Many's the time I has seen my old man heat
+the poker until it is as red as the old Scratch hisself and then plunge
+it into the pail. That was when you could get all you wanted for a dime
+with boiled ham and cheese and bologna throwed in to boot and, like as
+not, a slice of liver for the cat.
+
+Here's bumps, mister. And may you never tear up your ducats without
+looking twice.
+
+Where was I? Oh, yeah, Tijuana. Well, here we is without a buffalo
+between us. Broke as a skillet of scrambled eggs and up in the fifth
+the next day, the same which dawns bright and early and finds me and
+Jimmie nearly splitting a girth trying to trade that there bridle for a
+plate of buckwheat cakes, but everybody gives us the zero gaze until I
+begins to wonder if we is coming down with smallpox. So we hunts up a
+dopester by the name of Stew Hatcher and he stakes us to a meal after
+which we hangs around until he has got up his sheet and then we rides
+out to the track with him and his girl. We asks Stew, just kidding, who
+he is picking in the fifth and Stew says it is not us and he is not
+kidding. For his money, he says, it is High Jinks, Admirella and Sky
+Eagle. One, two, three.
+
+I am up on Black Boy and Jimmie he is up on Peajacket, so we thumbs
+our noses at Stew and gives him the buzz and says as how we is pleased
+to have met this girl he is with--which is a lie because she is very
+snooty--and we goes on in.
+
+We gets into our colors and sets around with the fellows dishing out
+a lot of bull about what we done in Tijuana and Jimmie gives me the
+wink and says he has got hold of a nifty bridle he is willing to take
+a loss on. And he gets this here bridle out of his locker and says if
+anybody will give him a fin for it they can have it, though they will
+be rooking him on the deal.
+
+Boy, does he get the laugh. Moe says he will give him a fin for it if
+Jimmie will throw in Peajacket and shine his boots for a week, too. And
+Cry Baby Noolan says if it is such a hot bridle why don't he bridle
+Peajacket with it. And everybody starts gaffing Jimmie and I acts real
+indignant and I says what is it worth to them if he _does_ bridle
+Peajacket with it, them being such sports. Jimmie, seeing the lay of
+the land, plays up to me and says, "No," and everybody chimes in giving
+him the merry ha-ha and when there is three bucks up he will not do it,
+why, then Jimmie says O.K., he will do it, see.
+
+Does a holler go up when they catches on to how they has been taken!
+But Jimmie says a bet is a bet and he is game enough to live up to his
+end of the bargain if they is. "Of course, if they _isn't_--"
+he says, inferring that anybody who reneges is a horse's patoot, so,
+naturally, nobody reneges, though there is some grousing.
+
+I used to say to Jimmie, I would say, "Jimmie, remember the day at
+Tijuana when we nicked Moe and them for three bucks?" And Jimmie, he
+would say, "Yeah," and kind of draw in his breath like he was thinking
+about it--hard. Remembering how Peajacket upset the bookies' apple cart.
+
+You see, Stew Hatcher is wrong. It is Peajacket, High Jinks and
+Admirella. One, two, three. And the owner of Peajacket--I forget his
+name, big loose-mouthed chap with a face like a side of beef--is fair
+to be hobbled because he has not bet on his own entry on account of as
+how it is a cinch to lose. It is a two-year-old he has picked up for
+seven and a quarter at a public sale and he is just feeling him out and
+damn if Jimmie does not bring in a win.
+
+Me? Oh, I comes in with the tailbearers. I could of got in a lame
+fourth, but I am so whooper-jawed watching Jimmie go down the stretch
+like a lighted fuse that I lets this here Black Boy I am up on bear
+out--he was death on bearing out--and, of course, that puts the quietus
+on us. There is not no percentage in whipping a horse over for fourth
+place. A horse has got sense enough to know when you is making a fool
+out of him.
+
+No, I do not guess you will recollect Peajacket. He turns out to be a
+foozle, after all. He is entered a couple of more times, Saratoga, I
+thinks, and Empire City--Syl Patton up--but he does not do nothing but
+pick up a coupla pounds of mud.
+
+But he sure is not no foozle that afternoon at Tijuana.
+
+There is not no barrier. You just keeps back of the line as best you
+can. That is one way to lose a race before the gun. I has seen them do
+it on purpose. You know, too tight a rein, get your horse skittered,
+make him break three or four times, and, when the gun goes, hold him
+back just long enough to let him see that he is a cooked potato. Nine
+times out of ten you can whip him raw and he will run, but he will not
+run fast enough. But _your_ nose is clean. The trainer cannot say
+as how _you_ did not try.
+
+Say, am I boring you with this? If I am--okke doke, any time you has
+had a sufficiency, say so.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Well, as I was saying, there is not no barrier. Outside of a little
+tail flicking and head tossing, Black Boy is as calm as a Jersey cow.
+High Jinks breaks once and Sky Eagle and some of the field prances
+around a bit, but Peajacket he acts like he has been fed hopped oats.
+In fact, there is some talk of it later on, but they cannot never prove
+nothing. Anyway, this here Peajacket is taking on for a fare-you-well
+with Jimmie trying to gentle him down and the starter getting mad and a
+jock, name of Happy Slauderwasser--that is a moniker for you, nice guy
+though--who is next to Peajacket swearing something fierce. Finally,
+Jimmie gets this here Peajacket backed in and he is lathered up like a
+ad for saddle soap, and the gun goes, and out of the tail of my eye as
+me and Black Boy takes off I sees Peajacket rearing up and I thinks,
+"Oh, Lordy," because it is a rule last one in has to pitch a buck in
+the kitty. And it is plain to see, in a field of fifteen, Jimmie is
+slated to be the last one in and then we will only have a buck apiece
+instead of a buck fifty.
+
+I settles down and starts easing over to the inside track hoping for
+a pocket. High Jinks is up ahead and he is not anywheres near let out
+yet. There is three or four horses in between, then Admirella nosing
+up, Sky Eagle alongside, doing like me, playing a wait, and Jimmie and
+the rest of the field bunched in behind.
+
+I am not thinking about Jimmie no more, though. I am concentrating on
+them three or four babies cutting off my view of High Jinks. I am not
+worried about them none, but when there is a opening I wants to be
+there instead of Sky Eagle. So I am concentrating, like I said, and I
+hear this horse coming. You do not actually hear them as much as you
+_feel_ them. It is a mixture of both. It is like you got an alarm
+system inside of you and all of a sudden it is ringing like who popped
+Mollie and you know with a kind of a ... of a ... a kind of a awareness
+that you got heavy competition.
+
+I remembers wondering who it could be. There is High Jinks and
+Admirella in plain sight. Sky Eagle and me practically pat-a-caking at
+each other, some of the field ahead, but they is giving by now and, so
+far as I know, what is left in tow is not capable of doing nothing but
+horse apples.
+
+I do not take my mind off this here opening, though. It is getting
+ripe, I can see that, and I am bound I am going to be there when it is
+due before it closes in and strings out.
+
+Then, I catches a glimpse of this here horse on the off side of Sky
+Eagle. A kind of consciousness it is of this here third horse and I am
+sort of cheered when I see it is not bothering none about no openings,
+nor no inside track, nor nothing like that. And, while I am being
+cheered and thinking what a smart guy I am, this here third horse
+pounds ahead past Sky Eagle, a shoulder, half a length, a length, and
+that opening I been hovering over swings wide as a barn door and Sky
+Eagle is through it because I am yawping at Jimmie Winkie with his ears
+skinned back crouched high on Peajacket, and if I had not of knowed
+better I would of swore he was scared green, and while I am yawping,
+Black Boy bears out so, as I said, that puts the quietus on us.
+
+There has been better races run and bigger ones has been won by darker
+horses, but, off-hand, I cannot call any to mind that I got such a
+thrill out of. I do not know whether it is because I am so cocksure
+Jimmie is bringing up the rear, or because Moe Prentice--he is up on
+High Jinks--is took down a peg or two, or maybe because there is a
+certain something about the way that there horse runs with his nostrils
+red and wide, and his tail streaming out behind him like it has been
+starched, and his hoofs beating music out of that there track like a
+crazy drummer, and Jimmie pasted to him close as a surcingle and with
+a kind of a look about him like night wind sounds, if you know what I
+mean. A kind of a queer, wild, blowy look. But most of all I guess it
+is the horse.
+
+Jimmie says it is the horse and he ought to of knowed being as how he
+was up on him. Jimmie says it is also a great surprise to him that
+Peajacket wins, but, naturally, he does not say this out--but just to
+me--as it is not a good policy to let on that you are surprised when
+you bring in a winner.
+
+How does it feel to bring in a winner? Brother, you can have the
+greatest symphony that was ever wrote; I will take the thunder of
+a winner's hoofs coming down the straightaway. That is something,
+brother. That is really _some_thing. It is like a ... like a ...
+well, like I said, a kind of a awareness. Like you was conscious of the
+noise and the feel all at the same minute. Take that there Peajacket. I
+got it right away. The noise and the feel together, I mean. Like there
+was two horses running. One on top the other.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We bums a ride back after the seventh and gets out on the main drag and
+flips a coin to see whether we eats or buys Ditsy something. It comes
+out buying Ditsy something so we goes to one of these here shops that
+has a window full of everything from jewelry to tablecloths and we
+picks out a powder box that plays a tune when the lid is lifted off. A
+thin, tinkly, sort of _plink, plink_ tune, but pretty. Reminds you
+of the way ladies used to rustle when they walked, if you know what I
+mean.
+
+While the guy is wrapping it up, Jimmie goes over and picks up a vase
+which is setting on a shelf with a lot of other vases. This here vase
+he picks up is blue and has a lot of well-built dames on it holding
+garlands of flowers. Jimmie kind of whistles.
+
+"Look at this here," he says.
+
+I agrees it is nice, but points out that we has got exactly twenty-nine
+cents between us and the price is marked clear two fifty.
+
+"This is a strange coincidence," he says, more to hisself than me, and
+I says it is not no coincidence it is a vase and if he is thinking
+about switching over, why, there is a vase on the shelf above which is
+better-looking on account of as how it has a scene painted on it and
+the price is twenty-five cents cheaper.
+
+This guy comes up about this time and washes his hands in the air and
+asks if we are interested in a vase.
+
+"No," I says.
+
+"Yes," Jimmie says. "Who is this here middle dame on this here vase?"
+
+"They represent the Muses," this guy says. "A marvelous buy for the
+money."
+
+"This here middle dame is a Muse?" asks Jimmie.
+
+"They are all Muses," this guy says, "goddesses of the arts and poetry
+and science. A very artistic vase. Only two fifty."
+
+"Did any of them have a horse?" Jimmie asks.
+
+"Horse?"
+
+"Horse."
+
+"I could not say. It is a very handsome vase, howinever, and I will
+make you a special price of two twenty-five, if you are interested."
+
+"Where can I find out if any of them had a horse?"
+
+"I could not say, unless it is the library. Two dollars even I will
+make it. Below that I cannot go."
+
+"Very well," I chimes in, being tired of Jimmie ribbing this here guy
+about a horse, "we will take it in place of the powder box."
+
+With that this guy freezes over like the outside of a mint julep and he
+says chillylike, "I have just remembered that this vase has been put
+aside for another party."
+
+And I says, "That is very odd being as how you were so all fired set on
+us having it at reduced cost."
+
+"Herman," this guys says.
+
+And another guy with a neck like a Percheron, shoulders his way through
+a curtain in the back and stands there like as if he is itching for
+somebody to say "When." So we takes our package and we leaves.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I am in favor of hunting up a crap game and shooting our twenty-nine
+cents and Jimmie says that is a splendid idea and for me to do so and
+he will meet me at the pool parlor in a hour. I asks where is he going?
+And he says the library. And as he has never been inside a library in
+his life to my certain knowledge, I figure he is telling me in a nice
+way to mind my own business. Which I does. And in a hour I has run the
+twenty-nine cents into eight bits and a Masonic emblem.
+
+I meets Jimmie like he said and I can see right away he is exceptional
+thoughtful. We go to a place called La Cucuracha where the second cup
+of coffee is free and you gets gravy with your potatoes, although
+Jimmie seems to have lost his appetite. He keeps transferring his food
+from one side of his plate to the other until I outs and asks him
+pointblank what is ailing him.
+
+"Did you ever hear tell of a horse called Pegasus?" he says by way of
+answer.
+
+"No," I says. "Who sired him?"
+
+"He is out of Medusa by Neptune," says Jimmie.
+
+"I never heard of them, neither," I says shoveling in a mouthful of
+potatoes and gravy. "What has this here Peg-whoit got to do with you?"
+
+"I am not certain for sure," he says, "but I has got a idea,"
+
+"Which is?"
+
+"Could be he got blowed off his course," Jimmie says, "or got scared by
+another gadfly or some such, landed in Tijuana and this here Muse comes
+after him and--"
+
+"Look," I says, "one of us has got a screw loose and it is not me.
+Begin over and repeat slow and there is apple pie with the dinner and
+if you do not want it I will eat your piece, if it is all the same to
+you. Now what was you saying?"
+
+He shoves his plate back. "I am going to break the track record
+tomorrow," he says, and there is something about the way he says it,
+some quality in his voice that makes me sit up and take notice all of a
+sudden.
+
+A kind of creepy sensation comes over me and I am reminded of when I
+am a kid and the grandfather's clock in the hall would strike during
+the night. It would go _bong--bong--bong_ real slow and soft, but
+filling the house, howinever, and making the air vibrate. I would lie
+there and think, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall," but
+that did not make no difference. My feet would get cold and my eyes
+near bug out of my head, and I would not have no swallow and I would
+lie there thinking, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall."
+
+I gives Jimmie one of them searching looks you read about, but it does
+not tell me nothing except that he is a mite tightened-uplike and is
+letting some fifty cents worth of food go to waste.
+
+"Thanks for the tip," I says. "Who you planning on being up on?
+Man-o'-War?"
+
+"Ditsy has always wanted a grand piano," he says, "since she was not
+bigger'n a boot-jack." And he says, "I will get her the best one money
+can buy."
+
+It is obvious that he tightened up more than I think because there is
+not enough space in that two-room flat in Cleveland to hold both Ditsy
+and a grand piano at the same time.
+
+"That will be dandy," I says, "but I am afraid there will not be no
+grand piano in it. Them things cost folding money."
+
+"Folding money," he repeats and the words sounds like a three-inch
+sirloin the way he says them--thick and red and juicy. "You know what
+I am going to have," he says, "I am going to have a pair of handmade
+boots--them that laces at the ankle--and I am going to have a suit with
+buttonholes under the buttons on the sleeves. Not just thread sewed to
+look like buttonholes--_real_ buttonholes I am going to have under
+the buttons and a yellow chamois bag."
+
+"A yellow chamois bag under the buttons," I says and, recalling to mind
+a chap named Joe Hankins who fought a bunch of Comanches all one night
+in a psycopathic ward at a hospital in Louisville, I continues to smile
+pleasantly while I eases my chair back.
+
+"Yeah," Jimmie says, "lined with flannel so as the bridle will not get
+scratched up none."
+
+"Sure," I agrees, "flannel."
+
+"Saratoga," says Jimmie, "Havre de Grace, Narragansett, Hialeah,
+Aqueduct."
+
+"Hawthorne, Churchill Downs, Empire City, Belmont Park, Thistledown," I
+chimes in nodding like a Chinese laundryman who has lost your wash. I
+holds my breath and gets to my feet praying that I will be able to ease
+him out quiet.
+
+"Through?" Jimmie says, cool as a cucumber. "What say we see if we can
+get a game of pool on the cuff?"
+
+The next day he breaks the track record.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I has thought about it a great deal since then and do you know what I
+figure? I figure it like this. I figure that Jimmie had got on to a
+secret. There is a secret to doing everything. Like tight-rope walking,
+or shooting par golf consistent, or whizzing a ball over a tennis net
+so as it falls just so and dribbles off before it can be got up off
+the ground. There is a secret to juggling plates and a secret to pole
+vaulting higher than anybody else. The plates and the pole and the
+rope and the golf clubs and tennis racquet is all the same. What I
+mean is you could take half a dozen plates and throw them up in the
+air and they would land behind the eight ball. But take these here
+same identical plates and give them to a juggler and he will make them
+perform without so much as mussing his tie. Why? Because he knows the
+secret.
+
+Well, then, why can it not be the same way with horses? I am not saying
+you can take a plow horse and make him win a race any more than that
+there juggler can juggle plates made out of pig iron. But I am saying,
+if you know the secret, you can take a _race horse_ and make him
+win a race. And, like I said, I has thought about it a lot and I figure
+there is a secret and Jimmie has got on to it. I figure the secret
+comes to him in a flash like when you know, in a sort of a burst of
+knowing, that the dealer has aces back to back. Because from that day
+on he never rides a loser. Except one. I will get around to that in a
+second.
+
+Saratoga and Hialeah and Havre de Grace and all of them is not no pipe
+dream. And neither is Ditsy's grand piano, though it is not in no
+two-room flat. It is in a living room as big as from here to there.
+One of them two-storied jobs that goes all the way up to the roof.
+One of them studio living rooms. And done real classy with drapes and
+hand-carved furniture and lamps with rose silk on the underneath parts
+of their shades, and them black-and-white, pen-and-ink-looking pictures
+on the walls, and a rug that feels like it will arch in the middle and
+purr if you rub it, it is that soft.
+
+Of course, it does not happen pronto. It starts out gradual with
+Jimmie's name in the papers--"Keep your eye on So-and-So up on
+So-and-So"--and then it takes a up curve with the sports writers
+pegging him with this here Wee Willie and first thing you know he is
+appearing regular Sundays in the rotogravure, him and Ditsy, holding
+a horseshoe or a shamrock or this here bridle or such as that, and
+persons are talking about the "Winkie Technique" and children is eating
+their weight in cereal because Wee Willie Winkie says as how it has got
+Vitamin Q and for six box tops or reasonable facsimiles thereof the
+cereal people will send you a handsome, autographed photograph of Wee
+Willie on Martinique or Little John or Fireflow or some such as them.
+And his stock is going up like a fever chart. And he is in the bucks.
+But I mean _in_, brother.
+
+It changes him some. I do not mean he goes around putting out like
+he has hung the moon and painted the blue sky; if anything, he
+quietens down and kind of draws into hisself like. In fact, when he
+is congratulated on his ability, which he is every time he turns
+around, he acts like it is making him sick to his stomach. And when the
+write-ups come out about how modest he is and shy and retiring and how
+he always tries to give the credit for a win to the horse, why then he
+acts like he is even sicker and getting no better fast.
+
+Naturally, while most of the publicity is along the lines of sweetness
+and light, there is some of it as squeezes out a few lemons. Like them
+that says as how Winkie rides a horse walleyed, and them as hints it
+is mighty peculiar he does not never lose and a pity, furthermore,
+because the odds on a horse what is toting Winkie is something to
+behold in a new all-time low.
+
+Then there is the follow-up gang that always seems to heel to a celeb.
+Whether he gets to be a celeb by riding horses or eating goldfish
+or drinking thirty buckets of beer does not make no noticeable
+difference--they follows. It gets so Jimmie cannot go nowheres without
+getting the press took out of his pants and he is lucky if the pants is
+not also took out with the press.
+
+People sends him alligators from Florida and salmon from Alaska. He
+gets lariats made out of tail hair plaited, and high-heeled boots with
+tooling. He gets silver spurs, and leather jackets, and saddles, and
+gloves, and sombreros. He gets blankets and pipes and racks for this
+and holders for that. He gets a sheep dog, a pair of love birds, a
+coon cat, a baby leopard, a bearskin rug with the teeth still in it, a
+stuffed owl, a collection of butterflies, and some twisty horns off a
+mountain goat all set and glued on a wooden thing to hang on the wall.
+He gets socks by the gross, handkerchiefs by carloads and one dame even
+sends him a box of pink silk underwear with his initials stitched in
+fancy in orchid embroidery.
+
+To give you the idea, one day he appears in the papers cutting a
+piece out of one of them round coffee cakes and the next day there is
+nineteen round coffee cakes delivered to his address and he does not
+_like_ round coffee cakes nor no kind of coffee cakes, but is
+cutting this here piece to please the press photographer who wants a
+homey touch.
+
+But for everybody what is giving him something there is two wanting him
+to give _them_ something. Jimmie used to say he got so he could
+tell right off who was a givee and who was a gimme. Not that he does
+not appreciate what is give him, even if he does not keep it, and not
+that he does not hand out to the gimmes--it is just that he does not
+want nothing off of nobody and does not want nobody to want nothing off
+of him.
+
+But when you gets in the major brackets that is not the way things is.
+So, like I said, it changes him some. Some way, he reminds me of a kid
+what has eat a quarter's worth of jelly beans all one flavor.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It changes Ditsy, too. Her hair is not loose-like and fluffy no more.
+It is on the order of a cocker spaniel's, only precise, and her ears
+has got earbobs in them, and instead of wearing print housedresses she
+is all diked out in them dresses which is not referred to as dresses,
+but as "creations." She has got a new wheelchair which is streamlined
+and has more chrome on it than a limousine, and some bird with a
+Vandyke and a accent you can spread like marmalade is giving her some
+kind of underwater massage for her legs, so she should be very happy.
+She is not, though.
+
+She puts on like she is happy and anybody what does not know her would
+say, "My, she is happy," and they would be ninety-nine and forty-four
+hundreds percent wrong because she is not happy by no means. She fools
+Jimmie because Jimmie is so anxious for her to be happy that, when she
+keeps saying she is happy, he believes she is happy and it does not
+occur to him that when you are happy you does not go around saying,
+"My, I am happy," like you was learning a lesson in memorizing.
+
+When a woman is happy she sings and brushes her hair a lot and says
+stuff like, "I declare, it is four o'clock _already_, can you beat
+that?" and she looks smily even when she is not actually smiling. So
+it is obvious Ditsy is not happy because she is not doing none of them
+things. When she smiles it is more or less of a lip movement going on
+under her nose and not having nothing to do with the rest of her face,
+and she does not sing spontaneous, though when she is in that two-room
+flat the landlady has had to request her several times to pipe down.
+And, instead of saying, "I declare it is four o'clock _already_,"
+she just says, "It is four o'clock," like you would say, "The dodo
+is now become extinct," or, "I see where there in a population of
+ninety-two in East Gleep, Nevada."
+
+So, as I said, it changes Ditsy, too. And it is pathetic to watch them
+two, him and her, working so hard at being happy and pretending that
+life is a bowl of cherries when it is plain life is a onion poultice.
+
+Some time passes and I am here, there, and yonder and word gets around
+that Jimmie Winkie is hitting the paint which occasions me to be
+surprised because Jimmie Winkie is never one to hit the paint even in a
+mild manner. So I am not paying any attention to these here remarks and
+I am once or twice very near smacking persons in the puss who say that
+it is a fact that Ditsy is turned into a red-hot momma.
+
+What's that? Oh, that. Well, it seems that this here underwater massage
+is the stuff and she is able to get around some--not good, understand,
+but some.
+
+What! Her! Say, listen here, bub--well, all right, no offense taken,
+but she is not that kind. O. K. O. K. Let it ride. Sure I will have
+another beer, only do not make no more remarks like that, see. O. K. O.
+K.
+
+Maybe I do not make myself clear. I mean she has gone in for
+double-jointed cigarette holders and red fingernails and them
+long-haired guys what paints a picture of somebody so as they have one
+eye here and one here and clockwork springs for the top of their head
+and maybe a spare tire for one hand and a fiddle for the other with a
+bunch of carrots sprouting out of it.
+
+Anyway, that is what I am hearing and--here's bumps, brother. You know
+I set and watched a glass of beer bubble from the bottom one night
+and it bubbled for three hours and a half 'fore it got flat. That was
+when Ditsy--But I will get around to that quick enough. Now and again
+I still catches myself trying _not_ to think about it. And it has
+been a long time. A long time.
+
+What was I saying? Oh, yeah, Jimmie hitting the paint. He _is_ all
+right because I am setting in a place in Cleveland--having just got off
+the train--and some fellow comes in and I does not pay no attention
+until I see he is walking like a banty rooster which is sea-sick. And
+I yells, "Jimmie!" And he looks up and focuses on me and I see it is
+true he is hitting the paint and, if his present condition is a fair
+example, he is hitting it with a capital H.
+
+I am not one to stick my nose in other people's business. I am one who
+says other people's business is their own business and no business of
+mine, having found that a nose stuck in other people's business usually
+gets itself pinned up so as it does not look like a nose for quite a
+while after.
+
+But this is different. First, it is Jimmie Winkie. Second, he is
+running a race the next day I have seen by the papers. Third, it will
+not put no shine on his shoes if somebody says, "Oh, look, is that not
+Wee Winkie and is he not skizzled?"
+
+To make a long story short, I gets him out of there. I thinks about
+checking into a hotel, but there is those somebodies again, so there is
+not nothing to do but get a cab and take him home. The same which I
+does.
+
+When I first sees Ditsy I also thinks it is true that she has turned
+into a red-hot momma. She has done something to her mouth so it looks
+like it has been swatted by a ripe plum, and she is wearing one of them
+"creations" that does not leave but very little to the imagination, and
+she is walking with two silver-headed canes, and her fingernails looks
+like they has been dipped in calves' liver while it is still in the
+calf.
+
+She is quite a sight for sore eyes until you remembers it is Ditsy
+and, then your collar gets too tight and you say, "Hello, Ditsy," and
+she does not say nothing. She just looks at Jimmie until you thinks
+she does not know who it is and, then, she looks at me and her eyes
+is the color of a horse's flanks after a workout--dark and wet and
+velvety--and she says, "Bring him in, Jacks," and, some way, her voice
+sounds like it is bleeding. And, all at once, you know that underneath
+all this cover-up she has put on is the same old Ditsy. Worn finer, and
+kind of tired, but Ditsy.
+
+She knows what to do, too. She does not put him to bed. She has me set
+him up in the bathroom with his head over the basin and she feeds him
+soapy water and as fast as one glass full comes up down goes another.
+And when he says he cannot do it no more, she wheedles him into doing
+it until his insides is as clean as a old maid's conscience, and his
+head is woozy but not boozy. Also, I am under the impression this is
+not the first time them two has underwent this here same procedure.
+
+Soapy water? Best thing on earth. Makes you feel like you has been
+hollowed out and whittled thin, but it does not leave nothing in you
+that you would want to wake up with the next morning. Of course, it is
+not exactly a pleasant treatment while it is going on, but, after it is
+done, although you could not fight no mess of apes, you could give them
+a run for their money, if such become necessary.
+
+After some time, Jimmie says in a washed-out voice, "O.K., go ahead.
+Tell me I am a louse."
+
+Ditsy does not say nothing and I does not say nothing, neither, being
+busy examining my cuticles.
+
+"I know I am a louse," he continues. "Go on. Get it over with. Go on,
+tell me I am a louse."
+
+So I says, "You are a louse, period," and I leaves off examining my
+cuticles and takes up examining Jimmie like he is a rare specimen of
+garbage that has got in among us while we are occupied elsewhere.
+
+"I was not asking _you_," Jimmie says, and he looks at Ditsy and
+Ditsy looks at him and Ditsy does not say nothing.
+
+"I beg your pardon," I says, "I thought you was addressing the general
+public of which there are several that says you has lost hold of your
+senses."
+
+"Shut up," Jimmie says. "SHUT UP. I did not ask you to butt in, did I?
+Why do you not go back where you come from?"
+
+"Sure," I says, "I will be delighted. But when you is handing out
+your interviews tomorrow do not give the credit for the win to the
+horse--give it to Ditsy, here. _If_ you win."
+
+"What do you mean 'if'?" Jimmie says. "It is in the bag." He laughs.
+"Literal," he says. "You and Ditsy need not worry none."
+
+"I am not worrying," Ditsy says toneless-like. "It does not matter
+either way. Nothing does not matter. Any more."
+
+The way she tags that "any more" on to it is horrible to listen to. It
+has a dead, flat, hopeless sound and I keep thinking, if I look down,
+I will see it laying there on the bath mat spread out on its back with
+its eyes rolled up.
+
+It gets Jimmie, too, because it is clear that if Ditsy had batted him
+on the bean with a lead sock he would not be more took back.
+
+"What do you mean?" he says. "What do you mean?" like that, see, with a
+up on the end.
+
+"I mean it is no good," Ditsy says. "I cannot stand it. You are not
+Jimmie Winkie any more. You are somebody else. Somebody else I do not
+know. Somebody else who I do not want to know. I hope you do lose
+tomorrow," she says and her words bump into each other and bunch up,
+like the field in a steeple-chase taking the first hedge. "I hope you
+lose tomorrow," she says, "and the next day, and the next and the next
+and next and next, and we can go back to that two-room flat and eat
+beef stew and take turns washing the dishes and put toothpicks in the
+windows to keep them from rattling, and play pinochle and watch the car
+lights come over the Freeway and, maybe, have a pint of ice cream for a
+treat and ... and ... be ... happy"--and her voice breaks in the middle
+and she puts her face in her hands and starts crying.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is a awful experience to see a girl cry. It makes you feel like all
+your joints has swelled and your ears and feet belong to a two-humped
+camel.
+
+Jimmie says, "You want me to _lose_?" like he is suffering from
+hallucinations.
+
+Ditsy keeps on crying.
+
+I gives her my handkerchief and wonders if I ought to pat at her or
+something.
+
+"I cannot lose," Jimmie says.
+
+"Look," I says, "I think I has had sufficient. I am going."
+
+"I cannot lose," Jimmie says, "and, if I do, they will not call me Wee
+Willie no more. Guys like Moe Prentice will give me the laugh. I got to
+keep on winning. I cannot stop now."
+
+"You has not _got_ to do nothing but die," I says, "and if what
+guys like Moe Prentice says means more to you than Ditsy, here, I would
+go on off and die if I was you."
+
+"What about your grand piano?" Jimmie says to Ditsy.
+
+"I hate it," Ditsy says through her fingers. "I would like a c-c-canary
+b-b-bird."
+
+"But I cannot lose," Jimmie says, shaking his fist. "I
+cannot--unless--" And he quits shaking his fist and uncloses it and
+looks at it like he expects to find it has varicose veins. And he looks
+at Ditsy setting there on the floor.
+
+"You mean what you said?" he says.
+
+Ditsy makes a kind of soft _oooooo_ing noise like a stable hound
+what has been stepped on.
+
+"O.K.," Jimmie says. "O.K." He gets up and sort of wavers a minute
+and then he goes out and Ditsy keeps on crying and I clears my throat
+once or twice and wishes she is a horse so as I could gentle her and
+then Jimmie comes back in and he is carting this here bridle.
+
+"From me to you," he says, plunking it on the floor. And there is a
+long pause and then he adds, "Temporarily."
+
+Ditsy looks at the bridle, hiccuping slightly like a baby what has been
+having colic.
+
+"I do not get it," she says, hiccuping again.
+
+Jimmie indicates the bridle. "Remember the time," he says, "that we was
+in the Home and you found a four-leaf clover in a book what belonged to
+Miss Watson? I had a toothache, so you snitched the four-leaf clover
+to put in my shoe so as it would go away--the toothache I mean. Only
+you said it was 'temporarily' because it was somebody else's four-leaf
+clover and might have repre ... repercussions being as how it does not
+actually belong to me. So I did--put it in my shoe I mean--and I got a
+blind abscess and it was--well, you know how it was."
+
+"I still do not get it," Ditsy says looking at the bridle like she is
+expecting it to turn into a four-leaf clover.
+
+"It is like this," Jimmie says. "That there"--he points to the
+bridle--"is the same as the four-leaf clover. Maybe you got a toothache
+now, but, if I lose, it might turn out to be a blind abscess. So it is
+only temporary. I am not giving it to you. I am only letting you keep
+it for me."
+
+"I _still_ do not get it," Ditsy says, blowing her nose in my
+handkerchief.
+
+"I do," I says. "He is saying you thinks you wants a canary bird when
+what you really wants is a grand piano, which you have already got."
+
+"You stay out of this," Jimmie says.
+
+"Lay off Jacks," Ditsy says to Jimmie. "He is all right."
+
+"Jacks is a old lady," Jimmie says to Ditsy.
+
+"I am going," I says. Which I does.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. No more beer. I am not half through with this one. I do not like to
+crowd them. And, speaking of crowding, that is what I think happens to
+Jimmie.
+
+Lose? I reckon he does. He does not even get away from the post.
+
+What I mean about crowding, I figure this here horse Jimmie is up on
+gets crowded quick. There is some crows slow, some easy, some quick.
+Jimmie happens to be up on Beeknight and, the way I figure, I figure
+Beeknight crowds quick. You know how it is, out of the barrier,
+everybody trying for a inside track, some pushing maybe, though this is
+not noticeable unless you is up. Now them that crowds slow gets out and
+tries, and them that crowds easy falls in, but them that crowds quick
+rears up and starts doing the Highland fling. There is not many. But
+there is some. And, like I said, the way I figure, Beeknight is one of
+the some.
+
+After it is all over, there is plenty who say there is something fishy
+because Beeknight is never one to crowd slow, easy, _or_ quick.
+Jimmie has been up on Beeknight before and Beeknight has always came in
+home free. In fact, before this here episode I am getting ready to tell
+you about, Beeknight is being touted for the Jockey Gold Cup, so there
+is plenty who say the atmosphere smells highly of cod.
+
+Jimmie pull him? You mean on account of Ditsy saying what she said?
+Maybe. I thought about that angle, but I am almost sure for certain
+that is not the case. I seen him right after it is over and, if he is
+putting on a show, I am a snub-tailed bloodhound.
+
+No, I figure horses like I figure human beings. They is subject to
+change. This here Beeknight might of slept restless, he might of been
+overtrained, he might of been scary, he might of had gas, he might of
+sensed Jimmie was not in no mood. Them things affects a horse. So I say
+there is nothing off-color, but that this here Beeknight has underwent
+a change and happens to crowd quick.
+
+It is like this, see. I avoided Jimmie like he has got the plague and
+this is reciprocated on his part. I see he is jittery and keyed up, but
+this is no mud on my boots, so I leave him be. Not that he is left be,
+because there is many who do not think he has got the plague. It is
+very sickening to watch.
+
+I wonder if Ditsy is in the stands, but I do not wonder long as
+somebody asks him if his sister is in the stands and he says, "No, she
+is home." And somebody says, "Don't she like horse races?" And he says,
+"No." And somebody says, "Well, that is odd. Your own sister." And he
+says, "How would you like to go bag your ears," which shows that he is
+keyed up to a considerable degree.
+
+He is up in the first, again in the third, and again in the fourth. I
+am not up at all until the next day. In fact, I am only there because
+I cannot stay away, so I goes out and hangs over the veranda rail to
+watch the first.
+
+It is a swell day. One of them high, blue ones. There is music
+coming out of the announcing system and people is walking around and
+everything is kind of stirred up like--like it is before the start. It
+is a fast track and pretty to look at and Happy Slauderwasser comes out
+and says, "Move over," and we both hangs over the veranda rail and just
+look at how everything looks, if you know what I mean.
+
+Then the horses is mincing past, Jimmie about as big as a good-sized
+pea, and then the barrier is in, and it is Beeknight in No. 6, and
+everything gets quiet with a little murmur running through it like a
+breeze with a lid on it, and you can hear the popcorn peddlers real
+plain, and then there is that swelling cry, "THEY'RE OFF!" But it
+chokes in the middle and there is a surge for the fence and the stands
+rise up and cranes their necks and Happy says, "My God!" and I near
+falls over the veranda rail because Beeknight is pawing the air and
+kicking and acting in general like he is a prize exhibition at a rodeo
+and for all them shenanigans he does not go nowheres. It is like he is
+trying to kick his way through a wall or something. Jimmie is stuck
+closer than a plaster, but not for long. Beeknight gives a lunge and
+Jimmie goes over, and a sort of a soft, gusty sound goes up from the
+crowd like a thousand breaths has been let out at once.
+
+By the time Jimmie has hit the ground, they is taking Beeknight out and
+do you know that confounded horse is as calm as a June morning? Jimmie
+gets out under his own power.
+
+Yeah. You see it coming, kick loose and roll with the fall and it does
+not no more than scrape off the top fuzz.
+
+It seems like a hour at least has gone past, but it cannot be no more
+than a handful of seconds because it is all clear when the field moves
+into the stretch.
+
+Happy and me look at each other.
+
+Happy says, "Wow."
+
+I says, "It looks like somebody is going to get a bird."
+
+"Yeah," Happy says, "a Bronx one."
+
+"No," I says, "a yellow one with feathers what sings," and I go on down
+to stand on the edge of the crowd what is surrounding Jimmie and listen
+to what is being said.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What is being said is all the same color and cut equal. Howinever, I am
+positive that Jimmie did not do no pull. He is white as death and keeps
+shaking his head like there is lead shot in it and he is listening
+to it rattle. He keeps saying, "I cannot understand it, I cannot
+understand it," over and over. No, he did not do no pull. Spencer Tracy
+cannot act that good and Jimmie Winkie is not no Spencer Tracy.
+
+I mosey on off and am popping my knuckles and thinking when it comes
+over the announcing system that Winkie is not hurt none and will be up
+in the third as scheduled.
+
+But this does not take place, as before the third, Gus Wever comes up
+to me and he is pale and his Adam's apple is riding up and down on his
+collar and he says, "Jacks, I got something for you to do."
+
+"Shoot," I says.
+
+"I want you should break the news to Winkie."
+
+"What news?" I says. "They is not going to disqualify him for falling
+off a horse, I hopes."
+
+"No," Gus says. "Word has just came that his sister has met with a
+accident."
+
+I says, "Ditsy," or I tries to, but it sticks in my throat and, some
+way, I finds I am grabbing hold of Gus and there is guys endeavoring to
+pull us apart thinking we is having a altercation.
+
+"Leave go," Gus says, shrugging them off--he is a big guy--"I am asking
+Jacks, peaceful, if he will tell Winkie his sister has met with a fatal
+accident. He is a friend of Winkie and if your sister is dead, it is
+better it comes from a friend. That is all I am asking. I, myself,
+cannot do it."
+
+So I does it.
+
+When we gets there everything is confusion. There is people everywhere
+and a important-acting guy is asking the maid questions, only this does
+not do no good as she is setting in a chair having hysterics. And there
+is other men down on their knees examining the floor and blowing powder
+on the doorknobs and there is a doctor putting his stuff away in a
+little black bag.
+
+And there is Ditsy.
+
+It does not look like Ditsy. It does not look human even. It is just a
+smashed-in, crumpled-up thing what is wearing Ditsy's clothes, and it
+has blood all over.
+
+It reminds me of the way Tod Beemis looks when he is drug out and laid
+on a shutter after he is caught in a stall with a crazy stallion. Kind
+of ... kind of ... trampled-looking. It makes me feel kind of numblike,
+like maybe I has got a scream in me that has froze solid before it can
+get out.
+
+The important-acting guy, by now, has saw us and advances forward.
+
+"The maid, here," he says, "says she left Miss Winkie setting by the
+window and holding a bridle in her lap. Mooning over it kind of, she
+says. She goes downstairs, the maid does, and she has not no more'n got
+good and down when she hears a racket and she runs back up fast as she
+can and it is like this. We has not touched nothing. This," he, says
+pointing to a scruffed-looking place on the rug, "I guess is where she
+fell down and got up again, and this"--pointing to a spot where the
+plaster has been gouged out of the wall--"this here is where whoever
+done it must of swung and missed--and, from the evidence, whoever must
+of done it was strong as a horse. And this here is the bridle she was
+holding, which looks as if it was tore out of her hands and--" He
+pauses and squints at Jimmie. "Hey," he says, "you do not look like no
+coroner, who are you?"
+
+"He is her brother," I says, and my voice seems to come from some
+far-off place and does not seem to belong to me at all.
+
+"Oh," the man says embarrassed. "I am sorry, buddy. I did not know
+about you being related to the deceased. I am mighty sorry."
+
+Jimmie does not answer. He is looking at the bridle like it is Lazarus
+arose from the dead and it is plain he is going to keel over.
+
+He puts out his hand, as if he is in a trance, and takes the bridle
+from the man.
+
+"It is all right," I says, "it is his bridle. Leave him have it. I will
+take him out of here." Which I do as they bring in a wicker basket and
+set it down by this thing on the floor around which they draws a white
+chalk mark before ... before they--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Guess I must be coming down with a cold. Yeah. Sure I will have another
+one. Just to wet my whistle. I seems to be kind of dried up like.
+Talking too much, I guess. There is times, though, when you has got
+to get it out of your system--the cold, I mean. Yeah. Well, here's to
+nothing, mister. If you got nothing, you got nothing to lose and, even
+if you does, it stands to advantage.
+
+What did who win after what? Oh, Winkie. He does not win no more. And
+does not lose no more. Because he does not ride no more. No, I mean
+no more. Never. You see, he ... he bumped hisself off. I took it for
+granted you knew.
+
+Yeah. Yeah. It was one of them things. After Ditsy--why, he kind of
+went haywire. I tried talking to him. Thought if he got to riding again
+it would take his mind off what it was brooding on. No, no, they never
+did catch whoever done it. I wish they _had_ of. If I could of got
+just within reaching distance--
+
+No, Jimmie would not pay no attention to me. He would just set there
+staring straight ahead and sometimes he would look at me like he could
+see clean through my backbone and out the other side.
+
+"Do not bother none, Jacks," he would say. "You do not understand. It
+was my fault. I should of knowed."
+
+And I would say, "Do not be like that. Them ... them kind of accidents
+is figured out statistical. You could not of knowed in a million
+years."
+
+"I was wrong. I was the one who had the blind abscess. Not Ditsy,"
+he would say. Morose, see. Only I thought he would snap out of it,
+eventual. But he does not. When he snaps, he snaps the other way.
+
+I remember the night that he done it. I set up with him until midnight
+talking up Parvalu, which Colonel Crandall wanted him to ride in the
+Bay Shore. I says, "Look here, Jimmie, if you will just get out and mix
+around some, you will be O. K." And I says, "Do not forget what you
+always said: 'You can shake grief or sorrow, you can bury remorse--but
+you can't never lose the feel o' a horse.'"
+
+"Yeah," he says, and he looks at me for the first time like he really
+sees me. "Yeah," he says, straightening up, "you can shake grief or
+sorrow, you can bury remorse ... bury remorse--"
+
+"But you can't never lose the feel o' a horse," I finishes for him.
+
+"Yeah," he says--slow. "Yeah, that is it."
+
+So I goes home brightened up, thinking I has at last got him squared
+around and the next morning--it is in the papers.
+
+They was two thoroughbreds, them two was. Yessir, two thoroughbreds
+that, some way, got boxed on a inside turn.
+
+What's that? Bridle? Oh, that. I had it buried with Jimmie. He had made
+a will leaving everything he possessed to me. Can you beat it? That is
+the kind of guy he was. Yeah. Oh, I could of kept it if I had of had a
+mind to, but bridles is cheap and he had set such a store by that one
+that it did not seem right to keep it. Besides, I could not ever of
+used it and kept my mind on what I was doing. He ... he hung hisself
+with it, see. He was out of his head with grief, that is all. He did
+not think. Jimmie was not no coward to take the easy way out. I know
+that. But I could not of had it around me just the same. So I buried it
+with him. Holding the reins in his hand. I think he would of liked it
+if he could of knowed.
+
+Well, bottoms up. I got to be going.
+
+Thanks, brother, and the same to you. It has been a pleasure. No, I do
+not reckon you will be seeing me in no papers, unless it is the funny
+papers. Did I not tell you? Horses has got a habit of slowing down when
+I am up on them. Like they has got a dead weight swinging on the bridle
+holding them back. They calls me Jinx. Yeah. Jinx Jackson.
+
+Well, so long, buddy.
+
+
+                               THE END.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 69890 ***
diff --git a/69890-h/69890-h.htm b/69890-h/69890-h.htm
index c1b2a49..f09b9cf 100644
--- a/69890-h/69890-h.htm
+++ b/69890-h/69890-h.htm
@@ -1,1795 +1,1339 @@
-<!DOCTYPE html>

-<html lang="en">

-<head>

-    <meta charset="UTF-8">

-    <title>

-      The Golden Bridle, by Jane Rice—A Project Gutenberg eBook

-    </title>

-    <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover">

-    <style>

-

-body {

-    margin-left: 10%;

-    margin-right: 10%;

-}

-

-    h1,h2 {

-    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */

-    clear: both;

-}

-

-p {

-    margin-top: .51em;

-    text-align: justify;

-    margin-bottom: .49em;

-}

-

-hr {

-    width: 33%;

-    margin-top: 2em;

-    margin-bottom: 2em;

-    margin-left: 33.5%;

-    margin-right: 33.5%;

-    clear: both;

-}

-

-hr.tb   {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;}

-hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;}

-@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} }

-hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;}

-

-.center   {text-align: center;}

-

-.caption  {font-weight: bold;}

-

-/* Images */

-

-img {

-    max-width: 100%;

-    height: auto;

-}

-img.w100 {width: 100%;}

-

-.figcenter {

-    margin: auto;

-    text-align: center;

-    page-break-inside: avoid;

-    max-width: 100%;

-}

-

-div.titlepage {

-  text-align: center;

-  page-break-before: always;

-  page-break-after: always;

-}

-

-div.titlepage p {

-  text-align: center;

-  text-indent: 0em;

-  font-weight: bold;

-  line-height: 1.5;

-  margin-top: 3em;

-}

-

-.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; }

-.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; }

-

-/* Illustration classes */

-.illowp60 {width: 60%;}

-.x-ebookmaker .illowp60 {width: 100%;}

-.illowp95 {width: 95%;}

-.x-ebookmaker .illowp95 {width: 100%;}

-

-    </style>

-</head>

-<body>

-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The golden bridle, by Jane Rice</p>

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms

-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online

-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you

-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the

-country where you are located before using this eBook.

-</div>

-

-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The golden bridle</p>

-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Jane Rice</p>

-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 28, 2023 [eBook #69890]</p>

-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>

-  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</p>

-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN BRIDLE ***</div>

-

-<div class="titlepage">

-

-<h1>THE GOLDEN BRIDLE</h1>

-

-<h2>By Jane Rice</h2>

-

-<p>Illustrated by Alfred</p>

-

-<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br>

-Unknown Worlds April 1943.<br>

-Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br>

-the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Say, that is mighty white. I do not mind if I do, though I remembers

-the day when I would not of touched beer with a ten-foot pole. Weight.

-Jockeys has got to watch their weight like it is tombstones they is

-putting on instead of pounds.</p>

-

-<p>Well, here's luck, mister. May all your double parlays give the bookies

-fits.</p>

-

-<p>What's that? Yeah, sure I am a jockey. Was. There is not no point in

-giving you the old three and five. You look like a right guy. Why

-should I kid you? I have not been up on a horse for four years. Six

-months cold for a jock is a wide turn, but four years—say, four years

-is—what the devil, I am washed up cleaner than a choirboy's ears.</p>

-

-<p>And this is not my fault. That is what gives me the burn. It is not my

-fault. When Lady Luck smiles in the racing game she has got a grin so

-broad you can count her back fillings, but, when she quits smiling,

-brother, she just quits and you might as well go wrap your head in a

-sweat blanket and forget it.</p>

-

-<p>You know, you is going along good, not winning no Champagne Stakes nor

-nothing like that, but hitting the percentages and going along O.K.,

-see, when all of a sudden you finds that things begin to happen. And

-they keeps right on happening and you can spit in the wind all you want

-to and chew four-leaf clovers and take a horseshoe to bed with you

-and it does not have no effect. Things just keeps right on happening

-until after a while the trainers puts the double O on you and you can

-not even get a leg up on a spavined brood mare and everybody takes to

-calling you "Jinx."</p>

-

-<p>That is me, mister. Jinx Jackson.</p>

-

-<p>Oh, I am not beefing none. I manages, what with one thing and another.

-But believe me, buddy, it is enough to give you the yelping wipes when

-you stands there by the fence with the sun beating down on you, and the

-crowd milling around excitedlike, and the bugles blowing, and the flags

-waving, and the horses walking past—nervous—and the colors up with

-their pants skintight and their shirts bellying out like silk balloons,

-and then they are wheeling the barrier in, and you look at the track

-and it is smooth and sweet and fast as a filly with bees in her ears,

-and everything gets still except the popcorn peddlers, and there is

-that awful minute when you is waiting and the shirt sticks to your back

-and you gets that old, familiar, tight feeling on the inside of your

-thighs, and your tongue is like a sponge bit between your teeth, and

-then that cry—like a rising wind—"THEY'RE OFF!"</p>

-

-

-

-<p>That is when it hits you. Right here. As if somebody has yanked your

-stomach out and let it go <i>wham</i> back at you, like a pair of

-suspenders.</p>

-

-<p>That—and when you see a snipe getting hisself boxed on a inside turn,

-or bearing out in the run through the stretch, or—aw, nuts with it. It

-gets you, that is all. It gets you.</p>

-

-<p>Once you has got the feel of horses in your blood you is a goner. A

-gone goner. It is there, brother, and there is not no use fighting it.

-You cannot no more keep away from a paddock than you can stop blinking

-your eyes.</p>

-

-<p>Jimmie Winkie used to say, "You can shake grief and sorrow, you can

-bury remorse—but you can't never lose the feel o' a horse."</p>

-

-<p>Jimmie Winkie. Yeah, Wee Willie. That is the same.</p>

-

-<p>Good! Man, he had the magic touch. Why, he could add twenty lengths to

-anything on four legs. Easy. Jimmie was tops. Why, I has seen him come

-from behind the hard way and spot them a extra advantage by pulling out

-and still win and there was not no photo finishes, neither. When he

-won, mister, he won.</p>

-

-<p>He was a funny guy, he was. Had a kind of puckery face and big ears.

-Walked springy, like a banty rooster. Used to use a special bridle when

-he was up. Superstitious? It is not superstition exactly. It is just

-a kind of a feeling you get about certain things. Lots of us jocks

-are thataway. I know I would of had a hissy—four years ago—if I had

-of mislaid a old wore-out crop I always carried. Moe Prentice had a

-buckeye he would not of parted with for nobody. Jackie Watson had some

-sort of a medal on a silver chain. Cry Baby Noolan would not no more of

-thought of riding with his cap anyway but hind side to than he would

-of thought of riding without any clothes on. In fact, if he would of

-had to make a choice, I reckon he would of rode in his skin before he

-would of changed his cap proper. And, like I said, Jimmie has this here

-special bridle, though there is not much special about it except that

-it is goldish-looking if you hold it in the right light. But seems he

-takes a fancy to it and from the way he acts you would of thought it

-is made from the tanned hide of a Derby winner. But it is not no such

-thing, of course. It is just a bridle like any racing bridle only, like

-I said, it is goldish-looking in a unnoticeable manner.</p>

-

-<p>He gets it one year when we is finishing up the circuit down in

-Tijuana. This is before he hits his stride. When he is going along,

-like me, not snaffling no tall money nor nothing but knocking off his

-percentages. He is plain Jimmie Winkie then. The newspapers has not

-tagged that there Wee Willie on to him yet and he is not endorsing no

-leather jackets, nor saying as how he likes Puffie Wuffies because they

-is superroasted and rolled on hoops.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Well, as I was saying, we is down in Tijuana and it is nighttime and

-we is walking down one of them crooked streets which is about as thick

-in Tijuana as saddle sores is in a riding academy. We is walking along

-with our hands in our pockets and not much else, being as how we has

-inadvertently got mixed up in a game knowed as faro, the same which is

-like being on the wrong end of a loco bronc, and which we would not of

-got into if Jimmie had not of wanted to increase a five-dollar bill

-into a ten-dollar bill so as to buy a real nice present for Ditsy.

-Anyhow, like I said, we is walking along minding our own business when

-there is—</p>

-

-<p>Ditsy? Oh, Ditsy was Jimmie's sister. Name was Dorothy, but Jimmie

-called her Ditsy. He was crazy about her. Seemed like he had raised

-her since she was knee high to a feed box. Guess they had some muddy

-tracks, them two, and what with their not having nobody but theirselves

-and her being crippled, why, one way and another, he set a lot of store

-by her.</p>

-

-<p>Anyway, we is walking along, Jimmie and me, and I am thinking about

-what we is going to eat for breakfast the next day, and lunch, and

-supper, and Jimmie is thinking about how is he going to buy Ditsy

-something when we hear a rumpus going on around a corner up ahead.

-It increases graduallike and when we gets to the corner we meets it,

-head-on you might say.</p>

-

-<p>There is about a dozen people who is all personal acquaintances of

-John Barleycorn, and they is pestering a woman who looks like she is

-on her way to a masquerade at a insane asylum. She has got on a sheet

-all draped and wrapped every which way and her feet is laced up in

-sandals and there is a wreath on her hair, only now it is setting

-cockeyed on account of as how these here people has been chasing her,

-and she is carrying a bridle. In fact, if I had of spent my money on

-John Barleycorn instead of faro, I probably would of joined in on the

-side of these here people who is laughing theirselves sick and grabbing

-at this here sheet and having a big time, for which I cannot blame them

-any as this woman is sure a curious sight.</p>

-

-<p>While I am thinking what a curious sight she is, Jimmie busts up the

-party. He does this with very little fuss, hitting merely one guy who

-goes down like a sack of wet oats and the rest takes to their heels as

-I am doubling up my fists preparing to wade in.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter illowp60" id="illus1" style="max-width: 25.125em;">

-  <img class="w100" src="images/illus1.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>"Now, sister," Jimmie says, rubbing his knuckles tenderlike, "if I was

-you I would vamoose. Tijuana is no place for a lady without as how she

-has got company to see that she gets where she has started out for."</p>

-

-<p>Well, this woman straightens her wreath and breaks out in some kind of

-a foreign language which sounds like nothing I ever heard unless it is

-"Chopsticks" played on a piano which is out of tune and is minus some

-of the keys.</p>

-

-<p>"Look, sister," Jimmie says, "vamoose while the vamoosing is favorable."</p>

-

-<p>The woman makes some motions and spouts some more of this here talk and

-there is just one word I get and that is "grease." She says this over

-and over, "Grease, grease," meanwhile gesturing for all she is able.</p>

-

-<p>"Grease?" Jimmie says, puzzled, and she nods violently and shakes the

-bridle she is carrying and does a act like she is putting it on a horse

-and then flaps her arms like she is flying.</p>

-

-<p>"Grease," she says.</p>

-

-<p>I begins to get uneasy. "Say," I says to Jimmie, sotto voice, "let's us

-get out of here—this gal has got bats in her belfry."</p>

-

-<p>"I think she has lost a horse," Jimmie says slow.</p>

-

-<p>"Horse!" I says. "How is she going to straddle a horse in that getup?

-She has lost her mind. Let's us get out of here. Loonies is not no

-picnic."</p>

-

-<p>Jimmie does not pay no attention to me. He takes the bridle away from

-her—gentle—so as not to scare her and <i>he</i> does a act like

-<i>he</i> is putting it on a horse. "Horse?" he says.</p>

-

-<p>This looney looks at him a minute, then her face kind of brightenslike.

-She points to the bridle Jimmie is holding and says, "Hippos."</p>

-

-<p>"She has got the D. T.'s," I cheeps. "She is talking about a

-hippopotamus what flies or I will eat that there bridle. Come on,"

-I says, "this is not no place for—" But I do not get no further

-because there is a faint whinny and this here woman shrieks joyfully

-and—without so much as a kiss-my-foot—lams in the direction of this

-here nickering which, judging from the sound, is a block or so to our

-rear—though we has not seen no sign of no horse when we is walking by

-thataway.</p>

-

-<p>We stands there gawking after this dame while she disappears in the

-night and Jimmie, suddenlike, yells, "Hey, here is your bridle," and

-starts after her and me after Jimmie, because I has not got no wish to

-see Jimmie sucked in on something that is not kosher, and it is plain

-that there is something here that does not meet the eye right off.</p>

-

-<p>I dope it that this here dame is a kind of a lead rein for some guys

-which is laying low in a alley or some place figuring to roll whoever

-she ropes in, and it is a unpleasant statistic that persons is often

-beat up severe when it is discovered they has not got no wherewith to

-make such a business profitable.</p>

-

-<p>When we gets down the street a ways I catches up to Jimmie and stops

-him and I says, "Has you taken leave of your senses? This here is one

-of them cul-de-sacs or I am a ring-tailed—" But I do not say baboon,

-which I had intended, because somewhere I hears a noise like a lot of

-pigeons taking off—like they has been shooed—and from way up, like

-on a roof, I hears this woman laughing and it dwindles away and, then,

-it is quiet and a little white feather drifts down and lands in the

-gutter. It is all very weird and I do not like it.</p>

-

-<p>"I would of swore a horse nickered down here a minute ago," Jimmie says.</p>

-

-<p>"Shut up," I says, "and let's us get out of here before we is knifed in

-the back."</p>

-

-<p>So we does and that is how Jimmie come by the bridle.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Well, say, I do not mind if I do. There is this about beer. You do not

-have to worry none the next morning about tying your shoes. Ever try

-sticking a hot knife in it? Many's the time I has seen my old man heat

-the poker until it is as red as the old Scratch hisself and then plunge

-it into the pail. That was when you could get all you wanted for a dime

-with boiled ham and cheese and bologna throwed in to boot and, like as

-not, a slice of liver for the cat.</p>

-

-<p>Here's bumps, mister. And may you never tear up your ducats without

-looking twice.</p>

-

-<p>Where was I? Oh, yeah, Tijuana. Well, here we is without a buffalo

-between us. Broke as a skillet of scrambled eggs and up in the fifth

-the next day, the same which dawns bright and early and finds me and

-Jimmie nearly splitting a girth trying to trade that there bridle for a

-plate of buckwheat cakes, but everybody gives us the zero gaze until I

-begins to wonder if we is coming down with smallpox. So we hunts up a

-dopester by the name of Stew Hatcher and he stakes us to a meal after

-which we hangs around until he has got up his sheet and then we rides

-out to the track with him and his girl. We asks Stew, just kidding, who

-he is picking in the fifth and Stew says it is not us and he is not

-kidding. For his money, he says, it is High Jinks, Admirella and Sky

-Eagle. One, two, three.</p>

-

-<p>I am up on Black Boy and Jimmie he is up on Peajacket, so we thumbs

-our noses at Stew and gives him the buzz and says as how we is pleased

-to have met this girl he is with—which is a lie because she is very

-snooty—and we goes on in.</p>

-

-<p>We gets into our colors and sets around with the fellows dishing out

-a lot of bull about what we done in Tijuana and Jimmie gives me the

-wink and says he has got hold of a nifty bridle he is willing to take

-a loss on. And he gets this here bridle out of his locker and says if

-anybody will give him a fin for it they can have it, though they will

-be rooking him on the deal.</p>

-

-<p>Boy, does he get the laugh. Moe says he will give him a fin for it if

-Jimmie will throw in Peajacket and shine his boots for a week, too. And

-Cry Baby Noolan says if it is such a hot bridle why don't he bridle

-Peajacket with it. And everybody starts gaffing Jimmie and I acts real

-indignant and I says what is it worth to them if he <i>does</i> bridle

-Peajacket with it, them being such sports. Jimmie, seeing the lay of

-the land, plays up to me and says, "No," and everybody chimes in giving

-him the merry ha-ha and when there is three bucks up he will not do it,

-why, then Jimmie says O.K., he will do it, see.</p>

-

-<p>Does a holler go up when they catches on to how they has been taken!

-But Jimmie says a bet is a bet and he is game enough to live up to his

-end of the bargain if they is. "Of course, if they <i>isn't</i>—"

-he says, inferring that anybody who reneges is a horse's patoot, so,

-naturally, nobody reneges, though there is some grousing.</p>

-

-<p>I used to say to Jimmie, I would say, "Jimmie, remember the day at

-Tijuana when we nicked Moe and them for three bucks?" And Jimmie, he

-would say, "Yeah," and kind of draw in his breath like he was thinking

-about it—hard. Remembering how Peajacket upset the bookies' apple cart.</p>

-

-<p>You see, Stew Hatcher is wrong. It is Peajacket, High Jinks and

-Admirella. One, two, three. And the owner of Peajacket—I forget his

-name, big loose-mouthed chap with a face like a side of beef—is fair

-to be hobbled because he has not bet on his own entry on account of as

-how it is a cinch to lose. It is a two-year-old he has picked up for

-seven and a quarter at a public sale and he is just feeling him out and

-damn if Jimmie does not bring in a win.</p>

-

-<p>Me? Oh, I comes in with the tailbearers. I could of got in a lame

-fourth, but I am so whooper-jawed watching Jimmie go down the stretch

-like a lighted fuse that I lets this here Black Boy I am up on bear

-out—he was death on bearing out—and, of course, that puts the quietus

-on us. There is not no percentage in whipping a horse over for fourth

-place. A horse has got sense enough to know when you is making a fool

-out of him.</p>

-

-<p>No, I do not guess you will recollect Peajacket. He turns out to be a

-foozle, after all. He is entered a couple of more times, Saratoga, I

-thinks, and Empire City—Syl Patton up—but he does not do nothing but

-pick up a coupla pounds of mud.</p>

-

-<p>But he sure is not no foozle that afternoon at Tijuana.</p>

-

-<p>There is not no barrier. You just keeps back of the line as best you

-can. That is one way to lose a race before the gun. I has seen them do

-it on purpose. You know, too tight a rein, get your horse skittered,

-make him break three or four times, and, when the gun goes, hold him

-back just long enough to let him see that he is a cooked potato. Nine

-times out of ten you can whip him raw and he will run, but he will not

-run fast enough. But <i>your</i> nose is clean. The trainer cannot say

-as how <i>you</i> did not try.</p>

-

-<p>Say, am I boring you with this? If I am—okke doke, any time you has

-had a sufficiency, say so.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Well, as I was saying, there is not no barrier. Outside of a little

-tail flicking and head tossing, Black Boy is as calm as a Jersey cow.

-High Jinks breaks once and Sky Eagle and some of the field prances

-around a bit, but Peajacket he acts like he has been fed hopped oats.

-In fact, there is some talk of it later on, but they cannot never prove

-nothing. Anyway, this here Peajacket is taking on for a fare-you-well

-with Jimmie trying to gentle him down and the starter getting mad and a

-jock, name of Happy Slauderwasser—that is a moniker for you, nice guy

-though—who is next to Peajacket swearing something fierce. Finally,

-Jimmie gets this here Peajacket backed in and he is lathered up like a

-ad for saddle soap, and the gun goes, and out of the tail of my eye as

-me and Black Boy takes off I sees Peajacket rearing up and I thinks,

-"Oh, Lordy," because it is a rule last one in has to pitch a buck in

-the kitty. And it is plain to see, in a field of fifteen, Jimmie is

-slated to be the last one in and then we will only have a buck apiece

-instead of a buck fifty.</p>

-

-<p>I settles down and starts easing over to the inside track hoping for

-a pocket. High Jinks is up ahead and he is not anywheres near let out

-yet. There is three or four horses in between, then Admirella nosing

-up, Sky Eagle alongside, doing like me, playing a wait, and Jimmie and

-the rest of the field bunched in behind.</p>

-

-<p>I am not thinking about Jimmie no more, though. I am concentrating on

-them three or four babies cutting off my view of High Jinks. I am not

-worried about them none, but when there is a opening I wants to be

-there instead of Sky Eagle. So I am concentrating, like I said, and I

-hear this horse coming. You do not actually hear them as much as you

-<i>feel</i> them. It is a mixture of both. It is like you got an alarm

-system inside of you and all of a sudden it is ringing like who popped

-Mollie and you know with a kind of a ... of a ... a kind of a awareness

-that you got heavy competition.</p>

-

-<p>I remembers wondering who it could be. There is High Jinks and

-Admirella in plain sight. Sky Eagle and me practically pat-a-caking at

-each other, some of the field ahead, but they is giving by now and, so

-far as I know, what is left in tow is not capable of doing nothing but

-horse apples.</p>

-

-<p>I do not take my mind off this here opening, though. It is getting

-ripe, I can see that, and I am bound I am going to be there when it is

-due before it closes in and strings out.</p>

-

-<p>Then, I catches a glimpse of this here horse on the off side of Sky

-Eagle. A kind of consciousness it is of this here third horse and I am

-sort of cheered when I see it is not bothering none about no openings,

-nor no inside track, nor nothing like that. And, while I am being

-cheered and thinking what a smart guy I am, this here third horse

-pounds ahead past Sky Eagle, a shoulder, half a length, a length, and

-that opening I been hovering over swings wide as a barn door and Sky

-Eagle is through it because I am yawping at Jimmie Winkie with his ears

-skinned back crouched high on Peajacket, and if I had not of knowed

-better I would of swore he was scared green, and while I am yawping,

-Black Boy bears out so, as I said, that puts the quietus on us.</p>

-

-<p>There has been better races run and bigger ones has been won by darker

-horses, but, off-hand, I cannot call any to mind that I got such a

-thrill out of. I do not know whether it is because I am so cocksure

-Jimmie is bringing up the rear, or because Moe Prentice—he is up on

-High Jinks—is took down a peg or two, or maybe because there is a

-certain something about the way that there horse runs with his nostrils

-red and wide, and his tail streaming out behind him like it has been

-starched, and his hoofs beating music out of that there track like a

-crazy drummer, and Jimmie pasted to him close as a surcingle and with

-a kind of a look about him like night wind sounds, if you know what I

-mean. A kind of a queer, wild, blowy look. But most of all I guess it

-is the horse.</p>

-

-<p>Jimmie says it is the horse and he ought to of knowed being as how he

-was up on him. Jimmie says it is also a great surprise to him that

-Peajacket wins, but, naturally, he does not say this out—but just to

-me—as it is not a good policy to let on that you are surprised when

-you bring in a winner.</p>

-

-<p>How does it feel to bring in a winner? Brother, you can have the

-greatest symphony that was ever wrote; I will take the thunder of

-a winner's hoofs coming down the straightaway. That is something,

-brother. That is really <i>some</i>thing. It is like a ... like a ...

-well, like I said, a kind of a awareness. Like you was conscious of the

-noise and the feel all at the same minute. Take that there Peajacket. I

-got it right away. The noise and the feel together, I mean. Like there

-was two horses running. One on top the other.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>We bums a ride back after the seventh and gets out on the main drag and

-flips a coin to see whether we eats or buys Ditsy something. It comes

-out buying Ditsy something so we goes to one of these here shops that

-has a window full of everything from jewelry to tablecloths and we

-picks out a powder box that plays a tune when the lid is lifted off. A

-thin, tinkly, sort of <i>plink, plink</i> tune, but pretty. Reminds you

-of the way ladies used to rustle when they walked, if you know what I

-mean.</p>

-

-<p>While the guy is wrapping it up, Jimmie goes over and picks up a vase

-which is setting on a shelf with a lot of other vases. This here vase

-he picks up is blue and has a lot of well-built dames on it holding

-garlands of flowers. Jimmie kind of whistles.</p>

-

-<p>"Look at this here," he says.</p>

-

-<p>I agrees it is nice, but points out that we has got exactly twenty-nine

-cents between us and the price is marked clear two fifty.</p>

-

-<p>"This is a strange coincidence," he says, more to hisself than me, and

-I says it is not no coincidence it is a vase and if he is thinking

-about switching over, why, there is a vase on the shelf above which is

-better-looking on account of as how it has a scene painted on it and

-the price is twenty-five cents cheaper.</p>

-

-<p>This guy comes up about this time and washes his hands in the air and

-asks if we are interested in a vase.</p>

-

-<p>"No," I says.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," Jimmie says. "Who is this here middle dame on this here vase?"</p>

-

-<p>"They represent the Muses," this guy says. "A marvelous buy for the

-money."</p>

-

-<p>"This here middle dame is a Muse?" asks Jimmie.</p>

-

-<p>"They are all Muses," this guy says, "goddesses of the arts and poetry

-and science. A very artistic vase. Only two fifty."</p>

-

-<p>"Did any of them have a horse?" Jimmie asks.</p>

-

-<p>"Horse?"</p>

-

-<p>"Horse."</p>

-

-<p>"I could not say. It is a very handsome vase, howinever, and I will

-make you a special price of two twenty-five, if you are interested."</p>

-

-<p>"Where can I find out if any of them had a horse?"</p>

-

-<p>"I could not say, unless it is the library. Two dollars even I will

-make it. Below that I cannot go."</p>

-

-<p>"Very well," I chimes in, being tired of Jimmie ribbing this here guy

-about a horse, "we will take it in place of the powder box."</p>

-

-<p>With that this guy freezes over like the outside of a mint julep and he

-says chillylike, "I have just remembered that this vase has been put

-aside for another party."</p>

-

-<p>And I says, "That is very odd being as how you were so all fired set on

-us having it at reduced cost."</p>

-

-<p>"Herman," this guys says.</p>

-

-<p>And another guy with a neck like a Percheron, shoulders his way through

-a curtain in the back and stands there like as if he is itching for

-somebody to say "When." So we takes our package and we leaves.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>I am in favor of hunting up a crap game and shooting our twenty-nine

-cents and Jimmie says that is a splendid idea and for me to do so and

-he will meet me at the pool parlor in a hour. I asks where is he going?

-And he says the library. And as he has never been inside a library in

-his life to my certain knowledge, I figure he is telling me in a nice

-way to mind my own business. Which I does. And in a hour I has run the

-twenty-nine cents into eight bits and a Masonic emblem.</p>

-

-<p>I meets Jimmie like he said and I can see right away he is exceptional

-thoughtful. We go to a place called La Cucuracha where the second cup

-of coffee is free and you gets gravy with your potatoes, although

-Jimmie seems to have lost his appetite. He keeps transferring his food

-from one side of his plate to the other until I outs and asks him

-pointblank what is ailing him.</p>

-

-<p>"Did you ever hear tell of a horse called Pegasus?" he says by way of

-answer.</p>

-

-<p>"No," I says. "Who sired him?"</p>

-

-<p>"He is out of Medusa by Neptune," says Jimmie.</p>

-

-<p>"I never heard of them, neither," I says shoveling in a mouthful of

-potatoes and gravy. "What has this here Peg-whoit got to do with you?"</p>

-

-<p>"I am not certain for sure," he says, "but I has got a idea,"</p>

-

-<p>"Which is?"</p>

-

-<p>"Could be he got blowed off his course," Jimmie says, "or got scared by

-another gadfly or some such, landed in Tijuana and this here Muse comes

-after him and—"</p>

-

-<p>"Look," I says, "one of us has got a screw loose and it is not me.

-Begin over and repeat slow and there is apple pie with the dinner and

-if you do not want it I will eat your piece, if it is all the same to

-you. Now what was you saying?"</p>

-

-<p>He shoves his plate back. "I am going to break the track record

-tomorrow," he says, and there is something about the way he says it,

-some quality in his voice that makes me sit up and take notice all of a

-sudden.</p>

-

-<p>A kind of creepy sensation comes over me and I am reminded of when I

-am a kid and the grandfather's clock in the hall would strike during

-the night. It would go <i>bong—bong—bong</i> real slow and soft, but

-filling the house, howinever, and making the air vibrate. I would lie

-there and think, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall," but

-that did not make no difference. My feet would get cold and my eyes

-near bug out of my head, and I would not have no swallow and I would

-lie there thinking, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall."</p>

-

-<p>I gives Jimmie one of them searching looks you read about, but it does

-not tell me nothing except that he is a mite tightened-uplike and is

-letting some fifty cents worth of food go to waste.</p>

-

-<p>"Thanks for the tip," I says. "Who you planning on being up on?

-Man-o'-War?"</p>

-

-<p>"Ditsy has always wanted a grand piano," he says, "since she was not

-bigger'n a boot-jack." And he says, "I will get her the best one money

-can buy."</p>

-

-<p>It is obvious that he tightened up more than I think because there is

-not enough space in that two-room flat in Cleveland to hold both Ditsy

-and a grand piano at the same time.</p>

-

-<p>"That will be dandy," I says, "but I am afraid there will not be no

-grand piano in it. Them things cost folding money."</p>

-

-<p>"Folding money," he repeats and the words sounds like a three-inch

-sirloin the way he says them—thick and red and juicy. "You know what

-I am going to have," he says, "I am going to have a pair of handmade

-boots—them that laces at the ankle—and I am going to have a suit with

-buttonholes under the buttons on the sleeves. Not just thread sewed to

-look like buttonholes—<i>real</i> buttonholes I am going to have under

-the buttons and a yellow chamois bag."</p>

-

-<p>"A yellow chamois bag under the buttons," I says and, recalling to mind

-a chap named Joe Hankins who fought a bunch of Comanches all one night

-in a psycopathic ward at a hospital in Louisville, I continues to smile

-pleasantly while I eases my chair back.</p>

-

-<p>"Yeah," Jimmie says, "lined with flannel so as the bridle will not get

-scratched up none."</p>

-

-<p>"Sure," I agrees, "flannel."</p>

-

-<p>"Saratoga," says Jimmie, "Havre de Grace, Narragansett, Hialeah,

-Aqueduct."</p>

-

-<p>"Hawthorne, Churchill Downs, Empire City, Belmont Park, Thistledown," I

-chimes in nodding like a Chinese laundryman who has lost your wash. I

-holds my breath and gets to my feet praying that I will be able to ease

-him out quiet.</p>

-

-<p>"Through?" Jimmie says, cool as a cucumber. "What say we see if we can

-get a game of pool on the cuff?"</p>

-

-<p>The next day he breaks the track record.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>I has thought about it a great deal since then and do you know what I

-figure? I figure it like this. I figure that Jimmie had got on to a

-secret. There is a secret to doing everything. Like tight-rope walking,

-or shooting par golf consistent, or whizzing a ball over a tennis net

-so as it falls just so and dribbles off before it can be got up off

-the ground. There is a secret to juggling plates and a secret to pole

-vaulting higher than anybody else. The plates and the pole and the

-rope and the golf clubs and tennis racquet is all the same. What I

-mean is you could take half a dozen plates and throw them up in the

-air and they would land behind the eight ball. But take these here

-same identical plates and give them to a juggler and he will make them

-perform without so much as mussing his tie. Why? Because he knows the

-secret.</p>

-

-<p>Well, then, why can it not be the same way with horses? I am not saying

-you can take a plow horse and make him win a race any more than that

-there juggler can juggle plates made out of pig iron. But I am saying,

-if you know the secret, you can take a <i>race horse</i> and make him

-win a race. And, like I said, I has thought about it a lot and I figure

-there is a secret and Jimmie has got on to it. I figure the secret

-comes to him in a flash like when you know, in a sort of a burst of

-knowing, that the dealer has aces back to back. Because from that day

-on he never rides a loser. Except one. I will get around to that in a

-second.</p>

-

-<p>Saratoga and Hialeah and Havre de Grace and all of them is not no pipe

-dream. And neither is Ditsy's grand piano, though it is not in no

-two-room flat. It is in a living room as big as from here to there.

-One of them two-storied jobs that goes all the way up to the roof.

-One of them studio living rooms. And done real classy with drapes and

-hand-carved furniture and lamps with rose silk on the underneath parts

-of their shades, and them black-and-white, pen-and-ink-looking pictures

-on the walls, and a rug that feels like it will arch in the middle and

-purr if you rub it, it is that soft.</p>

-

-<p>Of course, it does not happen pronto. It starts out gradual with

-Jimmie's name in the papers—"Keep your eye on So-and-So up on

-So-and-So"—and then it takes a up curve with the sports writers

-pegging him with this here Wee Willie and first thing you know he is

-appearing regular Sundays in the rotogravure, him and Ditsy, holding

-a horseshoe or a shamrock or this here bridle or such as that, and

-persons are talking about the "Winkie Technique" and children is eating

-their weight in cereal because Wee Willie Winkie says as how it has got

-Vitamin Q and for six box tops or reasonable facsimiles thereof the

-cereal people will send you a handsome, autographed photograph of Wee

-Willie on Martinique or Little John or Fireflow or some such as them.

-And his stock is going up like a fever chart. And he is in the bucks.

-But I mean <i>in</i>, brother.</p>

-

-<p>It changes him some. I do not mean he goes around putting out like

-he has hung the moon and painted the blue sky; if anything, he

-quietens down and kind of draws into hisself like. In fact, when he

-is congratulated on his ability, which he is every time he turns

-around, he acts like it is making him sick to his stomach. And when the

-write-ups come out about how modest he is and shy and retiring and how

-he always tries to give the credit for a win to the horse, why then he

-acts like he is even sicker and getting no better fast.</p>

-

-<p>Naturally, while most of the publicity is along the lines of sweetness

-and light, there is some of it as squeezes out a few lemons. Like them

-that says as how Winkie rides a horse walleyed, and them as hints it

-is mighty peculiar he does not never lose and a pity, furthermore,

-because the odds on a horse what is toting Winkie is something to

-behold in a new all-time low.</p>

-

-<p>Then there is the follow-up gang that always seems to heel to a celeb.

-Whether he gets to be a celeb by riding horses or eating goldfish

-or drinking thirty buckets of beer does not make no noticeable

-difference—they follows. It gets so Jimmie cannot go nowheres without

-getting the press took out of his pants and he is lucky if the pants is

-not also took out with the press.</p>

-

-<p>People sends him alligators from Florida and salmon from Alaska. He

-gets lariats made out of tail hair plaited, and high-heeled boots with

-tooling. He gets silver spurs, and leather jackets, and saddles, and

-gloves, and sombreros. He gets blankets and pipes and racks for this

-and holders for that. He gets a sheep dog, a pair of love birds, a

-coon cat, a baby leopard, a bearskin rug with the teeth still in it, a

-stuffed owl, a collection of butterflies, and some twisty horns off a

-mountain goat all set and glued on a wooden thing to hang on the wall.

-He gets socks by the gross, handkerchiefs by carloads and one dame even

-sends him a box of pink silk underwear with his initials stitched in

-fancy in orchid embroidery.</p>

-

-<p>To give you the idea, one day he appears in the papers cutting a

-piece out of one of them round coffee cakes and the next day there is

-nineteen round coffee cakes delivered to his address and he does not

-<i>like</i> round coffee cakes nor no kind of coffee cakes, but is

-cutting this here piece to please the press photographer who wants a

-homey touch.</p>

-

-<p>But for everybody what is giving him something there is two wanting him

-to give <i>them</i> something. Jimmie used to say he got so he could

-tell right off who was a givee and who was a gimme. Not that he does

-not appreciate what is give him, even if he does not keep it, and not

-that he does not hand out to the gimmes—it is just that he does not

-want nothing off of nobody and does not want nobody to want nothing off

-of him.</p>

-

-<p>But when you gets in the major brackets that is not the way things is.

-So, like I said, it changes him some. Some way, he reminds me of a kid

-what has eat a quarter's worth of jelly beans all one flavor.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>It changes Ditsy, too. Her hair is not loose-like and fluffy no more.

-It is on the order of a cocker spaniel's, only precise, and her ears

-has got earbobs in them, and instead of wearing print housedresses she

-is all diked out in them dresses which is not referred to as dresses,

-but as "creations." She has got a new wheelchair which is streamlined

-and has more chrome on it than a limousine, and some bird with a

-Vandyke and a accent you can spread like marmalade is giving her some

-kind of underwater massage for her legs, so she should be very happy.

-She is not, though.</p>

-

-<p>She puts on like she is happy and anybody what does not know her would

-say, "My, she is happy," and they would be ninety-nine and forty-four

-hundreds percent wrong because she is not happy by no means. She fools

-Jimmie because Jimmie is so anxious for her to be happy that, when she

-keeps saying she is happy, he believes she is happy and it does not

-occur to him that when you are happy you does not go around saying,

-"My, I am happy," like you was learning a lesson in memorizing.</p>

-

-<p>When a woman is happy she sings and brushes her hair a lot and says

-stuff like, "I declare, it is four o'clock <i>already</i>, can you beat

-that?" and she looks smily even when she is not actually smiling. So

-it is obvious Ditsy is not happy because she is not doing none of them

-things. When she smiles it is more or less of a lip movement going on

-under her nose and not having nothing to do with the rest of her face,

-and she does not sing spontaneous, though when she is in that two-room

-flat the landlady has had to request her several times to pipe down.

-And, instead of saying, "I declare it is four o'clock <i>already</i>,"

-she just says, "It is four o'clock," like you would say, "The dodo

-is now become extinct," or, "I see where there in a population of

-ninety-two in East Gleep, Nevada."</p>

-

-<p>So, as I said, it changes Ditsy, too. And it is pathetic to watch them

-two, him and her, working so hard at being happy and pretending that

-life is a bowl of cherries when it is plain life is a onion poultice.</p>

-

-<p>Some time passes and I am here, there, and yonder and word gets around

-that Jimmie Winkie is hitting the paint which occasions me to be

-surprised because Jimmie Winkie is never one to hit the paint even in a

-mild manner. So I am not paying any attention to these here remarks and

-I am once or twice very near smacking persons in the puss who say that

-it is a fact that Ditsy is turned into a red-hot momma.</p>

-

-<p>What's that? Oh, that. Well, it seems that this here underwater massage

-is the stuff and she is able to get around some—not good, understand,

-but some.</p>

-

-<p>What! Her! Say, listen here, bub—well, all right, no offense taken,

-but she is not that kind. O. K. O. K. Let it ride. Sure I will have

-another beer, only do not make no more remarks like that, see. O. K. O.

-K.</p>

-

-<p>Maybe I do not make myself clear. I mean she has gone in for

-double-jointed cigarette holders and red fingernails and them

-long-haired guys what paints a picture of somebody so as they have one

-eye here and one here and clockwork springs for the top of their head

-and maybe a spare tire for one hand and a fiddle for the other with a

-bunch of carrots sprouting out of it.</p>

-

-<p>Anyway, that is what I am hearing and—here's bumps, brother. You know

-I set and watched a glass of beer bubble from the bottom one night

-and it bubbled for three hours and a half 'fore it got flat. That was

-when Ditsy—But I will get around to that quick enough. Now and again

-I still catches myself trying <i>not</i> to think about it. And it has

-been a long time. A long time.</p>

-

-<p>What was I saying? Oh, yeah, Jimmie hitting the paint. He <i>is</i> all

-right because I am setting in a place in Cleveland—having just got off

-the train—and some fellow comes in and I does not pay no attention

-until I see he is walking like a banty rooster which is sea-sick. And

-I yells, "Jimmie!" And he looks up and focuses on me and I see it is

-true he is hitting the paint and, if his present condition is a fair

-example, he is hitting it with a capital H.</p>

-

-<p>I am not one to stick my nose in other people's business. I am one who

-says other people's business is their own business and no business of

-mine, having found that a nose stuck in other people's business usually

-gets itself pinned up so as it does not look like a nose for quite a

-while after.</p>

-

-<p>But this is different. First, it is Jimmie Winkie. Second, he is

-running a race the next day I have seen by the papers. Third, it will

-not put no shine on his shoes if somebody says, "Oh, look, is that not

-Wee Winkie and is he not skizzled?"</p>

-

-<p>To make a long story short, I gets him out of there. I thinks about

-checking into a hotel, but there is those somebodies again, so there is

-not nothing to do but get a cab and take him home. The same which I

-does.</p>

-

-<p>When I first sees Ditsy I also thinks it is true that she has turned

-into a red-hot momma. She has done something to her mouth so it looks

-like it has been swatted by a ripe plum, and she is wearing one of them

-"creations" that does not leave but very little to the imagination, and

-she is walking with two silver-headed canes, and her fingernails looks

-like they has been dipped in calves' liver while it is still in the

-calf.</p>

-

-<p>She is quite a sight for sore eyes until you remembers it is Ditsy

-and, then your collar gets too tight and you say, "Hello, Ditsy," and

-she does not say nothing. She just looks at Jimmie until you thinks

-she does not know who it is and, then, she looks at me and her eyes

-is the color of a horse's flanks after a workout—dark and wet and

-velvety—and she says, "Bring him in, Jacks," and, some way, her voice

-sounds like it is bleeding. And, all at once, you know that underneath

-all this cover-up she has put on is the same old Ditsy. Worn finer, and

-kind of tired, but Ditsy.</p>

-

-<p>She knows what to do, too. She does not put him to bed. She has me set

-him up in the bathroom with his head over the basin and she feeds him

-soapy water and as fast as one glass full comes up down goes another.

-And when he says he cannot do it no more, she wheedles him into doing

-it until his insides is as clean as a old maid's conscience, and his

-head is woozy but not boozy. Also, I am under the impression this is

-not the first time them two has underwent this here same procedure.</p>

-

-<p>Soapy water? Best thing on earth. Makes you feel like you has been

-hollowed out and whittled thin, but it does not leave nothing in you

-that you would want to wake up with the next morning. Of course, it is

-not exactly a pleasant treatment while it is going on, but, after it is

-done, although you could not fight no mess of apes, you could give them

-a run for their money, if such become necessary.</p>

-

-<p>After some time, Jimmie says in a washed-out voice, "O.K., go ahead.

-Tell me I am a louse."</p>

-

-<p>Ditsy does not say nothing and I does not say nothing, neither, being

-busy examining my cuticles.</p>

-

-<p>"I know I am a louse," he continues. "Go on. Get it over with. Go on,

-tell me I am a louse."</p>

-

-<p>So I says, "You are a louse, period," and I leaves off examining my

-cuticles and takes up examining Jimmie like he is a rare specimen of

-garbage that has got in among us while we are occupied elsewhere.</p>

-

-<p>"I was not asking <i>you</i>," Jimmie says, and he looks at Ditsy and

-Ditsy looks at him and Ditsy does not say nothing.</p>

-

-<p>"I beg your pardon," I says, "I thought you was addressing the general

-public of which there are several that says you has lost hold of your

-senses."</p>

-

-<p>"Shut up," Jimmie says. "SHUT UP. I did not ask you to butt in, did I?

-Why do you not go back where you come from?"</p>

-

-<p>"Sure," I says, "I will be delighted. But when you is handing out

-your interviews tomorrow do not give the credit for the win to the

-horse—give it to Ditsy, here. <i>If</i> you win."</p>

-

-<p>"What do you mean 'if'?" Jimmie says. "It is in the bag." He laughs.

-"Literal," he says. "You and Ditsy need not worry none."</p>

-

-<p>"I am not worrying," Ditsy says toneless-like. "It does not matter

-either way. Nothing does not matter. Any more."</p>

-

-<p>The way she tags that "any more" on to it is horrible to listen to. It

-has a dead, flat, hopeless sound and I keep thinking, if I look down,

-I will see it laying there on the bath mat spread out on its back with

-its eyes rolled up.</p>

-

-<p>It gets Jimmie, too, because it is clear that if Ditsy had batted him

-on the bean with a lead sock he would not be more took back.</p>

-

-<p>"What do you mean?" he says. "What do you mean?" like that, see, with a

-up on the end.</p>

-

-<p>"I mean it is no good," Ditsy says. "I cannot stand it. You are not

-Jimmie Winkie any more. You are somebody else. Somebody else I do not

-know. Somebody else who I do not want to know. I hope you do lose

-tomorrow," she says and her words bump into each other and bunch up,

-like the field in a steeple-chase taking the first hedge. "I hope you

-lose tomorrow," she says, "and the next day, and the next and the next

-and next and next, and we can go back to that two-room flat and eat

-beef stew and take turns washing the dishes and put toothpicks in the

-windows to keep them from rattling, and play pinochle and watch the car

-lights come over the Freeway and, maybe, have a pint of ice cream for a

-treat and ... and ... be ... happy"—and her voice breaks in the middle

-and she puts her face in her hands and starts crying.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>It is a awful experience to see a girl cry. It makes you feel like all

-your joints has swelled and your ears and feet belong to a two-humped

-camel.</p>

-

-<p>Jimmie says, "You want me to <i>lose</i>?" like he is suffering from

-hallucinations.</p>

-

-<p>Ditsy keeps on crying.</p>

-

-<p>I gives her my handkerchief and wonders if I ought to pat at her or

-something.</p>

-

-<p>"I cannot lose," Jimmie says.</p>

-

-<p>"Look," I says, "I think I has had sufficient. I am going."</p>

-

-<p>"I cannot lose," Jimmie says, "and, if I do, they will not call me Wee

-Willie no more. Guys like Moe Prentice will give me the laugh. I got to

-keep on winning. I cannot stop now."</p>

-

-<p>"You has not <i>got</i> to do nothing but die," I says, "and if what

-guys like Moe Prentice says means more to you than Ditsy, here, I would

-go on off and die if I was you."</p>

-

-<p>"What about your grand piano?" Jimmie says to Ditsy.</p>

-

-<p>"I hate it," Ditsy says through her fingers. "I would like a c-c-canary

-b-b-bird."</p>

-

-<p>"But I cannot lose," Jimmie says, shaking his fist. "I

-cannot—unless—" And he quits shaking his fist and uncloses it and

-looks at it like he expects to find it has varicose veins. And he looks

-at Ditsy setting there on the floor.</p>

-

-<p>"You mean what you said?" he says.</p>

-

-<p>Ditsy makes a kind of soft <i>oooooo</i>ing noise like a stable hound

-what has been stepped on.</p>

-

-<p>"O.K.," Jimmie says. "O.K." He gets up and sort of wavers a minute

-and then he goes out and Ditsy keeps on crying and I clears my throat

-once or twice and wishes she is a horse so as I could gentle her and

-then Jimmie comes back in and he is carting this here bridle.</p>

-

-<p>"From me to you," he says, plunking it on the floor. And there is a

-long pause and then he adds, "Temporarily."</p>

-

-<p>Ditsy looks at the bridle, hiccuping slightly like a baby what has been

-having colic.</p>

-

-<p>"I do not get it," she says, hiccuping again.</p>

-

-<p>Jimmie indicates the bridle. "Remember the time," he says, "that we was

-in the Home and you found a four-leaf clover in a book what belonged to

-Miss Watson? I had a toothache, so you snitched the four-leaf clover

-to put in my shoe so as it would go away—the toothache I mean. Only

-you said it was 'temporarily' because it was somebody else's four-leaf

-clover and might have repre ... repercussions being as how it does not

-actually belong to me. So I did—put it in my shoe I mean—and I got a

-blind abscess and it was—well, you know how it was."</p>

-

-<p>"I still do not get it," Ditsy says looking at the bridle like she is

-expecting it to turn into a four-leaf clover.</p>

-

-<p>"It is like this," Jimmie says. "That there"—he points to the

-bridle—"is the same as the four-leaf clover. Maybe you got a toothache

-now, but, if I lose, it might turn out to be a blind abscess. So it is

-only temporary. I am not giving it to you. I am only letting you keep

-it for me."</p>

-

-<p>"I <i>still</i> do not get it," Ditsy says, blowing her nose in my

-handkerchief.</p>

-

-<p>"I do," I says. "He is saying you thinks you wants a canary bird when

-what you really wants is a grand piano, which you have already got."</p>

-

-<p>"You stay out of this," Jimmie says.</p>

-

-<p>"Lay off Jacks," Ditsy says to Jimmie. "He is all right."</p>

-

-<p>"Jacks is a old lady," Jimmie says to Ditsy.</p>

-

-<p>"I am going," I says. Which I does.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>No. No more beer. I am not half through with this one. I do not like to

-crowd them. And, speaking of crowding, that is what I think happens to

-Jimmie.</p>

-

-<p>Lose? I reckon he does. He does not even get away from the post.</p>

-

-<p>What I mean about crowding, I figure this here horse Jimmie is up on

-gets crowded quick. There is some crows slow, some easy, some quick.

-Jimmie happens to be up on Beeknight and, the way I figure, I figure

-Beeknight crowds quick. You know how it is, out of the barrier,

-everybody trying for a inside track, some pushing maybe, though this is

-not noticeable unless you is up. Now them that crowds slow gets out and

-tries, and them that crowds easy falls in, but them that crowds quick

-rears up and starts doing the Highland fling. There is not many. But

-there is some. And, like I said, the way I figure, Beeknight is one of

-the some.</p>

-

-<p>After it is all over, there is plenty who say there is something fishy

-because Beeknight is never one to crowd slow, easy, <i>or</i> quick.

-Jimmie has been up on Beeknight before and Beeknight has always came in

-home free. In fact, before this here episode I am getting ready to tell

-you about, Beeknight is being touted for the Jockey Gold Cup, so there

-is plenty who say the atmosphere smells highly of cod.</p>

-

-<p>Jimmie pull him? You mean on account of Ditsy saying what she said?

-Maybe. I thought about that angle, but I am almost sure for certain

-that is not the case. I seen him right after it is over and, if he is

-putting on a show, I am a snub-tailed bloodhound.</p>

-

-<p>No, I figure horses like I figure human beings. They is subject to

-change. This here Beeknight might of slept restless, he might of been

-overtrained, he might of been scary, he might of had gas, he might of

-sensed Jimmie was not in no mood. Them things affects a horse. So I say

-there is nothing off-color, but that this here Beeknight has underwent

-a change and happens to crowd quick.</p>

-

-<p>It is like this, see. I avoided Jimmie like he has got the plague and

-this is reciprocated on his part. I see he is jittery and keyed up, but

-this is no mud on my boots, so I leave him be. Not that he is left be,

-because there is many who do not think he has got the plague. It is

-very sickening to watch.</p>

-

-<p>I wonder if Ditsy is in the stands, but I do not wonder long as

-somebody asks him if his sister is in the stands and he says, "No, she

-is home." And somebody says, "Don't she like horse races?" And he says,

-"No." And somebody says, "Well, that is odd. Your own sister." And he

-says, "How would you like to go bag your ears," which shows that he is

-keyed up to a considerable degree.</p>

-

-<p>He is up in the first, again in the third, and again in the fourth. I

-am not up at all until the next day. In fact, I am only there because

-I cannot stay away, so I goes out and hangs over the veranda rail to

-watch the first.</p>

-

-<p>It is a swell day. One of them high, blue ones. There is music

-coming out of the announcing system and people is walking around and

-everything is kind of stirred up like—like it is before the start. It

-is a fast track and pretty to look at and Happy Slauderwasser comes out

-and says, "Move over," and we both hangs over the veranda rail and just

-look at how everything looks, if you know what I mean.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<div class="figcenter illowp95" id="illus2" style="max-width: 39.75em;">

-  <img class="w100" src="images/illus2.jpg" alt="">

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Then the horses is mincing past, Jimmie about as big as a good-sized

-pea, and then the barrier is in, and it is Beeknight in No. 6, and

-everything gets quiet with a little murmur running through it like a

-breeze with a lid on it, and you can hear the popcorn peddlers real

-plain, and then there is that swelling cry, "THEY'RE OFF!" But it

-chokes in the middle and there is a surge for the fence and the stands

-rise up and cranes their necks and Happy says, "My God!" and I near

-falls over the veranda rail because Beeknight is pawing the air and

-kicking and acting in general like he is a prize exhibition at a rodeo

-and for all them shenanigans he does not go nowheres. It is like he is

-trying to kick his way through a wall or something. Jimmie is stuck

-closer than a plaster, but not for long. Beeknight gives a lunge and

-Jimmie goes over, and a sort of a soft, gusty sound goes up from the

-crowd like a thousand breaths has been let out at once.</p>

-

-<p>By the time Jimmie has hit the ground, they is taking Beeknight out and

-do you know that confounded horse is as calm as a June morning? Jimmie

-gets out under his own power.</p>

-

-<p>Yeah. You see it coming, kick loose and roll with the fall and it does

-not no more than scrape off the top fuzz.</p>

-

-<p>It seems like a hour at least has gone past, but it cannot be no more

-than a handful of seconds because it is all clear when the field moves

-into the stretch.</p>

-

-<p>Happy and me look at each other.</p>

-

-<p>Happy says, "Wow."</p>

-

-<p>I says, "It looks like somebody is going to get a bird."</p>

-

-<p>"Yeah," Happy says, "a Bronx one."</p>

-

-<p>"No," I says, "a yellow one with feathers what sings," and I go on down

-to stand on the edge of the crowd what is surrounding Jimmie and listen

-to what is being said.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>What is being said is all the same color and cut equal. Howinever, I am

-positive that Jimmie did not do no pull. He is white as death and keeps

-shaking his head like there is lead shot in it and he is listening

-to it rattle. He keeps saying, "I cannot understand it, I cannot

-understand it," over and over. No, he did not do no pull. Spencer Tracy

-cannot act that good and Jimmie Winkie is not no Spencer Tracy.</p>

-

-<p>I mosey on off and am popping my knuckles and thinking when it comes

-over the announcing system that Winkie is not hurt none and will be up

-in the third as scheduled.</p>

-

-<p>But this does not take place, as before the third, Gus Wever comes up

-to me and he is pale and his Adam's apple is riding up and down on his

-collar and he says, "Jacks, I got something for you to do."</p>

-

-<p>"Shoot," I says.</p>

-

-<p>"I want you should break the news to Winkie."</p>

-

-<p>"What news?" I says. "They is not going to disqualify him for falling

-off a horse, I hopes."</p>

-

-<p>"No," Gus says. "Word has just came that his sister has met with a

-accident."</p>

-

-<p>I says, "Ditsy," or I tries to, but it sticks in my throat and, some

-way, I finds I am grabbing hold of Gus and there is guys endeavoring to

-pull us apart thinking we is having a altercation.</p>

-

-<p>"Leave go," Gus says, shrugging them off—he is a big guy—"I am asking

-Jacks, peaceful, if he will tell Winkie his sister has met with a fatal

-accident. He is a friend of Winkie and if your sister is dead, it is

-better it comes from a friend. That is all I am asking. I, myself,

-cannot do it."</p>

-

-<p>So I does it.</p>

-

-<p>When we gets there everything is confusion. There is people everywhere

-and a important-acting guy is asking the maid questions, only this does

-not do no good as she is setting in a chair having hysterics. And there

-is other men down on their knees examining the floor and blowing powder

-on the doorknobs and there is a doctor putting his stuff away in a

-little black bag.</p>

-

-<p>And there is Ditsy.</p>

-

-<p>It does not look like Ditsy. It does not look human even. It is just a

-smashed-in, crumpled-up thing what is wearing Ditsy's clothes, and it

-has blood all over.</p>

-

-<p>It reminds me of the way Tod Beemis looks when he is drug out and laid

-on a shutter after he is caught in a stall with a crazy stallion. Kind

-of ... kind of ... trampled-looking. It makes me feel kind of numblike,

-like maybe I has got a scream in me that has froze solid before it can

-get out.</p>

-

-<p>The important-acting guy, by now, has saw us and advances forward.</p>

-

-<p>"The maid, here," he says, "says she left Miss Winkie setting by the

-window and holding a bridle in her lap. Mooning over it kind of, she

-says. She goes downstairs, the maid does, and she has not no more'n got

-good and down when she hears a racket and she runs back up fast as she

-can and it is like this. We has not touched nothing. This," he, says

-pointing to a scruffed-looking place on the rug, "I guess is where she

-fell down and got up again, and this"—pointing to a spot where the

-plaster has been gouged out of the wall—"this here is where whoever

-done it must of swung and missed—and, from the evidence, whoever must

-of done it was strong as a horse. And this here is the bridle she was

-holding, which looks as if it was tore out of her hands and—" He

-pauses and squints at Jimmie. "Hey," he says, "you do not look like no

-coroner, who are you?"</p>

-

-<p>"He is her brother," I says, and my voice seems to come from some

-far-off place and does not seem to belong to me at all.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh," the man says embarrassed. "I am sorry, buddy. I did not know

-about you being related to the deceased. I am mighty sorry."</p>

-

-<p>Jimmie does not answer. He is looking at the bridle like it is Lazarus

-arose from the dead and it is plain he is going to keel over.</p>

-

-<p>He puts out his hand, as if he is in a trance, and takes the bridle

-from the man.</p>

-

-<p>"It is all right," I says, "it is his bridle. Leave him have it. I will

-take him out of here." Which I do as they bring in a wicker basket and

-set it down by this thing on the floor around which they draws a white

-chalk mark before ... before they—</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Guess I must be coming down with a cold. Yeah. Sure I will have another

-one. Just to wet my whistle. I seems to be kind of dried up like.

-Talking too much, I guess. There is times, though, when you has got

-to get it out of your system—the cold, I mean. Yeah. Well, here's to

-nothing, mister. If you got nothing, you got nothing to lose and, even

-if you does, it stands to advantage.</p>

-

-<p>What did who win after what? Oh, Winkie. He does not win no more. And

-does not lose no more. Because he does not ride no more. No, I mean

-no more. Never. You see, he ... he bumped hisself off. I took it for

-granted you knew.</p>

-

-<p>Yeah. Yeah. It was one of them things. After Ditsy—why, he kind of

-went haywire. I tried talking to him. Thought if he got to riding again

-it would take his mind off what it was brooding on. No, no, they never

-did catch whoever done it. I wish they <i>had</i> of. If I could of got

-just within reaching distance—</p>

-

-<p>No, Jimmie would not pay no attention to me. He would just set there

-staring straight ahead and sometimes he would look at me like he could

-see clean through my backbone and out the other side.</p>

-

-<p>"Do not bother none, Jacks," he would say. "You do not understand. It

-was my fault. I should of knowed."</p>

-

-<p>And I would say, "Do not be like that. Them ... them kind of accidents

-is figured out statistical. You could not of knowed in a million

-years."</p>

-

-<p>"I was wrong. I was the one who had the blind abscess. Not Ditsy,"

-he would say. Morose, see. Only I thought he would snap out of it,

-eventual. But he does not. When he snaps, he snaps the other way.</p>

-

-<p>I remember the night that he done it. I set up with him until midnight

-talking up Parvalu, which Colonel Crandall wanted him to ride in the

-Bay Shore. I says, "Look here, Jimmie, if you will just get out and mix

-around some, you will be O. K." And I says, "Do not forget what you

-always said: 'You can shake grief or sorrow, you can bury remorse—but

-you can't never lose the feel o' a horse.'"</p>

-

-<p>"Yeah," he says, and he looks at me for the first time like he really

-sees me. "Yeah," he says, straightening up, "you can shake grief or

-sorrow, you can bury remorse ... bury remorse—"</p>

-

-<p>"But you can't never lose the feel o' a horse," I finishes for him.</p>

-

-<p>"Yeah," he says—slow. "Yeah, that is it."</p>

-

-<p>So I goes home brightened up, thinking I has at last got him squared

-around and the next morning—it is in the papers.</p>

-

-<p>They was two thoroughbreds, them two was. Yessir, two thoroughbreds

-that, some way, got boxed on a inside turn.</p>

-

-<p>What's that? Bridle? Oh, that. I had it buried with Jimmie. He had made

-a will leaving everything he possessed to me. Can you beat it? That is

-the kind of guy he was. Yeah. Oh, I could of kept it if I had of had a

-mind to, but bridles is cheap and he had set such a store by that one

-that it did not seem right to keep it. Besides, I could not ever of

-used it and kept my mind on what I was doing. He ... he hung hisself

-with it, see. He was out of his head with grief, that is all. He did

-not think. Jimmie was not no coward to take the easy way out. I know

-that. But I could not of had it around me just the same. So I buried it

-with him. Holding the reins in his hand. I think he would of liked it

-if he could of knowed.</p>

-

-<p>Well, bottoms up. I got to be going.</p>

-

-<p>Thanks, brother, and the same to you. It has been a pleasure. No, I do

-not reckon you will be seeing me in no papers, unless it is the funny

-papers. Did I not tell you? Horses has got a habit of slowing down when

-I am up on them. Like they has got a dead weight swinging on the bridle

-holding them back. They calls me Jinx. Yeah. Jinx Jackson.</p>

-

-<p>Well, so long, buddy.</p>

-

-

-<p class="ph1">THE END.</p>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN BRIDLE ***</div>

-<div style='text-align:left'>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Updated editions will replace the previous one&#8212;the old editions will

-be renamed.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright

-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,

-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United

-States without permission and without paying copyright

-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part

-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG&#8482;

-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,

-and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following

-the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use

-of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for

-copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very

-easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation

-of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project

-Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away&#8212;you may

-do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected

-by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark

-license, especially commercial redistribution.

-</div>

-

-<div style='margin-top:1em; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE</div>

-<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE</div>

-<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-To protect the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting the free

-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work

-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &#8220;Project

-Gutenberg&#8221;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; License available with this file or online at

-www.gutenberg.org/license.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>

-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to

-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property

-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all

-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or

-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in your

-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work and you do not agree to be bound

-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person

-or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.B. &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is a registered trademark. It may only be

-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who

-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few

-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works

-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See

-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works if you follow the terms of this

-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&#8220;the

-Foundation&#8221; or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection

-of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works. Nearly all the individual

-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United

-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the

-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not

-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,

-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as

-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope

-that you will support the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting

-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; name associated with the work. You can easily

-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the

-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License when

-you share it without charge with others.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern

-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are

-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,

-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this

-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,

-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any

-other Project Gutenberg&#8482; work. The Foundation makes no

-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any

-country other than the United States.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License must appear

-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work (any work

-on which the phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; appears, or with which the

-phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is associated) is accessed, displayed,

-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

-</div>

-

-<blockquote>

-  <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-    other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-    whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms

-    of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online

-    at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you

-    are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws

-    of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

-  </div>

-</blockquote>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is

-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not

-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the

-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in

-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are

-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase &#8220;Project

-Gutenberg&#8221; associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply

-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or

-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is posted

-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution

-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any

-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms

-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg&#8482; License for all works

-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the

-beginning of this work.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this

-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg&#8482;.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without

-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with

-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; License.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,

-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including

-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access

-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work in a format

-other than &#8220;Plain Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other format used in the official

-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg&#8482; website

-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense

-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means

-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original &#8220;Plain

-Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other form. Any alternate format must include the

-full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg&#8482; works

-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works

-provided that:

-</div>

-

-<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'>

-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>

-        &#8226; You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from

-        the use of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works calculated using the method

-        you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed

-        to the owner of the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, but he has

-        agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project

-        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid

-        within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are

-        legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty

-        payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project

-        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in

-        Section 4, &#8220;Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg

-        Literary Archive Foundation.&#8221;

-    </div>

-

-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>

-        &#8226; You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies

-        you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he

-        does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-        License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all

-        copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue

-        all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-        works.

-    </div>

-

-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>

-        &#8226; You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

-        any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the

-        electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of

-        receipt of the work.

-    </div>

-

-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>

-        &#8226; You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free

-        distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works.

-    </div>

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work or group of works on different terms than

-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing

-from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of

-the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark. Contact the Foundation as set

-forth in Section 3 below.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable

-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread

-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may

-contain &#8220;Defects,&#8221; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate

-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other

-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or

-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or

-cannot be read by your equipment.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &#8220;Right

-of Replacement or Refund&#8221; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, and any other party distributing a Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all

-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal

-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT

-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE

-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE

-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE

-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR

-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH

-DAMAGE.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a

-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can

-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a

-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you

-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium

-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you

-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in

-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person

-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second

-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If

-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing

-without further opportunities to fix the problem.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth

-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you &#8216;AS-IS&#8217;, WITH NO

-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT

-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of

-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement

-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the

-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or

-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or

-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the

-remaining provisions.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the

-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone

-providing copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in

-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the

-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,

-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of

-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this

-or any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, (b) alteration, modification, or

-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, and (c) any

-Defect you cause.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>

-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; is synonymous with the free distribution of

-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of

-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It

-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations

-from people in all walks of life.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg&#8482;&#8217;s

-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg&#8482; collection will

-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure

-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg&#8482; and future

-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see

-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>

-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit

-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the

-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal

-Revenue Service. The Foundation&#8217;s EIN or federal tax identification

-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by

-U.S. federal laws and your state&#8217;s laws.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-The Foundation&#8217;s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,

-Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up

-to date contact information can be found at the Foundation&#8217;s website

-and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>

-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; depends upon and cannot survive without widespread

-public support and donations to carry out its mission of

-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be

-freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest

-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations

-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt

-status with the IRS.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating

-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United

-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a

-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up

-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations

-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND

-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state

-visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we

-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition

-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who

-approach us with offers to donate.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make

-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from

-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation

-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other

-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To

-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>

-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; concept of a library of electronic works that could be

-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and

-distributed Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks with only a loose network of

-volunteer support.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks are often created from several printed

-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in

-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not

-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper

-edition.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Most people start at our website which has the main PG search

-facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-This website includes information about Project Gutenberg&#8482;,

-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to

-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

-</div>

-

-</div>

-</body>

-</html>

+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <title>
+      The Golden Bridle, by Jane Rice—A Project Gutenberg eBook
+    </title>
+    <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover">
+    <style>
+
+body {
+    margin-left: 10%;
+    margin-right: 10%;
+}
+
+    h1,h2 {
+    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+p {
+    margin-top: .51em;
+    text-align: justify;
+    margin-bottom: .49em;
+}
+
+hr {
+    width: 33%;
+    margin-top: 2em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    margin-left: 33.5%;
+    margin-right: 33.5%;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+hr.tb   {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;}
+hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;}
+@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} }
+hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;}
+
+.center   {text-align: center;}
+
+.caption  {font-weight: bold;}
+
+/* Images */
+
+img {
+    max-width: 100%;
+    height: auto;
+}
+img.w100 {width: 100%;}
+
+.figcenter {
+    margin: auto;
+    text-align: center;
+    page-break-inside: avoid;
+    max-width: 100%;
+}
+
+div.titlepage {
+  text-align: center;
+  page-break-before: always;
+  page-break-after: always;
+}
+
+div.titlepage p {
+  text-align: center;
+  text-indent: 0em;
+  font-weight: bold;
+  line-height: 1.5;
+  margin-top: 3em;
+}
+
+.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; }
+.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; }
+
+/* Illustration classes */
+.illowp60 {width: 60%;}
+.x-ebookmaker .illowp60 {width: 100%;}
+.illowp95 {width: 95%;}
+.x-ebookmaker .illowp95 {width: 100%;}
+
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 69890 ***</div>
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>THE GOLDEN BRIDLE</h1>
+
+<h2>By Jane Rice</h2>
+
+<p>Illustrated by Alfred</p>
+
+<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br>
+Unknown Worlds April 1943.<br>
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br>
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Say, that is mighty white. I do not mind if I do, though I remembers
+the day when I would not of touched beer with a ten-foot pole. Weight.
+Jockeys has got to watch their weight like it is tombstones they is
+putting on instead of pounds.</p>
+
+<p>Well, here's luck, mister. May all your double parlays give the bookies
+fits.</p>
+
+<p>What's that? Yeah, sure I am a jockey. Was. There is not no point in
+giving you the old three and five. You look like a right guy. Why
+should I kid you? I have not been up on a horse for four years. Six
+months cold for a jock is a wide turn, but four years—say, four years
+is—what the devil, I am washed up cleaner than a choirboy's ears.</p>
+
+<p>And this is not my fault. That is what gives me the burn. It is not my
+fault. When Lady Luck smiles in the racing game she has got a grin so
+broad you can count her back fillings, but, when she quits smiling,
+brother, she just quits and you might as well go wrap your head in a
+sweat blanket and forget it.</p>
+
+<p>You know, you is going along good, not winning no Champagne Stakes nor
+nothing like that, but hitting the percentages and going along O.K.,
+see, when all of a sudden you finds that things begin to happen. And
+they keeps right on happening and you can spit in the wind all you want
+to and chew four-leaf clovers and take a horseshoe to bed with you
+and it does not have no effect. Things just keeps right on happening
+until after a while the trainers puts the double O on you and you can
+not even get a leg up on a spavined brood mare and everybody takes to
+calling you "Jinx."</p>
+
+<p>That is me, mister. Jinx Jackson.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, I am not beefing none. I manages, what with one thing and another.
+But believe me, buddy, it is enough to give you the yelping wipes when
+you stands there by the fence with the sun beating down on you, and the
+crowd milling around excitedlike, and the bugles blowing, and the flags
+waving, and the horses walking past—nervous—and the colors up with
+their pants skintight and their shirts bellying out like silk balloons,
+and then they are wheeling the barrier in, and you look at the track
+and it is smooth and sweet and fast as a filly with bees in her ears,
+and everything gets still except the popcorn peddlers, and there is
+that awful minute when you is waiting and the shirt sticks to your back
+and you gets that old, familiar, tight feeling on the inside of your
+thighs, and your tongue is like a sponge bit between your teeth, and
+then that cry—like a rising wind—"THEY'RE OFF!"</p>
+
+
+
+<p>That is when it hits you. Right here. As if somebody has yanked your
+stomach out and let it go <i>wham</i> back at you, like a pair of
+suspenders.</p>
+
+<p>That—and when you see a snipe getting hisself boxed on a inside turn,
+or bearing out in the run through the stretch, or—aw, nuts with it. It
+gets you, that is all. It gets you.</p>
+
+<p>Once you has got the feel of horses in your blood you is a goner. A
+gone goner. It is there, brother, and there is not no use fighting it.
+You cannot no more keep away from a paddock than you can stop blinking
+your eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie Winkie used to say, "You can shake grief and sorrow, you can
+bury remorse—but you can't never lose the feel o' a horse."</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie Winkie. Yeah, Wee Willie. That is the same.</p>
+
+<p>Good! Man, he had the magic touch. Why, he could add twenty lengths to
+anything on four legs. Easy. Jimmie was tops. Why, I has seen him come
+from behind the hard way and spot them a extra advantage by pulling out
+and still win and there was not no photo finishes, neither. When he
+won, mister, he won.</p>
+
+<p>He was a funny guy, he was. Had a kind of puckery face and big ears.
+Walked springy, like a banty rooster. Used to use a special bridle when
+he was up. Superstitious? It is not superstition exactly. It is just
+a kind of a feeling you get about certain things. Lots of us jocks
+are thataway. I know I would of had a hissy—four years ago—if I had
+of mislaid a old wore-out crop I always carried. Moe Prentice had a
+buckeye he would not of parted with for nobody. Jackie Watson had some
+sort of a medal on a silver chain. Cry Baby Noolan would not no more of
+thought of riding with his cap anyway but hind side to than he would
+of thought of riding without any clothes on. In fact, if he would of
+had to make a choice, I reckon he would of rode in his skin before he
+would of changed his cap proper. And, like I said, Jimmie has this here
+special bridle, though there is not much special about it except that
+it is goldish-looking if you hold it in the right light. But seems he
+takes a fancy to it and from the way he acts you would of thought it
+is made from the tanned hide of a Derby winner. But it is not no such
+thing, of course. It is just a bridle like any racing bridle only, like
+I said, it is goldish-looking in a unnoticeable manner.</p>
+
+<p>He gets it one year when we is finishing up the circuit down in
+Tijuana. This is before he hits his stride. When he is going along,
+like me, not snaffling no tall money nor nothing but knocking off his
+percentages. He is plain Jimmie Winkie then. The newspapers has not
+tagged that there Wee Willie on to him yet and he is not endorsing no
+leather jackets, nor saying as how he likes Puffie Wuffies because they
+is superroasted and rolled on hoops.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Well, as I was saying, we is down in Tijuana and it is nighttime and
+we is walking down one of them crooked streets which is about as thick
+in Tijuana as saddle sores is in a riding academy. We is walking along
+with our hands in our pockets and not much else, being as how we has
+inadvertently got mixed up in a game knowed as faro, the same which is
+like being on the wrong end of a loco bronc, and which we would not of
+got into if Jimmie had not of wanted to increase a five-dollar bill
+into a ten-dollar bill so as to buy a real nice present for Ditsy.
+Anyhow, like I said, we is walking along minding our own business when
+there is—</p>
+
+<p>Ditsy? Oh, Ditsy was Jimmie's sister. Name was Dorothy, but Jimmie
+called her Ditsy. He was crazy about her. Seemed like he had raised
+her since she was knee high to a feed box. Guess they had some muddy
+tracks, them two, and what with their not having nobody but theirselves
+and her being crippled, why, one way and another, he set a lot of store
+by her.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, we is walking along, Jimmie and me, and I am thinking about
+what we is going to eat for breakfast the next day, and lunch, and
+supper, and Jimmie is thinking about how is he going to buy Ditsy
+something when we hear a rumpus going on around a corner up ahead.
+It increases graduallike and when we gets to the corner we meets it,
+head-on you might say.</p>
+
+<p>There is about a dozen people who is all personal acquaintances of
+John Barleycorn, and they is pestering a woman who looks like she is
+on her way to a masquerade at a insane asylum. She has got on a sheet
+all draped and wrapped every which way and her feet is laced up in
+sandals and there is a wreath on her hair, only now it is setting
+cockeyed on account of as how these here people has been chasing her,
+and she is carrying a bridle. In fact, if I had of spent my money on
+John Barleycorn instead of faro, I probably would of joined in on the
+side of these here people who is laughing theirselves sick and grabbing
+at this here sheet and having a big time, for which I cannot blame them
+any as this woman is sure a curious sight.</p>
+
+<p>While I am thinking what a curious sight she is, Jimmie busts up the
+party. He does this with very little fuss, hitting merely one guy who
+goes down like a sack of wet oats and the rest takes to their heels as
+I am doubling up my fists preparing to wade in.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp60" id="illus1" style="max-width: 25.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/illus1.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Now, sister," Jimmie says, rubbing his knuckles tenderlike, "if I was
+you I would vamoose. Tijuana is no place for a lady without as how she
+has got company to see that she gets where she has started out for."</p>
+
+<p>Well, this woman straightens her wreath and breaks out in some kind of
+a foreign language which sounds like nothing I ever heard unless it is
+"Chopsticks" played on a piano which is out of tune and is minus some
+of the keys.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, sister," Jimmie says, "vamoose while the vamoosing is favorable."</p>
+
+<p>The woman makes some motions and spouts some more of this here talk and
+there is just one word I get and that is "grease." She says this over
+and over, "Grease, grease," meanwhile gesturing for all she is able.</p>
+
+<p>"Grease?" Jimmie says, puzzled, and she nods violently and shakes the
+bridle she is carrying and does a act like she is putting it on a horse
+and then flaps her arms like she is flying.</p>
+
+<p>"Grease," she says.</p>
+
+<p>I begins to get uneasy. "Say," I says to Jimmie, sotto voice, "let's us
+get out of here—this gal has got bats in her belfry."</p>
+
+<p>"I think she has lost a horse," Jimmie says slow.</p>
+
+<p>"Horse!" I says. "How is she going to straddle a horse in that getup?
+She has lost her mind. Let's us get out of here. Loonies is not no
+picnic."</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie does not pay no attention to me. He takes the bridle away from
+her—gentle—so as not to scare her and <i>he</i> does a act like
+<i>he</i> is putting it on a horse. "Horse?" he says.</p>
+
+<p>This looney looks at him a minute, then her face kind of brightenslike.
+She points to the bridle Jimmie is holding and says, "Hippos."</p>
+
+<p>"She has got the D. T.'s," I cheeps. "She is talking about a
+hippopotamus what flies or I will eat that there bridle. Come on,"
+I says, "this is not no place for—" But I do not get no further
+because there is a faint whinny and this here woman shrieks joyfully
+and—without so much as a kiss-my-foot—lams in the direction of this
+here nickering which, judging from the sound, is a block or so to our
+rear—though we has not seen no sign of no horse when we is walking by
+thataway.</p>
+
+<p>We stands there gawking after this dame while she disappears in the
+night and Jimmie, suddenlike, yells, "Hey, here is your bridle," and
+starts after her and me after Jimmie, because I has not got no wish to
+see Jimmie sucked in on something that is not kosher, and it is plain
+that there is something here that does not meet the eye right off.</p>
+
+<p>I dope it that this here dame is a kind of a lead rein for some guys
+which is laying low in a alley or some place figuring to roll whoever
+she ropes in, and it is a unpleasant statistic that persons is often
+beat up severe when it is discovered they has not got no wherewith to
+make such a business profitable.</p>
+
+<p>When we gets down the street a ways I catches up to Jimmie and stops
+him and I says, "Has you taken leave of your senses? This here is one
+of them cul-de-sacs or I am a ring-tailed—" But I do not say baboon,
+which I had intended, because somewhere I hears a noise like a lot of
+pigeons taking off—like they has been shooed—and from way up, like
+on a roof, I hears this woman laughing and it dwindles away and, then,
+it is quiet and a little white feather drifts down and lands in the
+gutter. It is all very weird and I do not like it.</p>
+
+<p>"I would of swore a horse nickered down here a minute ago," Jimmie says.</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up," I says, "and let's us get out of here before we is knifed in
+the back."</p>
+
+<p>So we does and that is how Jimmie come by the bridle.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Well, say, I do not mind if I do. There is this about beer. You do not
+have to worry none the next morning about tying your shoes. Ever try
+sticking a hot knife in it? Many's the time I has seen my old man heat
+the poker until it is as red as the old Scratch hisself and then plunge
+it into the pail. That was when you could get all you wanted for a dime
+with boiled ham and cheese and bologna throwed in to boot and, like as
+not, a slice of liver for the cat.</p>
+
+<p>Here's bumps, mister. And may you never tear up your ducats without
+looking twice.</p>
+
+<p>Where was I? Oh, yeah, Tijuana. Well, here we is without a buffalo
+between us. Broke as a skillet of scrambled eggs and up in the fifth
+the next day, the same which dawns bright and early and finds me and
+Jimmie nearly splitting a girth trying to trade that there bridle for a
+plate of buckwheat cakes, but everybody gives us the zero gaze until I
+begins to wonder if we is coming down with smallpox. So we hunts up a
+dopester by the name of Stew Hatcher and he stakes us to a meal after
+which we hangs around until he has got up his sheet and then we rides
+out to the track with him and his girl. We asks Stew, just kidding, who
+he is picking in the fifth and Stew says it is not us and he is not
+kidding. For his money, he says, it is High Jinks, Admirella and Sky
+Eagle. One, two, three.</p>
+
+<p>I am up on Black Boy and Jimmie he is up on Peajacket, so we thumbs
+our noses at Stew and gives him the buzz and says as how we is pleased
+to have met this girl he is with—which is a lie because she is very
+snooty—and we goes on in.</p>
+
+<p>We gets into our colors and sets around with the fellows dishing out
+a lot of bull about what we done in Tijuana and Jimmie gives me the
+wink and says he has got hold of a nifty bridle he is willing to take
+a loss on. And he gets this here bridle out of his locker and says if
+anybody will give him a fin for it they can have it, though they will
+be rooking him on the deal.</p>
+
+<p>Boy, does he get the laugh. Moe says he will give him a fin for it if
+Jimmie will throw in Peajacket and shine his boots for a week, too. And
+Cry Baby Noolan says if it is such a hot bridle why don't he bridle
+Peajacket with it. And everybody starts gaffing Jimmie and I acts real
+indignant and I says what is it worth to them if he <i>does</i> bridle
+Peajacket with it, them being such sports. Jimmie, seeing the lay of
+the land, plays up to me and says, "No," and everybody chimes in giving
+him the merry ha-ha and when there is three bucks up he will not do it,
+why, then Jimmie says O.K., he will do it, see.</p>
+
+<p>Does a holler go up when they catches on to how they has been taken!
+But Jimmie says a bet is a bet and he is game enough to live up to his
+end of the bargain if they is. "Of course, if they <i>isn't</i>—"
+he says, inferring that anybody who reneges is a horse's patoot, so,
+naturally, nobody reneges, though there is some grousing.</p>
+
+<p>I used to say to Jimmie, I would say, "Jimmie, remember the day at
+Tijuana when we nicked Moe and them for three bucks?" And Jimmie, he
+would say, "Yeah," and kind of draw in his breath like he was thinking
+about it—hard. Remembering how Peajacket upset the bookies' apple cart.</p>
+
+<p>You see, Stew Hatcher is wrong. It is Peajacket, High Jinks and
+Admirella. One, two, three. And the owner of Peajacket—I forget his
+name, big loose-mouthed chap with a face like a side of beef—is fair
+to be hobbled because he has not bet on his own entry on account of as
+how it is a cinch to lose. It is a two-year-old he has picked up for
+seven and a quarter at a public sale and he is just feeling him out and
+damn if Jimmie does not bring in a win.</p>
+
+<p>Me? Oh, I comes in with the tailbearers. I could of got in a lame
+fourth, but I am so whooper-jawed watching Jimmie go down the stretch
+like a lighted fuse that I lets this here Black Boy I am up on bear
+out—he was death on bearing out—and, of course, that puts the quietus
+on us. There is not no percentage in whipping a horse over for fourth
+place. A horse has got sense enough to know when you is making a fool
+out of him.</p>
+
+<p>No, I do not guess you will recollect Peajacket. He turns out to be a
+foozle, after all. He is entered a couple of more times, Saratoga, I
+thinks, and Empire City—Syl Patton up—but he does not do nothing but
+pick up a coupla pounds of mud.</p>
+
+<p>But he sure is not no foozle that afternoon at Tijuana.</p>
+
+<p>There is not no barrier. You just keeps back of the line as best you
+can. That is one way to lose a race before the gun. I has seen them do
+it on purpose. You know, too tight a rein, get your horse skittered,
+make him break three or four times, and, when the gun goes, hold him
+back just long enough to let him see that he is a cooked potato. Nine
+times out of ten you can whip him raw and he will run, but he will not
+run fast enough. But <i>your</i> nose is clean. The trainer cannot say
+as how <i>you</i> did not try.</p>
+
+<p>Say, am I boring you with this? If I am—okke doke, any time you has
+had a sufficiency, say so.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Well, as I was saying, there is not no barrier. Outside of a little
+tail flicking and head tossing, Black Boy is as calm as a Jersey cow.
+High Jinks breaks once and Sky Eagle and some of the field prances
+around a bit, but Peajacket he acts like he has been fed hopped oats.
+In fact, there is some talk of it later on, but they cannot never prove
+nothing. Anyway, this here Peajacket is taking on for a fare-you-well
+with Jimmie trying to gentle him down and the starter getting mad and a
+jock, name of Happy Slauderwasser—that is a moniker for you, nice guy
+though—who is next to Peajacket swearing something fierce. Finally,
+Jimmie gets this here Peajacket backed in and he is lathered up like a
+ad for saddle soap, and the gun goes, and out of the tail of my eye as
+me and Black Boy takes off I sees Peajacket rearing up and I thinks,
+"Oh, Lordy," because it is a rule last one in has to pitch a buck in
+the kitty. And it is plain to see, in a field of fifteen, Jimmie is
+slated to be the last one in and then we will only have a buck apiece
+instead of a buck fifty.</p>
+
+<p>I settles down and starts easing over to the inside track hoping for
+a pocket. High Jinks is up ahead and he is not anywheres near let out
+yet. There is three or four horses in between, then Admirella nosing
+up, Sky Eagle alongside, doing like me, playing a wait, and Jimmie and
+the rest of the field bunched in behind.</p>
+
+<p>I am not thinking about Jimmie no more, though. I am concentrating on
+them three or four babies cutting off my view of High Jinks. I am not
+worried about them none, but when there is a opening I wants to be
+there instead of Sky Eagle. So I am concentrating, like I said, and I
+hear this horse coming. You do not actually hear them as much as you
+<i>feel</i> them. It is a mixture of both. It is like you got an alarm
+system inside of you and all of a sudden it is ringing like who popped
+Mollie and you know with a kind of a ... of a ... a kind of a awareness
+that you got heavy competition.</p>
+
+<p>I remembers wondering who it could be. There is High Jinks and
+Admirella in plain sight. Sky Eagle and me practically pat-a-caking at
+each other, some of the field ahead, but they is giving by now and, so
+far as I know, what is left in tow is not capable of doing nothing but
+horse apples.</p>
+
+<p>I do not take my mind off this here opening, though. It is getting
+ripe, I can see that, and I am bound I am going to be there when it is
+due before it closes in and strings out.</p>
+
+<p>Then, I catches a glimpse of this here horse on the off side of Sky
+Eagle. A kind of consciousness it is of this here third horse and I am
+sort of cheered when I see it is not bothering none about no openings,
+nor no inside track, nor nothing like that. And, while I am being
+cheered and thinking what a smart guy I am, this here third horse
+pounds ahead past Sky Eagle, a shoulder, half a length, a length, and
+that opening I been hovering over swings wide as a barn door and Sky
+Eagle is through it because I am yawping at Jimmie Winkie with his ears
+skinned back crouched high on Peajacket, and if I had not of knowed
+better I would of swore he was scared green, and while I am yawping,
+Black Boy bears out so, as I said, that puts the quietus on us.</p>
+
+<p>There has been better races run and bigger ones has been won by darker
+horses, but, off-hand, I cannot call any to mind that I got such a
+thrill out of. I do not know whether it is because I am so cocksure
+Jimmie is bringing up the rear, or because Moe Prentice—he is up on
+High Jinks—is took down a peg or two, or maybe because there is a
+certain something about the way that there horse runs with his nostrils
+red and wide, and his tail streaming out behind him like it has been
+starched, and his hoofs beating music out of that there track like a
+crazy drummer, and Jimmie pasted to him close as a surcingle and with
+a kind of a look about him like night wind sounds, if you know what I
+mean. A kind of a queer, wild, blowy look. But most of all I guess it
+is the horse.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie says it is the horse and he ought to of knowed being as how he
+was up on him. Jimmie says it is also a great surprise to him that
+Peajacket wins, but, naturally, he does not say this out—but just to
+me—as it is not a good policy to let on that you are surprised when
+you bring in a winner.</p>
+
+<p>How does it feel to bring in a winner? Brother, you can have the
+greatest symphony that was ever wrote; I will take the thunder of
+a winner's hoofs coming down the straightaway. That is something,
+brother. That is really <i>some</i>thing. It is like a ... like a ...
+well, like I said, a kind of a awareness. Like you was conscious of the
+noise and the feel all at the same minute. Take that there Peajacket. I
+got it right away. The noise and the feel together, I mean. Like there
+was two horses running. One on top the other.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>We bums a ride back after the seventh and gets out on the main drag and
+flips a coin to see whether we eats or buys Ditsy something. It comes
+out buying Ditsy something so we goes to one of these here shops that
+has a window full of everything from jewelry to tablecloths and we
+picks out a powder box that plays a tune when the lid is lifted off. A
+thin, tinkly, sort of <i>plink, plink</i> tune, but pretty. Reminds you
+of the way ladies used to rustle when they walked, if you know what I
+mean.</p>
+
+<p>While the guy is wrapping it up, Jimmie goes over and picks up a vase
+which is setting on a shelf with a lot of other vases. This here vase
+he picks up is blue and has a lot of well-built dames on it holding
+garlands of flowers. Jimmie kind of whistles.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at this here," he says.</p>
+
+<p>I agrees it is nice, but points out that we has got exactly twenty-nine
+cents between us and the price is marked clear two fifty.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a strange coincidence," he says, more to hisself than me, and
+I says it is not no coincidence it is a vase and if he is thinking
+about switching over, why, there is a vase on the shelf above which is
+better-looking on account of as how it has a scene painted on it and
+the price is twenty-five cents cheaper.</p>
+
+<p>This guy comes up about this time and washes his hands in the air and
+asks if we are interested in a vase.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I says.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Jimmie says. "Who is this here middle dame on this here vase?"</p>
+
+<p>"They represent the Muses," this guy says. "A marvelous buy for the
+money."</p>
+
+<p>"This here middle dame is a Muse?" asks Jimmie.</p>
+
+<p>"They are all Muses," this guy says, "goddesses of the arts and poetry
+and science. A very artistic vase. Only two fifty."</p>
+
+<p>"Did any of them have a horse?" Jimmie asks.</p>
+
+<p>"Horse?"</p>
+
+<p>"Horse."</p>
+
+<p>"I could not say. It is a very handsome vase, howinever, and I will
+make you a special price of two twenty-five, if you are interested."</p>
+
+<p>"Where can I find out if any of them had a horse?"</p>
+
+<p>"I could not say, unless it is the library. Two dollars even I will
+make it. Below that I cannot go."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," I chimes in, being tired of Jimmie ribbing this here guy
+about a horse, "we will take it in place of the powder box."</p>
+
+<p>With that this guy freezes over like the outside of a mint julep and he
+says chillylike, "I have just remembered that this vase has been put
+aside for another party."</p>
+
+<p>And I says, "That is very odd being as how you were so all fired set on
+us having it at reduced cost."</p>
+
+<p>"Herman," this guys says.</p>
+
+<p>And another guy with a neck like a Percheron, shoulders his way through
+a curtain in the back and stands there like as if he is itching for
+somebody to say "When." So we takes our package and we leaves.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>I am in favor of hunting up a crap game and shooting our twenty-nine
+cents and Jimmie says that is a splendid idea and for me to do so and
+he will meet me at the pool parlor in a hour. I asks where is he going?
+And he says the library. And as he has never been inside a library in
+his life to my certain knowledge, I figure he is telling me in a nice
+way to mind my own business. Which I does. And in a hour I has run the
+twenty-nine cents into eight bits and a Masonic emblem.</p>
+
+<p>I meets Jimmie like he said and I can see right away he is exceptional
+thoughtful. We go to a place called La Cucuracha where the second cup
+of coffee is free and you gets gravy with your potatoes, although
+Jimmie seems to have lost his appetite. He keeps transferring his food
+from one side of his plate to the other until I outs and asks him
+pointblank what is ailing him.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever hear tell of a horse called Pegasus?" he says by way of
+answer.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I says. "Who sired him?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is out of Medusa by Neptune," says Jimmie.</p>
+
+<p>"I never heard of them, neither," I says shoveling in a mouthful of
+potatoes and gravy. "What has this here Peg-whoit got to do with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not certain for sure," he says, "but I has got a idea,"</p>
+
+<p>"Which is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Could be he got blowed off his course," Jimmie says, "or got scared by
+another gadfly or some such, landed in Tijuana and this here Muse comes
+after him and—"</p>
+
+<p>"Look," I says, "one of us has got a screw loose and it is not me.
+Begin over and repeat slow and there is apple pie with the dinner and
+if you do not want it I will eat your piece, if it is all the same to
+you. Now what was you saying?"</p>
+
+<p>He shoves his plate back. "I am going to break the track record
+tomorrow," he says, and there is something about the way he says it,
+some quality in his voice that makes me sit up and take notice all of a
+sudden.</p>
+
+<p>A kind of creepy sensation comes over me and I am reminded of when I
+am a kid and the grandfather's clock in the hall would strike during
+the night. It would go <i>bong—bong—bong</i> real slow and soft, but
+filling the house, howinever, and making the air vibrate. I would lie
+there and think, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall," but
+that did not make no difference. My feet would get cold and my eyes
+near bug out of my head, and I would not have no swallow and I would
+lie there thinking, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall."</p>
+
+<p>I gives Jimmie one of them searching looks you read about, but it does
+not tell me nothing except that he is a mite tightened-uplike and is
+letting some fifty cents worth of food go to waste.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks for the tip," I says. "Who you planning on being up on?
+Man-o'-War?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ditsy has always wanted a grand piano," he says, "since she was not
+bigger'n a boot-jack." And he says, "I will get her the best one money
+can buy."</p>
+
+<p>It is obvious that he tightened up more than I think because there is
+not enough space in that two-room flat in Cleveland to hold both Ditsy
+and a grand piano at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>"That will be dandy," I says, "but I am afraid there will not be no
+grand piano in it. Them things cost folding money."</p>
+
+<p>"Folding money," he repeats and the words sounds like a three-inch
+sirloin the way he says them—thick and red and juicy. "You know what
+I am going to have," he says, "I am going to have a pair of handmade
+boots—them that laces at the ankle—and I am going to have a suit with
+buttonholes under the buttons on the sleeves. Not just thread sewed to
+look like buttonholes—<i>real</i> buttonholes I am going to have under
+the buttons and a yellow chamois bag."</p>
+
+<p>"A yellow chamois bag under the buttons," I says and, recalling to mind
+a chap named Joe Hankins who fought a bunch of Comanches all one night
+in a psycopathic ward at a hospital in Louisville, I continues to smile
+pleasantly while I eases my chair back.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Jimmie says, "lined with flannel so as the bridle will not get
+scratched up none."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I agrees, "flannel."</p>
+
+<p>"Saratoga," says Jimmie, "Havre de Grace, Narragansett, Hialeah,
+Aqueduct."</p>
+
+<p>"Hawthorne, Churchill Downs, Empire City, Belmont Park, Thistledown," I
+chimes in nodding like a Chinese laundryman who has lost your wash. I
+holds my breath and gets to my feet praying that I will be able to ease
+him out quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"Through?" Jimmie says, cool as a cucumber. "What say we see if we can
+get a game of pool on the cuff?"</p>
+
+<p>The next day he breaks the track record.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>I has thought about it a great deal since then and do you know what I
+figure? I figure it like this. I figure that Jimmie had got on to a
+secret. There is a secret to doing everything. Like tight-rope walking,
+or shooting par golf consistent, or whizzing a ball over a tennis net
+so as it falls just so and dribbles off before it can be got up off
+the ground. There is a secret to juggling plates and a secret to pole
+vaulting higher than anybody else. The plates and the pole and the
+rope and the golf clubs and tennis racquet is all the same. What I
+mean is you could take half a dozen plates and throw them up in the
+air and they would land behind the eight ball. But take these here
+same identical plates and give them to a juggler and he will make them
+perform without so much as mussing his tie. Why? Because he knows the
+secret.</p>
+
+<p>Well, then, why can it not be the same way with horses? I am not saying
+you can take a plow horse and make him win a race any more than that
+there juggler can juggle plates made out of pig iron. But I am saying,
+if you know the secret, you can take a <i>race horse</i> and make him
+win a race. And, like I said, I has thought about it a lot and I figure
+there is a secret and Jimmie has got on to it. I figure the secret
+comes to him in a flash like when you know, in a sort of a burst of
+knowing, that the dealer has aces back to back. Because from that day
+on he never rides a loser. Except one. I will get around to that in a
+second.</p>
+
+<p>Saratoga and Hialeah and Havre de Grace and all of them is not no pipe
+dream. And neither is Ditsy's grand piano, though it is not in no
+two-room flat. It is in a living room as big as from here to there.
+One of them two-storied jobs that goes all the way up to the roof.
+One of them studio living rooms. And done real classy with drapes and
+hand-carved furniture and lamps with rose silk on the underneath parts
+of their shades, and them black-and-white, pen-and-ink-looking pictures
+on the walls, and a rug that feels like it will arch in the middle and
+purr if you rub it, it is that soft.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, it does not happen pronto. It starts out gradual with
+Jimmie's name in the papers—"Keep your eye on So-and-So up on
+So-and-So"—and then it takes a up curve with the sports writers
+pegging him with this here Wee Willie and first thing you know he is
+appearing regular Sundays in the rotogravure, him and Ditsy, holding
+a horseshoe or a shamrock or this here bridle or such as that, and
+persons are talking about the "Winkie Technique" and children is eating
+their weight in cereal because Wee Willie Winkie says as how it has got
+Vitamin Q and for six box tops or reasonable facsimiles thereof the
+cereal people will send you a handsome, autographed photograph of Wee
+Willie on Martinique or Little John or Fireflow or some such as them.
+And his stock is going up like a fever chart. And he is in the bucks.
+But I mean <i>in</i>, brother.</p>
+
+<p>It changes him some. I do not mean he goes around putting out like
+he has hung the moon and painted the blue sky; if anything, he
+quietens down and kind of draws into hisself like. In fact, when he
+is congratulated on his ability, which he is every time he turns
+around, he acts like it is making him sick to his stomach. And when the
+write-ups come out about how modest he is and shy and retiring and how
+he always tries to give the credit for a win to the horse, why then he
+acts like he is even sicker and getting no better fast.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, while most of the publicity is along the lines of sweetness
+and light, there is some of it as squeezes out a few lemons. Like them
+that says as how Winkie rides a horse walleyed, and them as hints it
+is mighty peculiar he does not never lose and a pity, furthermore,
+because the odds on a horse what is toting Winkie is something to
+behold in a new all-time low.</p>
+
+<p>Then there is the follow-up gang that always seems to heel to a celeb.
+Whether he gets to be a celeb by riding horses or eating goldfish
+or drinking thirty buckets of beer does not make no noticeable
+difference—they follows. It gets so Jimmie cannot go nowheres without
+getting the press took out of his pants and he is lucky if the pants is
+not also took out with the press.</p>
+
+<p>People sends him alligators from Florida and salmon from Alaska. He
+gets lariats made out of tail hair plaited, and high-heeled boots with
+tooling. He gets silver spurs, and leather jackets, and saddles, and
+gloves, and sombreros. He gets blankets and pipes and racks for this
+and holders for that. He gets a sheep dog, a pair of love birds, a
+coon cat, a baby leopard, a bearskin rug with the teeth still in it, a
+stuffed owl, a collection of butterflies, and some twisty horns off a
+mountain goat all set and glued on a wooden thing to hang on the wall.
+He gets socks by the gross, handkerchiefs by carloads and one dame even
+sends him a box of pink silk underwear with his initials stitched in
+fancy in orchid embroidery.</p>
+
+<p>To give you the idea, one day he appears in the papers cutting a
+piece out of one of them round coffee cakes and the next day there is
+nineteen round coffee cakes delivered to his address and he does not
+<i>like</i> round coffee cakes nor no kind of coffee cakes, but is
+cutting this here piece to please the press photographer who wants a
+homey touch.</p>
+
+<p>But for everybody what is giving him something there is two wanting him
+to give <i>them</i> something. Jimmie used to say he got so he could
+tell right off who was a givee and who was a gimme. Not that he does
+not appreciate what is give him, even if he does not keep it, and not
+that he does not hand out to the gimmes—it is just that he does not
+want nothing off of nobody and does not want nobody to want nothing off
+of him.</p>
+
+<p>But when you gets in the major brackets that is not the way things is.
+So, like I said, it changes him some. Some way, he reminds me of a kid
+what has eat a quarter's worth of jelly beans all one flavor.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>It changes Ditsy, too. Her hair is not loose-like and fluffy no more.
+It is on the order of a cocker spaniel's, only precise, and her ears
+has got earbobs in them, and instead of wearing print housedresses she
+is all diked out in them dresses which is not referred to as dresses,
+but as "creations." She has got a new wheelchair which is streamlined
+and has more chrome on it than a limousine, and some bird with a
+Vandyke and a accent you can spread like marmalade is giving her some
+kind of underwater massage for her legs, so she should be very happy.
+She is not, though.</p>
+
+<p>She puts on like she is happy and anybody what does not know her would
+say, "My, she is happy," and they would be ninety-nine and forty-four
+hundreds percent wrong because she is not happy by no means. She fools
+Jimmie because Jimmie is so anxious for her to be happy that, when she
+keeps saying she is happy, he believes she is happy and it does not
+occur to him that when you are happy you does not go around saying,
+"My, I am happy," like you was learning a lesson in memorizing.</p>
+
+<p>When a woman is happy she sings and brushes her hair a lot and says
+stuff like, "I declare, it is four o'clock <i>already</i>, can you beat
+that?" and she looks smily even when she is not actually smiling. So
+it is obvious Ditsy is not happy because she is not doing none of them
+things. When she smiles it is more or less of a lip movement going on
+under her nose and not having nothing to do with the rest of her face,
+and she does not sing spontaneous, though when she is in that two-room
+flat the landlady has had to request her several times to pipe down.
+And, instead of saying, "I declare it is four o'clock <i>already</i>,"
+she just says, "It is four o'clock," like you would say, "The dodo
+is now become extinct," or, "I see where there in a population of
+ninety-two in East Gleep, Nevada."</p>
+
+<p>So, as I said, it changes Ditsy, too. And it is pathetic to watch them
+two, him and her, working so hard at being happy and pretending that
+life is a bowl of cherries when it is plain life is a onion poultice.</p>
+
+<p>Some time passes and I am here, there, and yonder and word gets around
+that Jimmie Winkie is hitting the paint which occasions me to be
+surprised because Jimmie Winkie is never one to hit the paint even in a
+mild manner. So I am not paying any attention to these here remarks and
+I am once or twice very near smacking persons in the puss who say that
+it is a fact that Ditsy is turned into a red-hot momma.</p>
+
+<p>What's that? Oh, that. Well, it seems that this here underwater massage
+is the stuff and she is able to get around some—not good, understand,
+but some.</p>
+
+<p>What! Her! Say, listen here, bub—well, all right, no offense taken,
+but she is not that kind. O. K. O. K. Let it ride. Sure I will have
+another beer, only do not make no more remarks like that, see. O. K. O.
+K.</p>
+
+<p>Maybe I do not make myself clear. I mean she has gone in for
+double-jointed cigarette holders and red fingernails and them
+long-haired guys what paints a picture of somebody so as they have one
+eye here and one here and clockwork springs for the top of their head
+and maybe a spare tire for one hand and a fiddle for the other with a
+bunch of carrots sprouting out of it.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, that is what I am hearing and—here's bumps, brother. You know
+I set and watched a glass of beer bubble from the bottom one night
+and it bubbled for three hours and a half 'fore it got flat. That was
+when Ditsy—But I will get around to that quick enough. Now and again
+I still catches myself trying <i>not</i> to think about it. And it has
+been a long time. A long time.</p>
+
+<p>What was I saying? Oh, yeah, Jimmie hitting the paint. He <i>is</i> all
+right because I am setting in a place in Cleveland—having just got off
+the train—and some fellow comes in and I does not pay no attention
+until I see he is walking like a banty rooster which is sea-sick. And
+I yells, "Jimmie!" And he looks up and focuses on me and I see it is
+true he is hitting the paint and, if his present condition is a fair
+example, he is hitting it with a capital H.</p>
+
+<p>I am not one to stick my nose in other people's business. I am one who
+says other people's business is their own business and no business of
+mine, having found that a nose stuck in other people's business usually
+gets itself pinned up so as it does not look like a nose for quite a
+while after.</p>
+
+<p>But this is different. First, it is Jimmie Winkie. Second, he is
+running a race the next day I have seen by the papers. Third, it will
+not put no shine on his shoes if somebody says, "Oh, look, is that not
+Wee Winkie and is he not skizzled?"</p>
+
+<p>To make a long story short, I gets him out of there. I thinks about
+checking into a hotel, but there is those somebodies again, so there is
+not nothing to do but get a cab and take him home. The same which I
+does.</p>
+
+<p>When I first sees Ditsy I also thinks it is true that she has turned
+into a red-hot momma. She has done something to her mouth so it looks
+like it has been swatted by a ripe plum, and she is wearing one of them
+"creations" that does not leave but very little to the imagination, and
+she is walking with two silver-headed canes, and her fingernails looks
+like they has been dipped in calves' liver while it is still in the
+calf.</p>
+
+<p>She is quite a sight for sore eyes until you remembers it is Ditsy
+and, then your collar gets too tight and you say, "Hello, Ditsy," and
+she does not say nothing. She just looks at Jimmie until you thinks
+she does not know who it is and, then, she looks at me and her eyes
+is the color of a horse's flanks after a workout—dark and wet and
+velvety—and she says, "Bring him in, Jacks," and, some way, her voice
+sounds like it is bleeding. And, all at once, you know that underneath
+all this cover-up she has put on is the same old Ditsy. Worn finer, and
+kind of tired, but Ditsy.</p>
+
+<p>She knows what to do, too. She does not put him to bed. She has me set
+him up in the bathroom with his head over the basin and she feeds him
+soapy water and as fast as one glass full comes up down goes another.
+And when he says he cannot do it no more, she wheedles him into doing
+it until his insides is as clean as a old maid's conscience, and his
+head is woozy but not boozy. Also, I am under the impression this is
+not the first time them two has underwent this here same procedure.</p>
+
+<p>Soapy water? Best thing on earth. Makes you feel like you has been
+hollowed out and whittled thin, but it does not leave nothing in you
+that you would want to wake up with the next morning. Of course, it is
+not exactly a pleasant treatment while it is going on, but, after it is
+done, although you could not fight no mess of apes, you could give them
+a run for their money, if such become necessary.</p>
+
+<p>After some time, Jimmie says in a washed-out voice, "O.K., go ahead.
+Tell me I am a louse."</p>
+
+<p>Ditsy does not say nothing and I does not say nothing, neither, being
+busy examining my cuticles.</p>
+
+<p>"I know I am a louse," he continues. "Go on. Get it over with. Go on,
+tell me I am a louse."</p>
+
+<p>So I says, "You are a louse, period," and I leaves off examining my
+cuticles and takes up examining Jimmie like he is a rare specimen of
+garbage that has got in among us while we are occupied elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>"I was not asking <i>you</i>," Jimmie says, and he looks at Ditsy and
+Ditsy looks at him and Ditsy does not say nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," I says, "I thought you was addressing the general
+public of which there are several that says you has lost hold of your
+senses."</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up," Jimmie says. "SHUT UP. I did not ask you to butt in, did I?
+Why do you not go back where you come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I says, "I will be delighted. But when you is handing out
+your interviews tomorrow do not give the credit for the win to the
+horse—give it to Ditsy, here. <i>If</i> you win."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean 'if'?" Jimmie says. "It is in the bag." He laughs.
+"Literal," he says. "You and Ditsy need not worry none."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not worrying," Ditsy says toneless-like. "It does not matter
+either way. Nothing does not matter. Any more."</p>
+
+<p>The way she tags that "any more" on to it is horrible to listen to. It
+has a dead, flat, hopeless sound and I keep thinking, if I look down,
+I will see it laying there on the bath mat spread out on its back with
+its eyes rolled up.</p>
+
+<p>It gets Jimmie, too, because it is clear that if Ditsy had batted him
+on the bean with a lead sock he would not be more took back.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" he says. "What do you mean?" like that, see, with a
+up on the end.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean it is no good," Ditsy says. "I cannot stand it. You are not
+Jimmie Winkie any more. You are somebody else. Somebody else I do not
+know. Somebody else who I do not want to know. I hope you do lose
+tomorrow," she says and her words bump into each other and bunch up,
+like the field in a steeple-chase taking the first hedge. "I hope you
+lose tomorrow," she says, "and the next day, and the next and the next
+and next and next, and we can go back to that two-room flat and eat
+beef stew and take turns washing the dishes and put toothpicks in the
+windows to keep them from rattling, and play pinochle and watch the car
+lights come over the Freeway and, maybe, have a pint of ice cream for a
+treat and ... and ... be ... happy"—and her voice breaks in the middle
+and she puts her face in her hands and starts crying.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>It is a awful experience to see a girl cry. It makes you feel like all
+your joints has swelled and your ears and feet belong to a two-humped
+camel.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie says, "You want me to <i>lose</i>?" like he is suffering from
+hallucinations.</p>
+
+<p>Ditsy keeps on crying.</p>
+
+<p>I gives her my handkerchief and wonders if I ought to pat at her or
+something.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot lose," Jimmie says.</p>
+
+<p>"Look," I says, "I think I has had sufficient. I am going."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot lose," Jimmie says, "and, if I do, they will not call me Wee
+Willie no more. Guys like Moe Prentice will give me the laugh. I got to
+keep on winning. I cannot stop now."</p>
+
+<p>"You has not <i>got</i> to do nothing but die," I says, "and if what
+guys like Moe Prentice says means more to you than Ditsy, here, I would
+go on off and die if I was you."</p>
+
+<p>"What about your grand piano?" Jimmie says to Ditsy.</p>
+
+<p>"I hate it," Ditsy says through her fingers. "I would like a c-c-canary
+b-b-bird."</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot lose," Jimmie says, shaking his fist. "I
+cannot—unless—" And he quits shaking his fist and uncloses it and
+looks at it like he expects to find it has varicose veins. And he looks
+at Ditsy setting there on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean what you said?" he says.</p>
+
+<p>Ditsy makes a kind of soft <i>oooooo</i>ing noise like a stable hound
+what has been stepped on.</p>
+
+<p>"O.K.," Jimmie says. "O.K." He gets up and sort of wavers a minute
+and then he goes out and Ditsy keeps on crying and I clears my throat
+once or twice and wishes she is a horse so as I could gentle her and
+then Jimmie comes back in and he is carting this here bridle.</p>
+
+<p>"From me to you," he says, plunking it on the floor. And there is a
+long pause and then he adds, "Temporarily."</p>
+
+<p>Ditsy looks at the bridle, hiccuping slightly like a baby what has been
+having colic.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not get it," she says, hiccuping again.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie indicates the bridle. "Remember the time," he says, "that we was
+in the Home and you found a four-leaf clover in a book what belonged to
+Miss Watson? I had a toothache, so you snitched the four-leaf clover
+to put in my shoe so as it would go away—the toothache I mean. Only
+you said it was 'temporarily' because it was somebody else's four-leaf
+clover and might have repre ... repercussions being as how it does not
+actually belong to me. So I did—put it in my shoe I mean—and I got a
+blind abscess and it was—well, you know how it was."</p>
+
+<p>"I still do not get it," Ditsy says looking at the bridle like she is
+expecting it to turn into a four-leaf clover.</p>
+
+<p>"It is like this," Jimmie says. "That there"—he points to the
+bridle—"is the same as the four-leaf clover. Maybe you got a toothache
+now, but, if I lose, it might turn out to be a blind abscess. So it is
+only temporary. I am not giving it to you. I am only letting you keep
+it for me."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>still</i> do not get it," Ditsy says, blowing her nose in my
+handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>"I do," I says. "He is saying you thinks you wants a canary bird when
+what you really wants is a grand piano, which you have already got."</p>
+
+<p>"You stay out of this," Jimmie says.</p>
+
+<p>"Lay off Jacks," Ditsy says to Jimmie. "He is all right."</p>
+
+<p>"Jacks is a old lady," Jimmie says to Ditsy.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going," I says. Which I does.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>No. No more beer. I am not half through with this one. I do not like to
+crowd them. And, speaking of crowding, that is what I think happens to
+Jimmie.</p>
+
+<p>Lose? I reckon he does. He does not even get away from the post.</p>
+
+<p>What I mean about crowding, I figure this here horse Jimmie is up on
+gets crowded quick. There is some crows slow, some easy, some quick.
+Jimmie happens to be up on Beeknight and, the way I figure, I figure
+Beeknight crowds quick. You know how it is, out of the barrier,
+everybody trying for a inside track, some pushing maybe, though this is
+not noticeable unless you is up. Now them that crowds slow gets out and
+tries, and them that crowds easy falls in, but them that crowds quick
+rears up and starts doing the Highland fling. There is not many. But
+there is some. And, like I said, the way I figure, Beeknight is one of
+the some.</p>
+
+<p>After it is all over, there is plenty who say there is something fishy
+because Beeknight is never one to crowd slow, easy, <i>or</i> quick.
+Jimmie has been up on Beeknight before and Beeknight has always came in
+home free. In fact, before this here episode I am getting ready to tell
+you about, Beeknight is being touted for the Jockey Gold Cup, so there
+is plenty who say the atmosphere smells highly of cod.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie pull him? You mean on account of Ditsy saying what she said?
+Maybe. I thought about that angle, but I am almost sure for certain
+that is not the case. I seen him right after it is over and, if he is
+putting on a show, I am a snub-tailed bloodhound.</p>
+
+<p>No, I figure horses like I figure human beings. They is subject to
+change. This here Beeknight might of slept restless, he might of been
+overtrained, he might of been scary, he might of had gas, he might of
+sensed Jimmie was not in no mood. Them things affects a horse. So I say
+there is nothing off-color, but that this here Beeknight has underwent
+a change and happens to crowd quick.</p>
+
+<p>It is like this, see. I avoided Jimmie like he has got the plague and
+this is reciprocated on his part. I see he is jittery and keyed up, but
+this is no mud on my boots, so I leave him be. Not that he is left be,
+because there is many who do not think he has got the plague. It is
+very sickening to watch.</p>
+
+<p>I wonder if Ditsy is in the stands, but I do not wonder long as
+somebody asks him if his sister is in the stands and he says, "No, she
+is home." And somebody says, "Don't she like horse races?" And he says,
+"No." And somebody says, "Well, that is odd. Your own sister." And he
+says, "How would you like to go bag your ears," which shows that he is
+keyed up to a considerable degree.</p>
+
+<p>He is up in the first, again in the third, and again in the fourth. I
+am not up at all until the next day. In fact, I am only there because
+I cannot stay away, so I goes out and hangs over the veranda rail to
+watch the first.</p>
+
+<p>It is a swell day. One of them high, blue ones. There is music
+coming out of the announcing system and people is walking around and
+everything is kind of stirred up like—like it is before the start. It
+is a fast track and pretty to look at and Happy Slauderwasser comes out
+and says, "Move over," and we both hangs over the veranda rail and just
+look at how everything looks, if you know what I mean.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp95" id="illus2" style="max-width: 39.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/illus2.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Then the horses is mincing past, Jimmie about as big as a good-sized
+pea, and then the barrier is in, and it is Beeknight in No. 6, and
+everything gets quiet with a little murmur running through it like a
+breeze with a lid on it, and you can hear the popcorn peddlers real
+plain, and then there is that swelling cry, "THEY'RE OFF!" But it
+chokes in the middle and there is a surge for the fence and the stands
+rise up and cranes their necks and Happy says, "My God!" and I near
+falls over the veranda rail because Beeknight is pawing the air and
+kicking and acting in general like he is a prize exhibition at a rodeo
+and for all them shenanigans he does not go nowheres. It is like he is
+trying to kick his way through a wall or something. Jimmie is stuck
+closer than a plaster, but not for long. Beeknight gives a lunge and
+Jimmie goes over, and a sort of a soft, gusty sound goes up from the
+crowd like a thousand breaths has been let out at once.</p>
+
+<p>By the time Jimmie has hit the ground, they is taking Beeknight out and
+do you know that confounded horse is as calm as a June morning? Jimmie
+gets out under his own power.</p>
+
+<p>Yeah. You see it coming, kick loose and roll with the fall and it does
+not no more than scrape off the top fuzz.</p>
+
+<p>It seems like a hour at least has gone past, but it cannot be no more
+than a handful of seconds because it is all clear when the field moves
+into the stretch.</p>
+
+<p>Happy and me look at each other.</p>
+
+<p>Happy says, "Wow."</p>
+
+<p>I says, "It looks like somebody is going to get a bird."</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Happy says, "a Bronx one."</p>
+
+<p>"No," I says, "a yellow one with feathers what sings," and I go on down
+to stand on the edge of the crowd what is surrounding Jimmie and listen
+to what is being said.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>What is being said is all the same color and cut equal. Howinever, I am
+positive that Jimmie did not do no pull. He is white as death and keeps
+shaking his head like there is lead shot in it and he is listening
+to it rattle. He keeps saying, "I cannot understand it, I cannot
+understand it," over and over. No, he did not do no pull. Spencer Tracy
+cannot act that good and Jimmie Winkie is not no Spencer Tracy.</p>
+
+<p>I mosey on off and am popping my knuckles and thinking when it comes
+over the announcing system that Winkie is not hurt none and will be up
+in the third as scheduled.</p>
+
+<p>But this does not take place, as before the third, Gus Wever comes up
+to me and he is pale and his Adam's apple is riding up and down on his
+collar and he says, "Jacks, I got something for you to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Shoot," I says.</p>
+
+<p>"I want you should break the news to Winkie."</p>
+
+<p>"What news?" I says. "They is not going to disqualify him for falling
+off a horse, I hopes."</p>
+
+<p>"No," Gus says. "Word has just came that his sister has met with a
+accident."</p>
+
+<p>I says, "Ditsy," or I tries to, but it sticks in my throat and, some
+way, I finds I am grabbing hold of Gus and there is guys endeavoring to
+pull us apart thinking we is having a altercation.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave go," Gus says, shrugging them off—he is a big guy—"I am asking
+Jacks, peaceful, if he will tell Winkie his sister has met with a fatal
+accident. He is a friend of Winkie and if your sister is dead, it is
+better it comes from a friend. That is all I am asking. I, myself,
+cannot do it."</p>
+
+<p>So I does it.</p>
+
+<p>When we gets there everything is confusion. There is people everywhere
+and a important-acting guy is asking the maid questions, only this does
+not do no good as she is setting in a chair having hysterics. And there
+is other men down on their knees examining the floor and blowing powder
+on the doorknobs and there is a doctor putting his stuff away in a
+little black bag.</p>
+
+<p>And there is Ditsy.</p>
+
+<p>It does not look like Ditsy. It does not look human even. It is just a
+smashed-in, crumpled-up thing what is wearing Ditsy's clothes, and it
+has blood all over.</p>
+
+<p>It reminds me of the way Tod Beemis looks when he is drug out and laid
+on a shutter after he is caught in a stall with a crazy stallion. Kind
+of ... kind of ... trampled-looking. It makes me feel kind of numblike,
+like maybe I has got a scream in me that has froze solid before it can
+get out.</p>
+
+<p>The important-acting guy, by now, has saw us and advances forward.</p>
+
+<p>"The maid, here," he says, "says she left Miss Winkie setting by the
+window and holding a bridle in her lap. Mooning over it kind of, she
+says. She goes downstairs, the maid does, and she has not no more'n got
+good and down when she hears a racket and she runs back up fast as she
+can and it is like this. We has not touched nothing. This," he, says
+pointing to a scruffed-looking place on the rug, "I guess is where she
+fell down and got up again, and this"—pointing to a spot where the
+plaster has been gouged out of the wall—"this here is where whoever
+done it must of swung and missed—and, from the evidence, whoever must
+of done it was strong as a horse. And this here is the bridle she was
+holding, which looks as if it was tore out of her hands and—" He
+pauses and squints at Jimmie. "Hey," he says, "you do not look like no
+coroner, who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is her brother," I says, and my voice seems to come from some
+far-off place and does not seem to belong to me at all.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," the man says embarrassed. "I am sorry, buddy. I did not know
+about you being related to the deceased. I am mighty sorry."</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie does not answer. He is looking at the bridle like it is Lazarus
+arose from the dead and it is plain he is going to keel over.</p>
+
+<p>He puts out his hand, as if he is in a trance, and takes the bridle
+from the man.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all right," I says, "it is his bridle. Leave him have it. I will
+take him out of here." Which I do as they bring in a wicker basket and
+set it down by this thing on the floor around which they draws a white
+chalk mark before ... before they—</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Guess I must be coming down with a cold. Yeah. Sure I will have another
+one. Just to wet my whistle. I seems to be kind of dried up like.
+Talking too much, I guess. There is times, though, when you has got
+to get it out of your system—the cold, I mean. Yeah. Well, here's to
+nothing, mister. If you got nothing, you got nothing to lose and, even
+if you does, it stands to advantage.</p>
+
+<p>What did who win after what? Oh, Winkie. He does not win no more. And
+does not lose no more. Because he does not ride no more. No, I mean
+no more. Never. You see, he ... he bumped hisself off. I took it for
+granted you knew.</p>
+
+<p>Yeah. Yeah. It was one of them things. After Ditsy—why, he kind of
+went haywire. I tried talking to him. Thought if he got to riding again
+it would take his mind off what it was brooding on. No, no, they never
+did catch whoever done it. I wish they <i>had</i> of. If I could of got
+just within reaching distance—</p>
+
+<p>No, Jimmie would not pay no attention to me. He would just set there
+staring straight ahead and sometimes he would look at me like he could
+see clean through my backbone and out the other side.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not bother none, Jacks," he would say. "You do not understand. It
+was my fault. I should of knowed."</p>
+
+<p>And I would say, "Do not be like that. Them ... them kind of accidents
+is figured out statistical. You could not of knowed in a million
+years."</p>
+
+<p>"I was wrong. I was the one who had the blind abscess. Not Ditsy,"
+he would say. Morose, see. Only I thought he would snap out of it,
+eventual. But he does not. When he snaps, he snaps the other way.</p>
+
+<p>I remember the night that he done it. I set up with him until midnight
+talking up Parvalu, which Colonel Crandall wanted him to ride in the
+Bay Shore. I says, "Look here, Jimmie, if you will just get out and mix
+around some, you will be O. K." And I says, "Do not forget what you
+always said: 'You can shake grief or sorrow, you can bury remorse—but
+you can't never lose the feel o' a horse.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," he says, and he looks at me for the first time like he really
+sees me. "Yeah," he says, straightening up, "you can shake grief or
+sorrow, you can bury remorse ... bury remorse—"</p>
+
+<p>"But you can't never lose the feel o' a horse," I finishes for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," he says—slow. "Yeah, that is it."</p>
+
+<p>So I goes home brightened up, thinking I has at last got him squared
+around and the next morning—it is in the papers.</p>
+
+<p>They was two thoroughbreds, them two was. Yessir, two thoroughbreds
+that, some way, got boxed on a inside turn.</p>
+
+<p>What's that? Bridle? Oh, that. I had it buried with Jimmie. He had made
+a will leaving everything he possessed to me. Can you beat it? That is
+the kind of guy he was. Yeah. Oh, I could of kept it if I had of had a
+mind to, but bridles is cheap and he had set such a store by that one
+that it did not seem right to keep it. Besides, I could not ever of
+used it and kept my mind on what I was doing. He ... he hung hisself
+with it, see. He was out of his head with grief, that is all. He did
+not think. Jimmie was not no coward to take the easy way out. I know
+that. But I could not of had it around me just the same. So I buried it
+with him. Holding the reins in his hand. I think he would of liked it
+if he could of knowed.</p>
+
+<p>Well, bottoms up. I got to be going.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks, brother, and the same to you. It has been a pleasure. No, I do
+not reckon you will be seeing me in no papers, unless it is the funny
+papers. Did I not tell you? Horses has got a habit of slowing down when
+I am up on them. Like they has got a dead weight swinging on the bridle
+holding them back. They calls me Jinx. Yeah. Jinx Jackson.</p>
+
+<p>Well, so long, buddy.</p>
+
+
+<p class="ph1">THE END.</p>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 69890 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/old/69890-0.txt b/old/69890-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74eaeb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/69890-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1599 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The golden bridle, by Jane Rice
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: The golden bridle
+
+Author: Jane Rice
+
+Release Date: January 28, 2023 [eBook #69890]
+
+Language: English
+
+Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed
+             Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN BRIDLE ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                           THE GOLDEN BRIDLE
+
+                             By Jane Rice
+
+                         Illustrated by Alfred
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+                      Unknown Worlds April 1943.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+Say, that is mighty white. I do not mind if I do, though I remembers
+the day when I would not of touched beer with a ten-foot pole. Weight.
+Jockeys has got to watch their weight like it is tombstones they is
+putting on instead of pounds.
+
+Well, here's luck, mister. May all your double parlays give the bookies
+fits.
+
+What's that? Yeah, sure I am a jockey. Was. There is not no point in
+giving you the old three and five. You look like a right guy. Why
+should I kid you? I have not been up on a horse for four years. Six
+months cold for a jock is a wide turn, but four years--say, four years
+is--what the devil, I am washed up cleaner than a choirboy's ears.
+
+And this is not my fault. That is what gives me the burn. It is not my
+fault. When Lady Luck smiles in the racing game she has got a grin so
+broad you can count her back fillings, but, when she quits smiling,
+brother, she just quits and you might as well go wrap your head in a
+sweat blanket and forget it.
+
+You know, you is going along good, not winning no Champagne Stakes nor
+nothing like that, but hitting the percentages and going along O.K.,
+see, when all of a sudden you finds that things begin to happen. And
+they keeps right on happening and you can spit in the wind all you want
+to and chew four-leaf clovers and take a horseshoe to bed with you
+and it does not have no effect. Things just keeps right on happening
+until after a while the trainers puts the double O on you and you can
+not even get a leg up on a spavined brood mare and everybody takes to
+calling you "Jinx."
+
+That is me, mister. Jinx Jackson.
+
+Oh, I am not beefing none. I manages, what with one thing and another.
+But believe me, buddy, it is enough to give you the yelping wipes when
+you stands there by the fence with the sun beating down on you, and the
+crowd milling around excitedlike, and the bugles blowing, and the flags
+waving, and the horses walking past--nervous--and the colors up with
+their pants skintight and their shirts bellying out like silk balloons,
+and then they are wheeling the barrier in, and you look at the track
+and it is smooth and sweet and fast as a filly with bees in her ears,
+and everything gets still except the popcorn peddlers, and there is
+that awful minute when you is waiting and the shirt sticks to your back
+and you gets that old, familiar, tight feeling on the inside of your
+thighs, and your tongue is like a sponge bit between your teeth, and
+then that cry--like a rising wind--"THEY'RE OFF!"
+
+That is when it hits you. Right here. As if somebody has yanked your
+stomach out and let it go _wham_ back at you, like a pair of
+suspenders.
+
+That--and when you see a snipe getting hisself boxed on a inside turn,
+or bearing out in the run through the stretch, or--aw, nuts with it. It
+gets you, that is all. It gets you.
+
+Once you has got the feel of horses in your blood you is a goner. A
+gone goner. It is there, brother, and there is not no use fighting it.
+You cannot no more keep away from a paddock than you can stop blinking
+your eyes.
+
+Jimmie Winkie used to say, "You can shake grief and sorrow, you can
+bury remorse--but you can't never lose the feel o' a horse."
+
+Jimmie Winkie. Yeah, Wee Willie. That is the same.
+
+Good! Man, he had the magic touch. Why, he could add twenty lengths to
+anything on four legs. Easy. Jimmie was tops. Why, I has seen him come
+from behind the hard way and spot them a extra advantage by pulling out
+and still win and there was not no photo finishes, neither. When he
+won, mister, he won.
+
+He was a funny guy, he was. Had a kind of puckery face and big ears.
+Walked springy, like a banty rooster. Used to use a special bridle when
+he was up. Superstitious? It is not superstition exactly. It is just
+a kind of a feeling you get about certain things. Lots of us jocks
+are thataway. I know I would of had a hissy--four years ago--if I had
+of mislaid a old wore-out crop I always carried. Moe Prentice had a
+buckeye he would not of parted with for nobody. Jackie Watson had some
+sort of a medal on a silver chain. Cry Baby Noolan would not no more of
+thought of riding with his cap anyway but hind side to than he would
+of thought of riding without any clothes on. In fact, if he would of
+had to make a choice, I reckon he would of rode in his skin before he
+would of changed his cap proper. And, like I said, Jimmie has this here
+special bridle, though there is not much special about it except that
+it is goldish-looking if you hold it in the right light. But seems he
+takes a fancy to it and from the way he acts you would of thought it
+is made from the tanned hide of a Derby winner. But it is not no such
+thing, of course. It is just a bridle like any racing bridle only, like
+I said, it is goldish-looking in a unnoticeable manner.
+
+He gets it one year when we is finishing up the circuit down in
+Tijuana. This is before he hits his stride. When he is going along,
+like me, not snaffling no tall money nor nothing but knocking off his
+percentages. He is plain Jimmie Winkie then. The newspapers has not
+tagged that there Wee Willie on to him yet and he is not endorsing no
+leather jackets, nor saying as how he likes Puffie Wuffies because they
+is superroasted and rolled on hoops.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Well, as I was saying, we is down in Tijuana and it is nighttime and
+we is walking down one of them crooked streets which is about as thick
+in Tijuana as saddle sores is in a riding academy. We is walking along
+with our hands in our pockets and not much else, being as how we has
+inadvertently got mixed up in a game knowed as faro, the same which is
+like being on the wrong end of a loco bronc, and which we would not of
+got into if Jimmie had not of wanted to increase a five-dollar bill
+into a ten-dollar bill so as to buy a real nice present for Ditsy.
+Anyhow, like I said, we is walking along minding our own business when
+there is--
+
+Ditsy? Oh, Ditsy was Jimmie's sister. Name was Dorothy, but Jimmie
+called her Ditsy. He was crazy about her. Seemed like he had raised
+her since she was knee high to a feed box. Guess they had some muddy
+tracks, them two, and what with their not having nobody but theirselves
+and her being crippled, why, one way and another, he set a lot of store
+by her.
+
+Anyway, we is walking along, Jimmie and me, and I am thinking about
+what we is going to eat for breakfast the next day, and lunch, and
+supper, and Jimmie is thinking about how is he going to buy Ditsy
+something when we hear a rumpus going on around a corner up ahead.
+It increases graduallike and when we gets to the corner we meets it,
+head-on you might say.
+
+There is about a dozen people who is all personal acquaintances of
+John Barleycorn, and they is pestering a woman who looks like she is
+on her way to a masquerade at a insane asylum. She has got on a sheet
+all draped and wrapped every which way and her feet is laced up in
+sandals and there is a wreath on her hair, only now it is setting
+cockeyed on account of as how these here people has been chasing her,
+and she is carrying a bridle. In fact, if I had of spent my money on
+John Barleycorn instead of faro, I probably would of joined in on the
+side of these here people who is laughing theirselves sick and grabbing
+at this here sheet and having a big time, for which I cannot blame them
+any as this woman is sure a curious sight.
+
+While I am thinking what a curious sight she is, Jimmie busts up the
+party. He does this with very little fuss, hitting merely one guy who
+goes down like a sack of wet oats and the rest takes to their heels as
+I am doubling up my fists preparing to wade in.
+
+"Now, sister," Jimmie says, rubbing his knuckles tenderlike, "if I was
+you I would vamoose. Tijuana is no place for a lady without as how she
+has got company to see that she gets where she has started out for."
+
+Well, this woman straightens her wreath and breaks out in some kind of
+a foreign language which sounds like nothing I ever heard unless it is
+"Chopsticks" played on a piano which is out of tune and is minus some
+of the keys.
+
+"Look, sister," Jimmie says, "vamoose while the vamoosing is favorable."
+
+The woman makes some motions and spouts some more of this here talk and
+there is just one word I get and that is "grease." She says this over
+and over, "Grease, grease," meanwhile gesturing for all she is able.
+
+"Grease?" Jimmie says, puzzled, and she nods violently and shakes the
+bridle she is carrying and does a act like she is putting it on a horse
+and then flaps her arms like she is flying.
+
+"Grease," she says.
+
+I begins to get uneasy. "Say," I says to Jimmie, sotto voice, "let's us
+get out of here--this gal has got bats in her belfry."
+
+"I think she has lost a horse," Jimmie says slow.
+
+"Horse!" I says. "How is she going to straddle a horse in that getup?
+She has lost her mind. Let's us get out of here. Loonies is not no
+picnic."
+
+Jimmie does not pay no attention to me. He takes the bridle away from
+her--gentle--so as not to scare her and _he_ does a act like
+_he_ is putting it on a horse. "Horse?" he says.
+
+This looney looks at him a minute, then her face kind of brightenslike.
+She points to the bridle Jimmie is holding and says, "Hippos."
+
+"She has got the D. T.'s," I cheeps. "She is talking about a
+hippopotamus what flies or I will eat that there bridle. Come on,"
+I says, "this is not no place for--" But I do not get no further
+because there is a faint whinny and this here woman shrieks joyfully
+and--without so much as a kiss-my-foot--lams in the direction of this
+here nickering which, judging from the sound, is a block or so to our
+rear--though we has not seen no sign of no horse when we is walking by
+thataway.
+
+We stands there gawking after this dame while she disappears in the
+night and Jimmie, suddenlike, yells, "Hey, here is your bridle," and
+starts after her and me after Jimmie, because I has not got no wish to
+see Jimmie sucked in on something that is not kosher, and it is plain
+that there is something here that does not meet the eye right off.
+
+I dope it that this here dame is a kind of a lead rein for some guys
+which is laying low in a alley or some place figuring to roll whoever
+she ropes in, and it is a unpleasant statistic that persons is often
+beat up severe when it is discovered they has not got no wherewith to
+make such a business profitable.
+
+When we gets down the street a ways I catches up to Jimmie and stops
+him and I says, "Has you taken leave of your senses? This here is one
+of them cul-de-sacs or I am a ring-tailed--" But I do not say baboon,
+which I had intended, because somewhere I hears a noise like a lot of
+pigeons taking off--like they has been shooed--and from way up, like
+on a roof, I hears this woman laughing and it dwindles away and, then,
+it is quiet and a little white feather drifts down and lands in the
+gutter. It is all very weird and I do not like it.
+
+"I would of swore a horse nickered down here a minute ago," Jimmie says.
+
+"Shut up," I says, "and let's us get out of here before we is knifed in
+the back."
+
+So we does and that is how Jimmie come by the bridle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Well, say, I do not mind if I do. There is this about beer. You do not
+have to worry none the next morning about tying your shoes. Ever try
+sticking a hot knife in it? Many's the time I has seen my old man heat
+the poker until it is as red as the old Scratch hisself and then plunge
+it into the pail. That was when you could get all you wanted for a dime
+with boiled ham and cheese and bologna throwed in to boot and, like as
+not, a slice of liver for the cat.
+
+Here's bumps, mister. And may you never tear up your ducats without
+looking twice.
+
+Where was I? Oh, yeah, Tijuana. Well, here we is without a buffalo
+between us. Broke as a skillet of scrambled eggs and up in the fifth
+the next day, the same which dawns bright and early and finds me and
+Jimmie nearly splitting a girth trying to trade that there bridle for a
+plate of buckwheat cakes, but everybody gives us the zero gaze until I
+begins to wonder if we is coming down with smallpox. So we hunts up a
+dopester by the name of Stew Hatcher and he stakes us to a meal after
+which we hangs around until he has got up his sheet and then we rides
+out to the track with him and his girl. We asks Stew, just kidding, who
+he is picking in the fifth and Stew says it is not us and he is not
+kidding. For his money, he says, it is High Jinks, Admirella and Sky
+Eagle. One, two, three.
+
+I am up on Black Boy and Jimmie he is up on Peajacket, so we thumbs
+our noses at Stew and gives him the buzz and says as how we is pleased
+to have met this girl he is with--which is a lie because she is very
+snooty--and we goes on in.
+
+We gets into our colors and sets around with the fellows dishing out
+a lot of bull about what we done in Tijuana and Jimmie gives me the
+wink and says he has got hold of a nifty bridle he is willing to take
+a loss on. And he gets this here bridle out of his locker and says if
+anybody will give him a fin for it they can have it, though they will
+be rooking him on the deal.
+
+Boy, does he get the laugh. Moe says he will give him a fin for it if
+Jimmie will throw in Peajacket and shine his boots for a week, too. And
+Cry Baby Noolan says if it is such a hot bridle why don't he bridle
+Peajacket with it. And everybody starts gaffing Jimmie and I acts real
+indignant and I says what is it worth to them if he _does_ bridle
+Peajacket with it, them being such sports. Jimmie, seeing the lay of
+the land, plays up to me and says, "No," and everybody chimes in giving
+him the merry ha-ha and when there is three bucks up he will not do it,
+why, then Jimmie says O.K., he will do it, see.
+
+Does a holler go up when they catches on to how they has been taken!
+But Jimmie says a bet is a bet and he is game enough to live up to his
+end of the bargain if they is. "Of course, if they _isn't_--"
+he says, inferring that anybody who reneges is a horse's patoot, so,
+naturally, nobody reneges, though there is some grousing.
+
+I used to say to Jimmie, I would say, "Jimmie, remember the day at
+Tijuana when we nicked Moe and them for three bucks?" And Jimmie, he
+would say, "Yeah," and kind of draw in his breath like he was thinking
+about it--hard. Remembering how Peajacket upset the bookies' apple cart.
+
+You see, Stew Hatcher is wrong. It is Peajacket, High Jinks and
+Admirella. One, two, three. And the owner of Peajacket--I forget his
+name, big loose-mouthed chap with a face like a side of beef--is fair
+to be hobbled because he has not bet on his own entry on account of as
+how it is a cinch to lose. It is a two-year-old he has picked up for
+seven and a quarter at a public sale and he is just feeling him out and
+damn if Jimmie does not bring in a win.
+
+Me? Oh, I comes in with the tailbearers. I could of got in a lame
+fourth, but I am so whooper-jawed watching Jimmie go down the stretch
+like a lighted fuse that I lets this here Black Boy I am up on bear
+out--he was death on bearing out--and, of course, that puts the quietus
+on us. There is not no percentage in whipping a horse over for fourth
+place. A horse has got sense enough to know when you is making a fool
+out of him.
+
+No, I do not guess you will recollect Peajacket. He turns out to be a
+foozle, after all. He is entered a couple of more times, Saratoga, I
+thinks, and Empire City--Syl Patton up--but he does not do nothing but
+pick up a coupla pounds of mud.
+
+But he sure is not no foozle that afternoon at Tijuana.
+
+There is not no barrier. You just keeps back of the line as best you
+can. That is one way to lose a race before the gun. I has seen them do
+it on purpose. You know, too tight a rein, get your horse skittered,
+make him break three or four times, and, when the gun goes, hold him
+back just long enough to let him see that he is a cooked potato. Nine
+times out of ten you can whip him raw and he will run, but he will not
+run fast enough. But _your_ nose is clean. The trainer cannot say
+as how _you_ did not try.
+
+Say, am I boring you with this? If I am--okke doke, any time you has
+had a sufficiency, say so.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Well, as I was saying, there is not no barrier. Outside of a little
+tail flicking and head tossing, Black Boy is as calm as a Jersey cow.
+High Jinks breaks once and Sky Eagle and some of the field prances
+around a bit, but Peajacket he acts like he has been fed hopped oats.
+In fact, there is some talk of it later on, but they cannot never prove
+nothing. Anyway, this here Peajacket is taking on for a fare-you-well
+with Jimmie trying to gentle him down and the starter getting mad and a
+jock, name of Happy Slauderwasser--that is a moniker for you, nice guy
+though--who is next to Peajacket swearing something fierce. Finally,
+Jimmie gets this here Peajacket backed in and he is lathered up like a
+ad for saddle soap, and the gun goes, and out of the tail of my eye as
+me and Black Boy takes off I sees Peajacket rearing up and I thinks,
+"Oh, Lordy," because it is a rule last one in has to pitch a buck in
+the kitty. And it is plain to see, in a field of fifteen, Jimmie is
+slated to be the last one in and then we will only have a buck apiece
+instead of a buck fifty.
+
+I settles down and starts easing over to the inside track hoping for
+a pocket. High Jinks is up ahead and he is not anywheres near let out
+yet. There is three or four horses in between, then Admirella nosing
+up, Sky Eagle alongside, doing like me, playing a wait, and Jimmie and
+the rest of the field bunched in behind.
+
+I am not thinking about Jimmie no more, though. I am concentrating on
+them three or four babies cutting off my view of High Jinks. I am not
+worried about them none, but when there is a opening I wants to be
+there instead of Sky Eagle. So I am concentrating, like I said, and I
+hear this horse coming. You do not actually hear them as much as you
+_feel_ them. It is a mixture of both. It is like you got an alarm
+system inside of you and all of a sudden it is ringing like who popped
+Mollie and you know with a kind of a ... of a ... a kind of a awareness
+that you got heavy competition.
+
+I remembers wondering who it could be. There is High Jinks and
+Admirella in plain sight. Sky Eagle and me practically pat-a-caking at
+each other, some of the field ahead, but they is giving by now and, so
+far as I know, what is left in tow is not capable of doing nothing but
+horse apples.
+
+I do not take my mind off this here opening, though. It is getting
+ripe, I can see that, and I am bound I am going to be there when it is
+due before it closes in and strings out.
+
+Then, I catches a glimpse of this here horse on the off side of Sky
+Eagle. A kind of consciousness it is of this here third horse and I am
+sort of cheered when I see it is not bothering none about no openings,
+nor no inside track, nor nothing like that. And, while I am being
+cheered and thinking what a smart guy I am, this here third horse
+pounds ahead past Sky Eagle, a shoulder, half a length, a length, and
+that opening I been hovering over swings wide as a barn door and Sky
+Eagle is through it because I am yawping at Jimmie Winkie with his ears
+skinned back crouched high on Peajacket, and if I had not of knowed
+better I would of swore he was scared green, and while I am yawping,
+Black Boy bears out so, as I said, that puts the quietus on us.
+
+There has been better races run and bigger ones has been won by darker
+horses, but, off-hand, I cannot call any to mind that I got such a
+thrill out of. I do not know whether it is because I am so cocksure
+Jimmie is bringing up the rear, or because Moe Prentice--he is up on
+High Jinks--is took down a peg or two, or maybe because there is a
+certain something about the way that there horse runs with his nostrils
+red and wide, and his tail streaming out behind him like it has been
+starched, and his hoofs beating music out of that there track like a
+crazy drummer, and Jimmie pasted to him close as a surcingle and with
+a kind of a look about him like night wind sounds, if you know what I
+mean. A kind of a queer, wild, blowy look. But most of all I guess it
+is the horse.
+
+Jimmie says it is the horse and he ought to of knowed being as how he
+was up on him. Jimmie says it is also a great surprise to him that
+Peajacket wins, but, naturally, he does not say this out--but just to
+me--as it is not a good policy to let on that you are surprised when
+you bring in a winner.
+
+How does it feel to bring in a winner? Brother, you can have the
+greatest symphony that was ever wrote; I will take the thunder of
+a winner's hoofs coming down the straightaway. That is something,
+brother. That is really _some_thing. It is like a ... like a ...
+well, like I said, a kind of a awareness. Like you was conscious of the
+noise and the feel all at the same minute. Take that there Peajacket. I
+got it right away. The noise and the feel together, I mean. Like there
+was two horses running. One on top the other.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We bums a ride back after the seventh and gets out on the main drag and
+flips a coin to see whether we eats or buys Ditsy something. It comes
+out buying Ditsy something so we goes to one of these here shops that
+has a window full of everything from jewelry to tablecloths and we
+picks out a powder box that plays a tune when the lid is lifted off. A
+thin, tinkly, sort of _plink, plink_ tune, but pretty. Reminds you
+of the way ladies used to rustle when they walked, if you know what I
+mean.
+
+While the guy is wrapping it up, Jimmie goes over and picks up a vase
+which is setting on a shelf with a lot of other vases. This here vase
+he picks up is blue and has a lot of well-built dames on it holding
+garlands of flowers. Jimmie kind of whistles.
+
+"Look at this here," he says.
+
+I agrees it is nice, but points out that we has got exactly twenty-nine
+cents between us and the price is marked clear two fifty.
+
+"This is a strange coincidence," he says, more to hisself than me, and
+I says it is not no coincidence it is a vase and if he is thinking
+about switching over, why, there is a vase on the shelf above which is
+better-looking on account of as how it has a scene painted on it and
+the price is twenty-five cents cheaper.
+
+This guy comes up about this time and washes his hands in the air and
+asks if we are interested in a vase.
+
+"No," I says.
+
+"Yes," Jimmie says. "Who is this here middle dame on this here vase?"
+
+"They represent the Muses," this guy says. "A marvelous buy for the
+money."
+
+"This here middle dame is a Muse?" asks Jimmie.
+
+"They are all Muses," this guy says, "goddesses of the arts and poetry
+and science. A very artistic vase. Only two fifty."
+
+"Did any of them have a horse?" Jimmie asks.
+
+"Horse?"
+
+"Horse."
+
+"I could not say. It is a very handsome vase, howinever, and I will
+make you a special price of two twenty-five, if you are interested."
+
+"Where can I find out if any of them had a horse?"
+
+"I could not say, unless it is the library. Two dollars even I will
+make it. Below that I cannot go."
+
+"Very well," I chimes in, being tired of Jimmie ribbing this here guy
+about a horse, "we will take it in place of the powder box."
+
+With that this guy freezes over like the outside of a mint julep and he
+says chillylike, "I have just remembered that this vase has been put
+aside for another party."
+
+And I says, "That is very odd being as how you were so all fired set on
+us having it at reduced cost."
+
+"Herman," this guys says.
+
+And another guy with a neck like a Percheron, shoulders his way through
+a curtain in the back and stands there like as if he is itching for
+somebody to say "When." So we takes our package and we leaves.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I am in favor of hunting up a crap game and shooting our twenty-nine
+cents and Jimmie says that is a splendid idea and for me to do so and
+he will meet me at the pool parlor in a hour. I asks where is he going?
+And he says the library. And as he has never been inside a library in
+his life to my certain knowledge, I figure he is telling me in a nice
+way to mind my own business. Which I does. And in a hour I has run the
+twenty-nine cents into eight bits and a Masonic emblem.
+
+I meets Jimmie like he said and I can see right away he is exceptional
+thoughtful. We go to a place called La Cucuracha where the second cup
+of coffee is free and you gets gravy with your potatoes, although
+Jimmie seems to have lost his appetite. He keeps transferring his food
+from one side of his plate to the other until I outs and asks him
+pointblank what is ailing him.
+
+"Did you ever hear tell of a horse called Pegasus?" he says by way of
+answer.
+
+"No," I says. "Who sired him?"
+
+"He is out of Medusa by Neptune," says Jimmie.
+
+"I never heard of them, neither," I says shoveling in a mouthful of
+potatoes and gravy. "What has this here Peg-whoit got to do with you?"
+
+"I am not certain for sure," he says, "but I has got a idea,"
+
+"Which is?"
+
+"Could be he got blowed off his course," Jimmie says, "or got scared by
+another gadfly or some such, landed in Tijuana and this here Muse comes
+after him and--"
+
+"Look," I says, "one of us has got a screw loose and it is not me.
+Begin over and repeat slow and there is apple pie with the dinner and
+if you do not want it I will eat your piece, if it is all the same to
+you. Now what was you saying?"
+
+He shoves his plate back. "I am going to break the track record
+tomorrow," he says, and there is something about the way he says it,
+some quality in his voice that makes me sit up and take notice all of a
+sudden.
+
+A kind of creepy sensation comes over me and I am reminded of when I
+am a kid and the grandfather's clock in the hall would strike during
+the night. It would go _bong--bong--bong_ real slow and soft, but
+filling the house, howinever, and making the air vibrate. I would lie
+there and think, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall," but
+that did not make no difference. My feet would get cold and my eyes
+near bug out of my head, and I would not have no swallow and I would
+lie there thinking, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall."
+
+I gives Jimmie one of them searching looks you read about, but it does
+not tell me nothing except that he is a mite tightened-uplike and is
+letting some fifty cents worth of food go to waste.
+
+"Thanks for the tip," I says. "Who you planning on being up on?
+Man-o'-War?"
+
+"Ditsy has always wanted a grand piano," he says, "since she was not
+bigger'n a boot-jack." And he says, "I will get her the best one money
+can buy."
+
+It is obvious that he tightened up more than I think because there is
+not enough space in that two-room flat in Cleveland to hold both Ditsy
+and a grand piano at the same time.
+
+"That will be dandy," I says, "but I am afraid there will not be no
+grand piano in it. Them things cost folding money."
+
+"Folding money," he repeats and the words sounds like a three-inch
+sirloin the way he says them--thick and red and juicy. "You know what
+I am going to have," he says, "I am going to have a pair of handmade
+boots--them that laces at the ankle--and I am going to have a suit with
+buttonholes under the buttons on the sleeves. Not just thread sewed to
+look like buttonholes--_real_ buttonholes I am going to have under
+the buttons and a yellow chamois bag."
+
+"A yellow chamois bag under the buttons," I says and, recalling to mind
+a chap named Joe Hankins who fought a bunch of Comanches all one night
+in a psycopathic ward at a hospital in Louisville, I continues to smile
+pleasantly while I eases my chair back.
+
+"Yeah," Jimmie says, "lined with flannel so as the bridle will not get
+scratched up none."
+
+"Sure," I agrees, "flannel."
+
+"Saratoga," says Jimmie, "Havre de Grace, Narragansett, Hialeah,
+Aqueduct."
+
+"Hawthorne, Churchill Downs, Empire City, Belmont Park, Thistledown," I
+chimes in nodding like a Chinese laundryman who has lost your wash. I
+holds my breath and gets to my feet praying that I will be able to ease
+him out quiet.
+
+"Through?" Jimmie says, cool as a cucumber. "What say we see if we can
+get a game of pool on the cuff?"
+
+The next day he breaks the track record.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I has thought about it a great deal since then and do you know what I
+figure? I figure it like this. I figure that Jimmie had got on to a
+secret. There is a secret to doing everything. Like tight-rope walking,
+or shooting par golf consistent, or whizzing a ball over a tennis net
+so as it falls just so and dribbles off before it can be got up off
+the ground. There is a secret to juggling plates and a secret to pole
+vaulting higher than anybody else. The plates and the pole and the
+rope and the golf clubs and tennis racquet is all the same. What I
+mean is you could take half a dozen plates and throw them up in the
+air and they would land behind the eight ball. But take these here
+same identical plates and give them to a juggler and he will make them
+perform without so much as mussing his tie. Why? Because he knows the
+secret.
+
+Well, then, why can it not be the same way with horses? I am not saying
+you can take a plow horse and make him win a race any more than that
+there juggler can juggle plates made out of pig iron. But I am saying,
+if you know the secret, you can take a _race horse_ and make him
+win a race. And, like I said, I has thought about it a lot and I figure
+there is a secret and Jimmie has got on to it. I figure the secret
+comes to him in a flash like when you know, in a sort of a burst of
+knowing, that the dealer has aces back to back. Because from that day
+on he never rides a loser. Except one. I will get around to that in a
+second.
+
+Saratoga and Hialeah and Havre de Grace and all of them is not no pipe
+dream. And neither is Ditsy's grand piano, though it is not in no
+two-room flat. It is in a living room as big as from here to there.
+One of them two-storied jobs that goes all the way up to the roof.
+One of them studio living rooms. And done real classy with drapes and
+hand-carved furniture and lamps with rose silk on the underneath parts
+of their shades, and them black-and-white, pen-and-ink-looking pictures
+on the walls, and a rug that feels like it will arch in the middle and
+purr if you rub it, it is that soft.
+
+Of course, it does not happen pronto. It starts out gradual with
+Jimmie's name in the papers--"Keep your eye on So-and-So up on
+So-and-So"--and then it takes a up curve with the sports writers
+pegging him with this here Wee Willie and first thing you know he is
+appearing regular Sundays in the rotogravure, him and Ditsy, holding
+a horseshoe or a shamrock or this here bridle or such as that, and
+persons are talking about the "Winkie Technique" and children is eating
+their weight in cereal because Wee Willie Winkie says as how it has got
+Vitamin Q and for six box tops or reasonable facsimiles thereof the
+cereal people will send you a handsome, autographed photograph of Wee
+Willie on Martinique or Little John or Fireflow or some such as them.
+And his stock is going up like a fever chart. And he is in the bucks.
+But I mean _in_, brother.
+
+It changes him some. I do not mean he goes around putting out like
+he has hung the moon and painted the blue sky; if anything, he
+quietens down and kind of draws into hisself like. In fact, when he
+is congratulated on his ability, which he is every time he turns
+around, he acts like it is making him sick to his stomach. And when the
+write-ups come out about how modest he is and shy and retiring and how
+he always tries to give the credit for a win to the horse, why then he
+acts like he is even sicker and getting no better fast.
+
+Naturally, while most of the publicity is along the lines of sweetness
+and light, there is some of it as squeezes out a few lemons. Like them
+that says as how Winkie rides a horse walleyed, and them as hints it
+is mighty peculiar he does not never lose and a pity, furthermore,
+because the odds on a horse what is toting Winkie is something to
+behold in a new all-time low.
+
+Then there is the follow-up gang that always seems to heel to a celeb.
+Whether he gets to be a celeb by riding horses or eating goldfish
+or drinking thirty buckets of beer does not make no noticeable
+difference--they follows. It gets so Jimmie cannot go nowheres without
+getting the press took out of his pants and he is lucky if the pants is
+not also took out with the press.
+
+People sends him alligators from Florida and salmon from Alaska. He
+gets lariats made out of tail hair plaited, and high-heeled boots with
+tooling. He gets silver spurs, and leather jackets, and saddles, and
+gloves, and sombreros. He gets blankets and pipes and racks for this
+and holders for that. He gets a sheep dog, a pair of love birds, a
+coon cat, a baby leopard, a bearskin rug with the teeth still in it, a
+stuffed owl, a collection of butterflies, and some twisty horns off a
+mountain goat all set and glued on a wooden thing to hang on the wall.
+He gets socks by the gross, handkerchiefs by carloads and one dame even
+sends him a box of pink silk underwear with his initials stitched in
+fancy in orchid embroidery.
+
+To give you the idea, one day he appears in the papers cutting a
+piece out of one of them round coffee cakes and the next day there is
+nineteen round coffee cakes delivered to his address and he does not
+_like_ round coffee cakes nor no kind of coffee cakes, but is
+cutting this here piece to please the press photographer who wants a
+homey touch.
+
+But for everybody what is giving him something there is two wanting him
+to give _them_ something. Jimmie used to say he got so he could
+tell right off who was a givee and who was a gimme. Not that he does
+not appreciate what is give him, even if he does not keep it, and not
+that he does not hand out to the gimmes--it is just that he does not
+want nothing off of nobody and does not want nobody to want nothing off
+of him.
+
+But when you gets in the major brackets that is not the way things is.
+So, like I said, it changes him some. Some way, he reminds me of a kid
+what has eat a quarter's worth of jelly beans all one flavor.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It changes Ditsy, too. Her hair is not loose-like and fluffy no more.
+It is on the order of a cocker spaniel's, only precise, and her ears
+has got earbobs in them, and instead of wearing print housedresses she
+is all diked out in them dresses which is not referred to as dresses,
+but as "creations." She has got a new wheelchair which is streamlined
+and has more chrome on it than a limousine, and some bird with a
+Vandyke and a accent you can spread like marmalade is giving her some
+kind of underwater massage for her legs, so she should be very happy.
+She is not, though.
+
+She puts on like she is happy and anybody what does not know her would
+say, "My, she is happy," and they would be ninety-nine and forty-four
+hundreds percent wrong because she is not happy by no means. She fools
+Jimmie because Jimmie is so anxious for her to be happy that, when she
+keeps saying she is happy, he believes she is happy and it does not
+occur to him that when you are happy you does not go around saying,
+"My, I am happy," like you was learning a lesson in memorizing.
+
+When a woman is happy she sings and brushes her hair a lot and says
+stuff like, "I declare, it is four o'clock _already_, can you beat
+that?" and she looks smily even when she is not actually smiling. So
+it is obvious Ditsy is not happy because she is not doing none of them
+things. When she smiles it is more or less of a lip movement going on
+under her nose and not having nothing to do with the rest of her face,
+and she does not sing spontaneous, though when she is in that two-room
+flat the landlady has had to request her several times to pipe down.
+And, instead of saying, "I declare it is four o'clock _already_,"
+she just says, "It is four o'clock," like you would say, "The dodo
+is now become extinct," or, "I see where there in a population of
+ninety-two in East Gleep, Nevada."
+
+So, as I said, it changes Ditsy, too. And it is pathetic to watch them
+two, him and her, working so hard at being happy and pretending that
+life is a bowl of cherries when it is plain life is a onion poultice.
+
+Some time passes and I am here, there, and yonder and word gets around
+that Jimmie Winkie is hitting the paint which occasions me to be
+surprised because Jimmie Winkie is never one to hit the paint even in a
+mild manner. So I am not paying any attention to these here remarks and
+I am once or twice very near smacking persons in the puss who say that
+it is a fact that Ditsy is turned into a red-hot momma.
+
+What's that? Oh, that. Well, it seems that this here underwater massage
+is the stuff and she is able to get around some--not good, understand,
+but some.
+
+What! Her! Say, listen here, bub--well, all right, no offense taken,
+but she is not that kind. O. K. O. K. Let it ride. Sure I will have
+another beer, only do not make no more remarks like that, see. O. K. O.
+K.
+
+Maybe I do not make myself clear. I mean she has gone in for
+double-jointed cigarette holders and red fingernails and them
+long-haired guys what paints a picture of somebody so as they have one
+eye here and one here and clockwork springs for the top of their head
+and maybe a spare tire for one hand and a fiddle for the other with a
+bunch of carrots sprouting out of it.
+
+Anyway, that is what I am hearing and--here's bumps, brother. You know
+I set and watched a glass of beer bubble from the bottom one night
+and it bubbled for three hours and a half 'fore it got flat. That was
+when Ditsy--But I will get around to that quick enough. Now and again
+I still catches myself trying _not_ to think about it. And it has
+been a long time. A long time.
+
+What was I saying? Oh, yeah, Jimmie hitting the paint. He _is_ all
+right because I am setting in a place in Cleveland--having just got off
+the train--and some fellow comes in and I does not pay no attention
+until I see he is walking like a banty rooster which is sea-sick. And
+I yells, "Jimmie!" And he looks up and focuses on me and I see it is
+true he is hitting the paint and, if his present condition is a fair
+example, he is hitting it with a capital H.
+
+I am not one to stick my nose in other people's business. I am one who
+says other people's business is their own business and no business of
+mine, having found that a nose stuck in other people's business usually
+gets itself pinned up so as it does not look like a nose for quite a
+while after.
+
+But this is different. First, it is Jimmie Winkie. Second, he is
+running a race the next day I have seen by the papers. Third, it will
+not put no shine on his shoes if somebody says, "Oh, look, is that not
+Wee Winkie and is he not skizzled?"
+
+To make a long story short, I gets him out of there. I thinks about
+checking into a hotel, but there is those somebodies again, so there is
+not nothing to do but get a cab and take him home. The same which I
+does.
+
+When I first sees Ditsy I also thinks it is true that she has turned
+into a red-hot momma. She has done something to her mouth so it looks
+like it has been swatted by a ripe plum, and she is wearing one of them
+"creations" that does not leave but very little to the imagination, and
+she is walking with two silver-headed canes, and her fingernails looks
+like they has been dipped in calves' liver while it is still in the
+calf.
+
+She is quite a sight for sore eyes until you remembers it is Ditsy
+and, then your collar gets too tight and you say, "Hello, Ditsy," and
+she does not say nothing. She just looks at Jimmie until you thinks
+she does not know who it is and, then, she looks at me and her eyes
+is the color of a horse's flanks after a workout--dark and wet and
+velvety--and she says, "Bring him in, Jacks," and, some way, her voice
+sounds like it is bleeding. And, all at once, you know that underneath
+all this cover-up she has put on is the same old Ditsy. Worn finer, and
+kind of tired, but Ditsy.
+
+She knows what to do, too. She does not put him to bed. She has me set
+him up in the bathroom with his head over the basin and she feeds him
+soapy water and as fast as one glass full comes up down goes another.
+And when he says he cannot do it no more, she wheedles him into doing
+it until his insides is as clean as a old maid's conscience, and his
+head is woozy but not boozy. Also, I am under the impression this is
+not the first time them two has underwent this here same procedure.
+
+Soapy water? Best thing on earth. Makes you feel like you has been
+hollowed out and whittled thin, but it does not leave nothing in you
+that you would want to wake up with the next morning. Of course, it is
+not exactly a pleasant treatment while it is going on, but, after it is
+done, although you could not fight no mess of apes, you could give them
+a run for their money, if such become necessary.
+
+After some time, Jimmie says in a washed-out voice, "O.K., go ahead.
+Tell me I am a louse."
+
+Ditsy does not say nothing and I does not say nothing, neither, being
+busy examining my cuticles.
+
+"I know I am a louse," he continues. "Go on. Get it over with. Go on,
+tell me I am a louse."
+
+So I says, "You are a louse, period," and I leaves off examining my
+cuticles and takes up examining Jimmie like he is a rare specimen of
+garbage that has got in among us while we are occupied elsewhere.
+
+"I was not asking _you_," Jimmie says, and he looks at Ditsy and
+Ditsy looks at him and Ditsy does not say nothing.
+
+"I beg your pardon," I says, "I thought you was addressing the general
+public of which there are several that says you has lost hold of your
+senses."
+
+"Shut up," Jimmie says. "SHUT UP. I did not ask you to butt in, did I?
+Why do you not go back where you come from?"
+
+"Sure," I says, "I will be delighted. But when you is handing out
+your interviews tomorrow do not give the credit for the win to the
+horse--give it to Ditsy, here. _If_ you win."
+
+"What do you mean 'if'?" Jimmie says. "It is in the bag." He laughs.
+"Literal," he says. "You and Ditsy need not worry none."
+
+"I am not worrying," Ditsy says toneless-like. "It does not matter
+either way. Nothing does not matter. Any more."
+
+The way she tags that "any more" on to it is horrible to listen to. It
+has a dead, flat, hopeless sound and I keep thinking, if I look down,
+I will see it laying there on the bath mat spread out on its back with
+its eyes rolled up.
+
+It gets Jimmie, too, because it is clear that if Ditsy had batted him
+on the bean with a lead sock he would not be more took back.
+
+"What do you mean?" he says. "What do you mean?" like that, see, with a
+up on the end.
+
+"I mean it is no good," Ditsy says. "I cannot stand it. You are not
+Jimmie Winkie any more. You are somebody else. Somebody else I do not
+know. Somebody else who I do not want to know. I hope you do lose
+tomorrow," she says and her words bump into each other and bunch up,
+like the field in a steeple-chase taking the first hedge. "I hope you
+lose tomorrow," she says, "and the next day, and the next and the next
+and next and next, and we can go back to that two-room flat and eat
+beef stew and take turns washing the dishes and put toothpicks in the
+windows to keep them from rattling, and play pinochle and watch the car
+lights come over the Freeway and, maybe, have a pint of ice cream for a
+treat and ... and ... be ... happy"--and her voice breaks in the middle
+and she puts her face in her hands and starts crying.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is a awful experience to see a girl cry. It makes you feel like all
+your joints has swelled and your ears and feet belong to a two-humped
+camel.
+
+Jimmie says, "You want me to _lose_?" like he is suffering from
+hallucinations.
+
+Ditsy keeps on crying.
+
+I gives her my handkerchief and wonders if I ought to pat at her or
+something.
+
+"I cannot lose," Jimmie says.
+
+"Look," I says, "I think I has had sufficient. I am going."
+
+"I cannot lose," Jimmie says, "and, if I do, they will not call me Wee
+Willie no more. Guys like Moe Prentice will give me the laugh. I got to
+keep on winning. I cannot stop now."
+
+"You has not _got_ to do nothing but die," I says, "and if what
+guys like Moe Prentice says means more to you than Ditsy, here, I would
+go on off and die if I was you."
+
+"What about your grand piano?" Jimmie says to Ditsy.
+
+"I hate it," Ditsy says through her fingers. "I would like a c-c-canary
+b-b-bird."
+
+"But I cannot lose," Jimmie says, shaking his fist. "I
+cannot--unless--" And he quits shaking his fist and uncloses it and
+looks at it like he expects to find it has varicose veins. And he looks
+at Ditsy setting there on the floor.
+
+"You mean what you said?" he says.
+
+Ditsy makes a kind of soft _oooooo_ing noise like a stable hound
+what has been stepped on.
+
+"O.K.," Jimmie says. "O.K." He gets up and sort of wavers a minute
+and then he goes out and Ditsy keeps on crying and I clears my throat
+once or twice and wishes she is a horse so as I could gentle her and
+then Jimmie comes back in and he is carting this here bridle.
+
+"From me to you," he says, plunking it on the floor. And there is a
+long pause and then he adds, "Temporarily."
+
+Ditsy looks at the bridle, hiccuping slightly like a baby what has been
+having colic.
+
+"I do not get it," she says, hiccuping again.
+
+Jimmie indicates the bridle. "Remember the time," he says, "that we was
+in the Home and you found a four-leaf clover in a book what belonged to
+Miss Watson? I had a toothache, so you snitched the four-leaf clover
+to put in my shoe so as it would go away--the toothache I mean. Only
+you said it was 'temporarily' because it was somebody else's four-leaf
+clover and might have repre ... repercussions being as how it does not
+actually belong to me. So I did--put it in my shoe I mean--and I got a
+blind abscess and it was--well, you know how it was."
+
+"I still do not get it," Ditsy says looking at the bridle like she is
+expecting it to turn into a four-leaf clover.
+
+"It is like this," Jimmie says. "That there"--he points to the
+bridle--"is the same as the four-leaf clover. Maybe you got a toothache
+now, but, if I lose, it might turn out to be a blind abscess. So it is
+only temporary. I am not giving it to you. I am only letting you keep
+it for me."
+
+"I _still_ do not get it," Ditsy says, blowing her nose in my
+handkerchief.
+
+"I do," I says. "He is saying you thinks you wants a canary bird when
+what you really wants is a grand piano, which you have already got."
+
+"You stay out of this," Jimmie says.
+
+"Lay off Jacks," Ditsy says to Jimmie. "He is all right."
+
+"Jacks is a old lady," Jimmie says to Ditsy.
+
+"I am going," I says. Which I does.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. No more beer. I am not half through with this one. I do not like to
+crowd them. And, speaking of crowding, that is what I think happens to
+Jimmie.
+
+Lose? I reckon he does. He does not even get away from the post.
+
+What I mean about crowding, I figure this here horse Jimmie is up on
+gets crowded quick. There is some crows slow, some easy, some quick.
+Jimmie happens to be up on Beeknight and, the way I figure, I figure
+Beeknight crowds quick. You know how it is, out of the barrier,
+everybody trying for a inside track, some pushing maybe, though this is
+not noticeable unless you is up. Now them that crowds slow gets out and
+tries, and them that crowds easy falls in, but them that crowds quick
+rears up and starts doing the Highland fling. There is not many. But
+there is some. And, like I said, the way I figure, Beeknight is one of
+the some.
+
+After it is all over, there is plenty who say there is something fishy
+because Beeknight is never one to crowd slow, easy, _or_ quick.
+Jimmie has been up on Beeknight before and Beeknight has always came in
+home free. In fact, before this here episode I am getting ready to tell
+you about, Beeknight is being touted for the Jockey Gold Cup, so there
+is plenty who say the atmosphere smells highly of cod.
+
+Jimmie pull him? You mean on account of Ditsy saying what she said?
+Maybe. I thought about that angle, but I am almost sure for certain
+that is not the case. I seen him right after it is over and, if he is
+putting on a show, I am a snub-tailed bloodhound.
+
+No, I figure horses like I figure human beings. They is subject to
+change. This here Beeknight might of slept restless, he might of been
+overtrained, he might of been scary, he might of had gas, he might of
+sensed Jimmie was not in no mood. Them things affects a horse. So I say
+there is nothing off-color, but that this here Beeknight has underwent
+a change and happens to crowd quick.
+
+It is like this, see. I avoided Jimmie like he has got the plague and
+this is reciprocated on his part. I see he is jittery and keyed up, but
+this is no mud on my boots, so I leave him be. Not that he is left be,
+because there is many who do not think he has got the plague. It is
+very sickening to watch.
+
+I wonder if Ditsy is in the stands, but I do not wonder long as
+somebody asks him if his sister is in the stands and he says, "No, she
+is home." And somebody says, "Don't she like horse races?" And he says,
+"No." And somebody says, "Well, that is odd. Your own sister." And he
+says, "How would you like to go bag your ears," which shows that he is
+keyed up to a considerable degree.
+
+He is up in the first, again in the third, and again in the fourth. I
+am not up at all until the next day. In fact, I am only there because
+I cannot stay away, so I goes out and hangs over the veranda rail to
+watch the first.
+
+It is a swell day. One of them high, blue ones. There is music
+coming out of the announcing system and people is walking around and
+everything is kind of stirred up like--like it is before the start. It
+is a fast track and pretty to look at and Happy Slauderwasser comes out
+and says, "Move over," and we both hangs over the veranda rail and just
+look at how everything looks, if you know what I mean.
+
+Then the horses is mincing past, Jimmie about as big as a good-sized
+pea, and then the barrier is in, and it is Beeknight in No. 6, and
+everything gets quiet with a little murmur running through it like a
+breeze with a lid on it, and you can hear the popcorn peddlers real
+plain, and then there is that swelling cry, "THEY'RE OFF!" But it
+chokes in the middle and there is a surge for the fence and the stands
+rise up and cranes their necks and Happy says, "My God!" and I near
+falls over the veranda rail because Beeknight is pawing the air and
+kicking and acting in general like he is a prize exhibition at a rodeo
+and for all them shenanigans he does not go nowheres. It is like he is
+trying to kick his way through a wall or something. Jimmie is stuck
+closer than a plaster, but not for long. Beeknight gives a lunge and
+Jimmie goes over, and a sort of a soft, gusty sound goes up from the
+crowd like a thousand breaths has been let out at once.
+
+By the time Jimmie has hit the ground, they is taking Beeknight out and
+do you know that confounded horse is as calm as a June morning? Jimmie
+gets out under his own power.
+
+Yeah. You see it coming, kick loose and roll with the fall and it does
+not no more than scrape off the top fuzz.
+
+It seems like a hour at least has gone past, but it cannot be no more
+than a handful of seconds because it is all clear when the field moves
+into the stretch.
+
+Happy and me look at each other.
+
+Happy says, "Wow."
+
+I says, "It looks like somebody is going to get a bird."
+
+"Yeah," Happy says, "a Bronx one."
+
+"No," I says, "a yellow one with feathers what sings," and I go on down
+to stand on the edge of the crowd what is surrounding Jimmie and listen
+to what is being said.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What is being said is all the same color and cut equal. Howinever, I am
+positive that Jimmie did not do no pull. He is white as death and keeps
+shaking his head like there is lead shot in it and he is listening
+to it rattle. He keeps saying, "I cannot understand it, I cannot
+understand it," over and over. No, he did not do no pull. Spencer Tracy
+cannot act that good and Jimmie Winkie is not no Spencer Tracy.
+
+I mosey on off and am popping my knuckles and thinking when it comes
+over the announcing system that Winkie is not hurt none and will be up
+in the third as scheduled.
+
+But this does not take place, as before the third, Gus Wever comes up
+to me and he is pale and his Adam's apple is riding up and down on his
+collar and he says, "Jacks, I got something for you to do."
+
+"Shoot," I says.
+
+"I want you should break the news to Winkie."
+
+"What news?" I says. "They is not going to disqualify him for falling
+off a horse, I hopes."
+
+"No," Gus says. "Word has just came that his sister has met with a
+accident."
+
+I says, "Ditsy," or I tries to, but it sticks in my throat and, some
+way, I finds I am grabbing hold of Gus and there is guys endeavoring to
+pull us apart thinking we is having a altercation.
+
+"Leave go," Gus says, shrugging them off--he is a big guy--"I am asking
+Jacks, peaceful, if he will tell Winkie his sister has met with a fatal
+accident. He is a friend of Winkie and if your sister is dead, it is
+better it comes from a friend. That is all I am asking. I, myself,
+cannot do it."
+
+So I does it.
+
+When we gets there everything is confusion. There is people everywhere
+and a important-acting guy is asking the maid questions, only this does
+not do no good as she is setting in a chair having hysterics. And there
+is other men down on their knees examining the floor and blowing powder
+on the doorknobs and there is a doctor putting his stuff away in a
+little black bag.
+
+And there is Ditsy.
+
+It does not look like Ditsy. It does not look human even. It is just a
+smashed-in, crumpled-up thing what is wearing Ditsy's clothes, and it
+has blood all over.
+
+It reminds me of the way Tod Beemis looks when he is drug out and laid
+on a shutter after he is caught in a stall with a crazy stallion. Kind
+of ... kind of ... trampled-looking. It makes me feel kind of numblike,
+like maybe I has got a scream in me that has froze solid before it can
+get out.
+
+The important-acting guy, by now, has saw us and advances forward.
+
+"The maid, here," he says, "says she left Miss Winkie setting by the
+window and holding a bridle in her lap. Mooning over it kind of, she
+says. She goes downstairs, the maid does, and she has not no more'n got
+good and down when she hears a racket and she runs back up fast as she
+can and it is like this. We has not touched nothing. This," he, says
+pointing to a scruffed-looking place on the rug, "I guess is where she
+fell down and got up again, and this"--pointing to a spot where the
+plaster has been gouged out of the wall--"this here is where whoever
+done it must of swung and missed--and, from the evidence, whoever must
+of done it was strong as a horse. And this here is the bridle she was
+holding, which looks as if it was tore out of her hands and--" He
+pauses and squints at Jimmie. "Hey," he says, "you do not look like no
+coroner, who are you?"
+
+"He is her brother," I says, and my voice seems to come from some
+far-off place and does not seem to belong to me at all.
+
+"Oh," the man says embarrassed. "I am sorry, buddy. I did not know
+about you being related to the deceased. I am mighty sorry."
+
+Jimmie does not answer. He is looking at the bridle like it is Lazarus
+arose from the dead and it is plain he is going to keel over.
+
+He puts out his hand, as if he is in a trance, and takes the bridle
+from the man.
+
+"It is all right," I says, "it is his bridle. Leave him have it. I will
+take him out of here." Which I do as they bring in a wicker basket and
+set it down by this thing on the floor around which they draws a white
+chalk mark before ... before they--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Guess I must be coming down with a cold. Yeah. Sure I will have another
+one. Just to wet my whistle. I seems to be kind of dried up like.
+Talking too much, I guess. There is times, though, when you has got
+to get it out of your system--the cold, I mean. Yeah. Well, here's to
+nothing, mister. If you got nothing, you got nothing to lose and, even
+if you does, it stands to advantage.
+
+What did who win after what? Oh, Winkie. He does not win no more. And
+does not lose no more. Because he does not ride no more. No, I mean
+no more. Never. You see, he ... he bumped hisself off. I took it for
+granted you knew.
+
+Yeah. Yeah. It was one of them things. After Ditsy--why, he kind of
+went haywire. I tried talking to him. Thought if he got to riding again
+it would take his mind off what it was brooding on. No, no, they never
+did catch whoever done it. I wish they _had_ of. If I could of got
+just within reaching distance--
+
+No, Jimmie would not pay no attention to me. He would just set there
+staring straight ahead and sometimes he would look at me like he could
+see clean through my backbone and out the other side.
+
+"Do not bother none, Jacks," he would say. "You do not understand. It
+was my fault. I should of knowed."
+
+And I would say, "Do not be like that. Them ... them kind of accidents
+is figured out statistical. You could not of knowed in a million
+years."
+
+"I was wrong. I was the one who had the blind abscess. Not Ditsy,"
+he would say. Morose, see. Only I thought he would snap out of it,
+eventual. But he does not. When he snaps, he snaps the other way.
+
+I remember the night that he done it. I set up with him until midnight
+talking up Parvalu, which Colonel Crandall wanted him to ride in the
+Bay Shore. I says, "Look here, Jimmie, if you will just get out and mix
+around some, you will be O. K." And I says, "Do not forget what you
+always said: 'You can shake grief or sorrow, you can bury remorse--but
+you can't never lose the feel o' a horse.'"
+
+"Yeah," he says, and he looks at me for the first time like he really
+sees me. "Yeah," he says, straightening up, "you can shake grief or
+sorrow, you can bury remorse ... bury remorse--"
+
+"But you can't never lose the feel o' a horse," I finishes for him.
+
+"Yeah," he says--slow. "Yeah, that is it."
+
+So I goes home brightened up, thinking I has at last got him squared
+around and the next morning--it is in the papers.
+
+They was two thoroughbreds, them two was. Yessir, two thoroughbreds
+that, some way, got boxed on a inside turn.
+
+What's that? Bridle? Oh, that. I had it buried with Jimmie. He had made
+a will leaving everything he possessed to me. Can you beat it? That is
+the kind of guy he was. Yeah. Oh, I could of kept it if I had of had a
+mind to, but bridles is cheap and he had set such a store by that one
+that it did not seem right to keep it. Besides, I could not ever of
+used it and kept my mind on what I was doing. He ... he hung hisself
+with it, see. He was out of his head with grief, that is all. He did
+not think. Jimmie was not no coward to take the easy way out. I know
+that. But I could not of had it around me just the same. So I buried it
+with him. Holding the reins in his hand. I think he would of liked it
+if he could of knowed.
+
+Well, bottoms up. I got to be going.
+
+Thanks, brother, and the same to you. It has been a pleasure. No, I do
+not reckon you will be seeing me in no papers, unless it is the funny
+papers. Did I not tell you? Horses has got a habit of slowing down when
+I am up on them. Like they has got a dead weight swinging on the bridle
+holding them back. They calls me Jinx. Yeah. Jinx Jackson.
+
+Well, so long, buddy.
+
+
+                               THE END.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN BRIDLE ***
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
+be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the
+United States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
+the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
+of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
+copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
+easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
+of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
+Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may
+do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
+by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
+license, especially commercial redistribution.
+
+START: FULL LICENSE
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
+Gutenberg™ electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
+person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
+1.E.8.
+
+1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
+Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country other than the United States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work
+on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the
+phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+
+  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
+  United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
+  you are located before using this eBook.
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg™ License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format
+other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
+Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
+provided that:
+
+• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+  the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method
+  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has
+  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+  Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+  Literary Archive Foundation.”
+
+• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
+  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™
+  works.
+
+• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+  receipt of the work.
+
+• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+  distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
+the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
+forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
+of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you “AS-IS”, WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™
+
+Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™'s
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
+www.gutenberg.org
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
+Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
+to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website
+and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without
+widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
+state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+
+Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
+facility: www.gutenberg.org
+
+This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/69890-0.zip b/old/69890-0.zip
index e2a6fb6..e2a6fb6 100644
--- a/69890-0.zip
+++ b/old/69890-0.zip
diff --git a/69890-h.zip b/old/69890-h.zip
index 1ec3dd7..1ec3dd7 100644
--- a/69890-h.zip
+++ b/old/69890-h.zip
diff --git a/old/69890-h/69890-h.htm b/old/69890-h/69890-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..057c929
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/69890-h/69890-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,1795 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <title>
+      The Golden Bridle, by Jane Rice—A Project Gutenberg eBook
+    </title>
+    <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover">
+    <style>
+
+body {
+    margin-left: 10%;
+    margin-right: 10%;
+}
+
+    h1,h2 {
+    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+p {
+    margin-top: .51em;
+    text-align: justify;
+    margin-bottom: .49em;
+}
+
+hr {
+    width: 33%;
+    margin-top: 2em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    margin-left: 33.5%;
+    margin-right: 33.5%;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+hr.tb   {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;}
+hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;}
+@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} }
+hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;}
+
+.center   {text-align: center;}
+
+.caption  {font-weight: bold;}
+
+/* Images */
+
+img {
+    max-width: 100%;
+    height: auto;
+}
+img.w100 {width: 100%;}
+
+.figcenter {
+    margin: auto;
+    text-align: center;
+    page-break-inside: avoid;
+    max-width: 100%;
+}
+
+div.titlepage {
+  text-align: center;
+  page-break-before: always;
+  page-break-after: always;
+}
+
+div.titlepage p {
+  text-align: center;
+  text-indent: 0em;
+  font-weight: bold;
+  line-height: 1.5;
+  margin-top: 3em;
+}
+
+.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; }
+.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; }
+
+/* Illustration classes */
+.illowp60 {width: 60%;}
+.x-ebookmaker .illowp60 {width: 100%;}
+.illowp95 {width: 95%;}
+.x-ebookmaker .illowp95 {width: 100%;}
+
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The golden bridle, by Jane Rice</p>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+
+<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The golden bridle</p>
+<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Jane Rice</p>
+<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 28, 2023 [eBook #69890]</p>
+<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
+  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</p>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN BRIDLE ***</div>
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>THE GOLDEN BRIDLE</h1>
+
+<h2>By Jane Rice</h2>
+
+<p>Illustrated by Alfred</p>
+
+<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br>
+Unknown Worlds April 1943.<br>
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br>
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Say, that is mighty white. I do not mind if I do, though I remembers
+the day when I would not of touched beer with a ten-foot pole. Weight.
+Jockeys has got to watch their weight like it is tombstones they is
+putting on instead of pounds.</p>
+
+<p>Well, here's luck, mister. May all your double parlays give the bookies
+fits.</p>
+
+<p>What's that? Yeah, sure I am a jockey. Was. There is not no point in
+giving you the old three and five. You look like a right guy. Why
+should I kid you? I have not been up on a horse for four years. Six
+months cold for a jock is a wide turn, but four years—say, four years
+is—what the devil, I am washed up cleaner than a choirboy's ears.</p>
+
+<p>And this is not my fault. That is what gives me the burn. It is not my
+fault. When Lady Luck smiles in the racing game she has got a grin so
+broad you can count her back fillings, but, when she quits smiling,
+brother, she just quits and you might as well go wrap your head in a
+sweat blanket and forget it.</p>
+
+<p>You know, you is going along good, not winning no Champagne Stakes nor
+nothing like that, but hitting the percentages and going along O.K.,
+see, when all of a sudden you finds that things begin to happen. And
+they keeps right on happening and you can spit in the wind all you want
+to and chew four-leaf clovers and take a horseshoe to bed with you
+and it does not have no effect. Things just keeps right on happening
+until after a while the trainers puts the double O on you and you can
+not even get a leg up on a spavined brood mare and everybody takes to
+calling you "Jinx."</p>
+
+<p>That is me, mister. Jinx Jackson.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, I am not beefing none. I manages, what with one thing and another.
+But believe me, buddy, it is enough to give you the yelping wipes when
+you stands there by the fence with the sun beating down on you, and the
+crowd milling around excitedlike, and the bugles blowing, and the flags
+waving, and the horses walking past—nervous—and the colors up with
+their pants skintight and their shirts bellying out like silk balloons,
+and then they are wheeling the barrier in, and you look at the track
+and it is smooth and sweet and fast as a filly with bees in her ears,
+and everything gets still except the popcorn peddlers, and there is
+that awful minute when you is waiting and the shirt sticks to your back
+and you gets that old, familiar, tight feeling on the inside of your
+thighs, and your tongue is like a sponge bit between your teeth, and
+then that cry—like a rising wind—"THEY'RE OFF!"</p>
+
+
+
+<p>That is when it hits you. Right here. As if somebody has yanked your
+stomach out and let it go <i>wham</i> back at you, like a pair of
+suspenders.</p>
+
+<p>That—and when you see a snipe getting hisself boxed on a inside turn,
+or bearing out in the run through the stretch, or—aw, nuts with it. It
+gets you, that is all. It gets you.</p>
+
+<p>Once you has got the feel of horses in your blood you is a goner. A
+gone goner. It is there, brother, and there is not no use fighting it.
+You cannot no more keep away from a paddock than you can stop blinking
+your eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie Winkie used to say, "You can shake grief and sorrow, you can
+bury remorse—but you can't never lose the feel o' a horse."</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie Winkie. Yeah, Wee Willie. That is the same.</p>
+
+<p>Good! Man, he had the magic touch. Why, he could add twenty lengths to
+anything on four legs. Easy. Jimmie was tops. Why, I has seen him come
+from behind the hard way and spot them a extra advantage by pulling out
+and still win and there was not no photo finishes, neither. When he
+won, mister, he won.</p>
+
+<p>He was a funny guy, he was. Had a kind of puckery face and big ears.
+Walked springy, like a banty rooster. Used to use a special bridle when
+he was up. Superstitious? It is not superstition exactly. It is just
+a kind of a feeling you get about certain things. Lots of us jocks
+are thataway. I know I would of had a hissy—four years ago—if I had
+of mislaid a old wore-out crop I always carried. Moe Prentice had a
+buckeye he would not of parted with for nobody. Jackie Watson had some
+sort of a medal on a silver chain. Cry Baby Noolan would not no more of
+thought of riding with his cap anyway but hind side to than he would
+of thought of riding without any clothes on. In fact, if he would of
+had to make a choice, I reckon he would of rode in his skin before he
+would of changed his cap proper. And, like I said, Jimmie has this here
+special bridle, though there is not much special about it except that
+it is goldish-looking if you hold it in the right light. But seems he
+takes a fancy to it and from the way he acts you would of thought it
+is made from the tanned hide of a Derby winner. But it is not no such
+thing, of course. It is just a bridle like any racing bridle only, like
+I said, it is goldish-looking in a unnoticeable manner.</p>
+
+<p>He gets it one year when we is finishing up the circuit down in
+Tijuana. This is before he hits his stride. When he is going along,
+like me, not snaffling no tall money nor nothing but knocking off his
+percentages. He is plain Jimmie Winkie then. The newspapers has not
+tagged that there Wee Willie on to him yet and he is not endorsing no
+leather jackets, nor saying as how he likes Puffie Wuffies because they
+is superroasted and rolled on hoops.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Well, as I was saying, we is down in Tijuana and it is nighttime and
+we is walking down one of them crooked streets which is about as thick
+in Tijuana as saddle sores is in a riding academy. We is walking along
+with our hands in our pockets and not much else, being as how we has
+inadvertently got mixed up in a game knowed as faro, the same which is
+like being on the wrong end of a loco bronc, and which we would not of
+got into if Jimmie had not of wanted to increase a five-dollar bill
+into a ten-dollar bill so as to buy a real nice present for Ditsy.
+Anyhow, like I said, we is walking along minding our own business when
+there is—</p>
+
+<p>Ditsy? Oh, Ditsy was Jimmie's sister. Name was Dorothy, but Jimmie
+called her Ditsy. He was crazy about her. Seemed like he had raised
+her since she was knee high to a feed box. Guess they had some muddy
+tracks, them two, and what with their not having nobody but theirselves
+and her being crippled, why, one way and another, he set a lot of store
+by her.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, we is walking along, Jimmie and me, and I am thinking about
+what we is going to eat for breakfast the next day, and lunch, and
+supper, and Jimmie is thinking about how is he going to buy Ditsy
+something when we hear a rumpus going on around a corner up ahead.
+It increases graduallike and when we gets to the corner we meets it,
+head-on you might say.</p>
+
+<p>There is about a dozen people who is all personal acquaintances of
+John Barleycorn, and they is pestering a woman who looks like she is
+on her way to a masquerade at a insane asylum. She has got on a sheet
+all draped and wrapped every which way and her feet is laced up in
+sandals and there is a wreath on her hair, only now it is setting
+cockeyed on account of as how these here people has been chasing her,
+and she is carrying a bridle. In fact, if I had of spent my money on
+John Barleycorn instead of faro, I probably would of joined in on the
+side of these here people who is laughing theirselves sick and grabbing
+at this here sheet and having a big time, for which I cannot blame them
+any as this woman is sure a curious sight.</p>
+
+<p>While I am thinking what a curious sight she is, Jimmie busts up the
+party. He does this with very little fuss, hitting merely one guy who
+goes down like a sack of wet oats and the rest takes to their heels as
+I am doubling up my fists preparing to wade in.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp60" id="illus1" style="max-width: 25.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/illus1.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>"Now, sister," Jimmie says, rubbing his knuckles tenderlike, "if I was
+you I would vamoose. Tijuana is no place for a lady without as how she
+has got company to see that she gets where she has started out for."</p>
+
+<p>Well, this woman straightens her wreath and breaks out in some kind of
+a foreign language which sounds like nothing I ever heard unless it is
+"Chopsticks" played on a piano which is out of tune and is minus some
+of the keys.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, sister," Jimmie says, "vamoose while the vamoosing is favorable."</p>
+
+<p>The woman makes some motions and spouts some more of this here talk and
+there is just one word I get and that is "grease." She says this over
+and over, "Grease, grease," meanwhile gesturing for all she is able.</p>
+
+<p>"Grease?" Jimmie says, puzzled, and she nods violently and shakes the
+bridle she is carrying and does a act like she is putting it on a horse
+and then flaps her arms like she is flying.</p>
+
+<p>"Grease," she says.</p>
+
+<p>I begins to get uneasy. "Say," I says to Jimmie, sotto voice, "let's us
+get out of here—this gal has got bats in her belfry."</p>
+
+<p>"I think she has lost a horse," Jimmie says slow.</p>
+
+<p>"Horse!" I says. "How is she going to straddle a horse in that getup?
+She has lost her mind. Let's us get out of here. Loonies is not no
+picnic."</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie does not pay no attention to me. He takes the bridle away from
+her—gentle—so as not to scare her and <i>he</i> does a act like
+<i>he</i> is putting it on a horse. "Horse?" he says.</p>
+
+<p>This looney looks at him a minute, then her face kind of brightenslike.
+She points to the bridle Jimmie is holding and says, "Hippos."</p>
+
+<p>"She has got the D. T.'s," I cheeps. "She is talking about a
+hippopotamus what flies or I will eat that there bridle. Come on,"
+I says, "this is not no place for—" But I do not get no further
+because there is a faint whinny and this here woman shrieks joyfully
+and—without so much as a kiss-my-foot—lams in the direction of this
+here nickering which, judging from the sound, is a block or so to our
+rear—though we has not seen no sign of no horse when we is walking by
+thataway.</p>
+
+<p>We stands there gawking after this dame while she disappears in the
+night and Jimmie, suddenlike, yells, "Hey, here is your bridle," and
+starts after her and me after Jimmie, because I has not got no wish to
+see Jimmie sucked in on something that is not kosher, and it is plain
+that there is something here that does not meet the eye right off.</p>
+
+<p>I dope it that this here dame is a kind of a lead rein for some guys
+which is laying low in a alley or some place figuring to roll whoever
+she ropes in, and it is a unpleasant statistic that persons is often
+beat up severe when it is discovered they has not got no wherewith to
+make such a business profitable.</p>
+
+<p>When we gets down the street a ways I catches up to Jimmie and stops
+him and I says, "Has you taken leave of your senses? This here is one
+of them cul-de-sacs or I am a ring-tailed—" But I do not say baboon,
+which I had intended, because somewhere I hears a noise like a lot of
+pigeons taking off—like they has been shooed—and from way up, like
+on a roof, I hears this woman laughing and it dwindles away and, then,
+it is quiet and a little white feather drifts down and lands in the
+gutter. It is all very weird and I do not like it.</p>
+
+<p>"I would of swore a horse nickered down here a minute ago," Jimmie says.</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up," I says, "and let's us get out of here before we is knifed in
+the back."</p>
+
+<p>So we does and that is how Jimmie come by the bridle.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Well, say, I do not mind if I do. There is this about beer. You do not
+have to worry none the next morning about tying your shoes. Ever try
+sticking a hot knife in it? Many's the time I has seen my old man heat
+the poker until it is as red as the old Scratch hisself and then plunge
+it into the pail. That was when you could get all you wanted for a dime
+with boiled ham and cheese and bologna throwed in to boot and, like as
+not, a slice of liver for the cat.</p>
+
+<p>Here's bumps, mister. And may you never tear up your ducats without
+looking twice.</p>
+
+<p>Where was I? Oh, yeah, Tijuana. Well, here we is without a buffalo
+between us. Broke as a skillet of scrambled eggs and up in the fifth
+the next day, the same which dawns bright and early and finds me and
+Jimmie nearly splitting a girth trying to trade that there bridle for a
+plate of buckwheat cakes, but everybody gives us the zero gaze until I
+begins to wonder if we is coming down with smallpox. So we hunts up a
+dopester by the name of Stew Hatcher and he stakes us to a meal after
+which we hangs around until he has got up his sheet and then we rides
+out to the track with him and his girl. We asks Stew, just kidding, who
+he is picking in the fifth and Stew says it is not us and he is not
+kidding. For his money, he says, it is High Jinks, Admirella and Sky
+Eagle. One, two, three.</p>
+
+<p>I am up on Black Boy and Jimmie he is up on Peajacket, so we thumbs
+our noses at Stew and gives him the buzz and says as how we is pleased
+to have met this girl he is with—which is a lie because she is very
+snooty—and we goes on in.</p>
+
+<p>We gets into our colors and sets around with the fellows dishing out
+a lot of bull about what we done in Tijuana and Jimmie gives me the
+wink and says he has got hold of a nifty bridle he is willing to take
+a loss on. And he gets this here bridle out of his locker and says if
+anybody will give him a fin for it they can have it, though they will
+be rooking him on the deal.</p>
+
+<p>Boy, does he get the laugh. Moe says he will give him a fin for it if
+Jimmie will throw in Peajacket and shine his boots for a week, too. And
+Cry Baby Noolan says if it is such a hot bridle why don't he bridle
+Peajacket with it. And everybody starts gaffing Jimmie and I acts real
+indignant and I says what is it worth to them if he <i>does</i> bridle
+Peajacket with it, them being such sports. Jimmie, seeing the lay of
+the land, plays up to me and says, "No," and everybody chimes in giving
+him the merry ha-ha and when there is three bucks up he will not do it,
+why, then Jimmie says O.K., he will do it, see.</p>
+
+<p>Does a holler go up when they catches on to how they has been taken!
+But Jimmie says a bet is a bet and he is game enough to live up to his
+end of the bargain if they is. "Of course, if they <i>isn't</i>—"
+he says, inferring that anybody who reneges is a horse's patoot, so,
+naturally, nobody reneges, though there is some grousing.</p>
+
+<p>I used to say to Jimmie, I would say, "Jimmie, remember the day at
+Tijuana when we nicked Moe and them for three bucks?" And Jimmie, he
+would say, "Yeah," and kind of draw in his breath like he was thinking
+about it—hard. Remembering how Peajacket upset the bookies' apple cart.</p>
+
+<p>You see, Stew Hatcher is wrong. It is Peajacket, High Jinks and
+Admirella. One, two, three. And the owner of Peajacket—I forget his
+name, big loose-mouthed chap with a face like a side of beef—is fair
+to be hobbled because he has not bet on his own entry on account of as
+how it is a cinch to lose. It is a two-year-old he has picked up for
+seven and a quarter at a public sale and he is just feeling him out and
+damn if Jimmie does not bring in a win.</p>
+
+<p>Me? Oh, I comes in with the tailbearers. I could of got in a lame
+fourth, but I am so whooper-jawed watching Jimmie go down the stretch
+like a lighted fuse that I lets this here Black Boy I am up on bear
+out—he was death on bearing out—and, of course, that puts the quietus
+on us. There is not no percentage in whipping a horse over for fourth
+place. A horse has got sense enough to know when you is making a fool
+out of him.</p>
+
+<p>No, I do not guess you will recollect Peajacket. He turns out to be a
+foozle, after all. He is entered a couple of more times, Saratoga, I
+thinks, and Empire City—Syl Patton up—but he does not do nothing but
+pick up a coupla pounds of mud.</p>
+
+<p>But he sure is not no foozle that afternoon at Tijuana.</p>
+
+<p>There is not no barrier. You just keeps back of the line as best you
+can. That is one way to lose a race before the gun. I has seen them do
+it on purpose. You know, too tight a rein, get your horse skittered,
+make him break three or four times, and, when the gun goes, hold him
+back just long enough to let him see that he is a cooked potato. Nine
+times out of ten you can whip him raw and he will run, but he will not
+run fast enough. But <i>your</i> nose is clean. The trainer cannot say
+as how <i>you</i> did not try.</p>
+
+<p>Say, am I boring you with this? If I am—okke doke, any time you has
+had a sufficiency, say so.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Well, as I was saying, there is not no barrier. Outside of a little
+tail flicking and head tossing, Black Boy is as calm as a Jersey cow.
+High Jinks breaks once and Sky Eagle and some of the field prances
+around a bit, but Peajacket he acts like he has been fed hopped oats.
+In fact, there is some talk of it later on, but they cannot never prove
+nothing. Anyway, this here Peajacket is taking on for a fare-you-well
+with Jimmie trying to gentle him down and the starter getting mad and a
+jock, name of Happy Slauderwasser—that is a moniker for you, nice guy
+though—who is next to Peajacket swearing something fierce. Finally,
+Jimmie gets this here Peajacket backed in and he is lathered up like a
+ad for saddle soap, and the gun goes, and out of the tail of my eye as
+me and Black Boy takes off I sees Peajacket rearing up and I thinks,
+"Oh, Lordy," because it is a rule last one in has to pitch a buck in
+the kitty. And it is plain to see, in a field of fifteen, Jimmie is
+slated to be the last one in and then we will only have a buck apiece
+instead of a buck fifty.</p>
+
+<p>I settles down and starts easing over to the inside track hoping for
+a pocket. High Jinks is up ahead and he is not anywheres near let out
+yet. There is three or four horses in between, then Admirella nosing
+up, Sky Eagle alongside, doing like me, playing a wait, and Jimmie and
+the rest of the field bunched in behind.</p>
+
+<p>I am not thinking about Jimmie no more, though. I am concentrating on
+them three or four babies cutting off my view of High Jinks. I am not
+worried about them none, but when there is a opening I wants to be
+there instead of Sky Eagle. So I am concentrating, like I said, and I
+hear this horse coming. You do not actually hear them as much as you
+<i>feel</i> them. It is a mixture of both. It is like you got an alarm
+system inside of you and all of a sudden it is ringing like who popped
+Mollie and you know with a kind of a ... of a ... a kind of a awareness
+that you got heavy competition.</p>
+
+<p>I remembers wondering who it could be. There is High Jinks and
+Admirella in plain sight. Sky Eagle and me practically pat-a-caking at
+each other, some of the field ahead, but they is giving by now and, so
+far as I know, what is left in tow is not capable of doing nothing but
+horse apples.</p>
+
+<p>I do not take my mind off this here opening, though. It is getting
+ripe, I can see that, and I am bound I am going to be there when it is
+due before it closes in and strings out.</p>
+
+<p>Then, I catches a glimpse of this here horse on the off side of Sky
+Eagle. A kind of consciousness it is of this here third horse and I am
+sort of cheered when I see it is not bothering none about no openings,
+nor no inside track, nor nothing like that. And, while I am being
+cheered and thinking what a smart guy I am, this here third horse
+pounds ahead past Sky Eagle, a shoulder, half a length, a length, and
+that opening I been hovering over swings wide as a barn door and Sky
+Eagle is through it because I am yawping at Jimmie Winkie with his ears
+skinned back crouched high on Peajacket, and if I had not of knowed
+better I would of swore he was scared green, and while I am yawping,
+Black Boy bears out so, as I said, that puts the quietus on us.</p>
+
+<p>There has been better races run and bigger ones has been won by darker
+horses, but, off-hand, I cannot call any to mind that I got such a
+thrill out of. I do not know whether it is because I am so cocksure
+Jimmie is bringing up the rear, or because Moe Prentice—he is up on
+High Jinks—is took down a peg or two, or maybe because there is a
+certain something about the way that there horse runs with his nostrils
+red and wide, and his tail streaming out behind him like it has been
+starched, and his hoofs beating music out of that there track like a
+crazy drummer, and Jimmie pasted to him close as a surcingle and with
+a kind of a look about him like night wind sounds, if you know what I
+mean. A kind of a queer, wild, blowy look. But most of all I guess it
+is the horse.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie says it is the horse and he ought to of knowed being as how he
+was up on him. Jimmie says it is also a great surprise to him that
+Peajacket wins, but, naturally, he does not say this out—but just to
+me—as it is not a good policy to let on that you are surprised when
+you bring in a winner.</p>
+
+<p>How does it feel to bring in a winner? Brother, you can have the
+greatest symphony that was ever wrote; I will take the thunder of
+a winner's hoofs coming down the straightaway. That is something,
+brother. That is really <i>some</i>thing. It is like a ... like a ...
+well, like I said, a kind of a awareness. Like you was conscious of the
+noise and the feel all at the same minute. Take that there Peajacket. I
+got it right away. The noise and the feel together, I mean. Like there
+was two horses running. One on top the other.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>We bums a ride back after the seventh and gets out on the main drag and
+flips a coin to see whether we eats or buys Ditsy something. It comes
+out buying Ditsy something so we goes to one of these here shops that
+has a window full of everything from jewelry to tablecloths and we
+picks out a powder box that plays a tune when the lid is lifted off. A
+thin, tinkly, sort of <i>plink, plink</i> tune, but pretty. Reminds you
+of the way ladies used to rustle when they walked, if you know what I
+mean.</p>
+
+<p>While the guy is wrapping it up, Jimmie goes over and picks up a vase
+which is setting on a shelf with a lot of other vases. This here vase
+he picks up is blue and has a lot of well-built dames on it holding
+garlands of flowers. Jimmie kind of whistles.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at this here," he says.</p>
+
+<p>I agrees it is nice, but points out that we has got exactly twenty-nine
+cents between us and the price is marked clear two fifty.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a strange coincidence," he says, more to hisself than me, and
+I says it is not no coincidence it is a vase and if he is thinking
+about switching over, why, there is a vase on the shelf above which is
+better-looking on account of as how it has a scene painted on it and
+the price is twenty-five cents cheaper.</p>
+
+<p>This guy comes up about this time and washes his hands in the air and
+asks if we are interested in a vase.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I says.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Jimmie says. "Who is this here middle dame on this here vase?"</p>
+
+<p>"They represent the Muses," this guy says. "A marvelous buy for the
+money."</p>
+
+<p>"This here middle dame is a Muse?" asks Jimmie.</p>
+
+<p>"They are all Muses," this guy says, "goddesses of the arts and poetry
+and science. A very artistic vase. Only two fifty."</p>
+
+<p>"Did any of them have a horse?" Jimmie asks.</p>
+
+<p>"Horse?"</p>
+
+<p>"Horse."</p>
+
+<p>"I could not say. It is a very handsome vase, howinever, and I will
+make you a special price of two twenty-five, if you are interested."</p>
+
+<p>"Where can I find out if any of them had a horse?"</p>
+
+<p>"I could not say, unless it is the library. Two dollars even I will
+make it. Below that I cannot go."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," I chimes in, being tired of Jimmie ribbing this here guy
+about a horse, "we will take it in place of the powder box."</p>
+
+<p>With that this guy freezes over like the outside of a mint julep and he
+says chillylike, "I have just remembered that this vase has been put
+aside for another party."</p>
+
+<p>And I says, "That is very odd being as how you were so all fired set on
+us having it at reduced cost."</p>
+
+<p>"Herman," this guys says.</p>
+
+<p>And another guy with a neck like a Percheron, shoulders his way through
+a curtain in the back and stands there like as if he is itching for
+somebody to say "When." So we takes our package and we leaves.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>I am in favor of hunting up a crap game and shooting our twenty-nine
+cents and Jimmie says that is a splendid idea and for me to do so and
+he will meet me at the pool parlor in a hour. I asks where is he going?
+And he says the library. And as he has never been inside a library in
+his life to my certain knowledge, I figure he is telling me in a nice
+way to mind my own business. Which I does. And in a hour I has run the
+twenty-nine cents into eight bits and a Masonic emblem.</p>
+
+<p>I meets Jimmie like he said and I can see right away he is exceptional
+thoughtful. We go to a place called La Cucuracha where the second cup
+of coffee is free and you gets gravy with your potatoes, although
+Jimmie seems to have lost his appetite. He keeps transferring his food
+from one side of his plate to the other until I outs and asks him
+pointblank what is ailing him.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever hear tell of a horse called Pegasus?" he says by way of
+answer.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I says. "Who sired him?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is out of Medusa by Neptune," says Jimmie.</p>
+
+<p>"I never heard of them, neither," I says shoveling in a mouthful of
+potatoes and gravy. "What has this here Peg-whoit got to do with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not certain for sure," he says, "but I has got a idea,"</p>
+
+<p>"Which is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Could be he got blowed off his course," Jimmie says, "or got scared by
+another gadfly or some such, landed in Tijuana and this here Muse comes
+after him and—"</p>
+
+<p>"Look," I says, "one of us has got a screw loose and it is not me.
+Begin over and repeat slow and there is apple pie with the dinner and
+if you do not want it I will eat your piece, if it is all the same to
+you. Now what was you saying?"</p>
+
+<p>He shoves his plate back. "I am going to break the track record
+tomorrow," he says, and there is something about the way he says it,
+some quality in his voice that makes me sit up and take notice all of a
+sudden.</p>
+
+<p>A kind of creepy sensation comes over me and I am reminded of when I
+am a kid and the grandfather's clock in the hall would strike during
+the night. It would go <i>bong—bong—bong</i> real slow and soft, but
+filling the house, howinever, and making the air vibrate. I would lie
+there and think, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall," but
+that did not make no difference. My feet would get cold and my eyes
+near bug out of my head, and I would not have no swallow and I would
+lie there thinking, "It is just the grandfather's clock in the hall."</p>
+
+<p>I gives Jimmie one of them searching looks you read about, but it does
+not tell me nothing except that he is a mite tightened-uplike and is
+letting some fifty cents worth of food go to waste.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks for the tip," I says. "Who you planning on being up on?
+Man-o'-War?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ditsy has always wanted a grand piano," he says, "since she was not
+bigger'n a boot-jack." And he says, "I will get her the best one money
+can buy."</p>
+
+<p>It is obvious that he tightened up more than I think because there is
+not enough space in that two-room flat in Cleveland to hold both Ditsy
+and a grand piano at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>"That will be dandy," I says, "but I am afraid there will not be no
+grand piano in it. Them things cost folding money."</p>
+
+<p>"Folding money," he repeats and the words sounds like a three-inch
+sirloin the way he says them—thick and red and juicy. "You know what
+I am going to have," he says, "I am going to have a pair of handmade
+boots—them that laces at the ankle—and I am going to have a suit with
+buttonholes under the buttons on the sleeves. Not just thread sewed to
+look like buttonholes—<i>real</i> buttonholes I am going to have under
+the buttons and a yellow chamois bag."</p>
+
+<p>"A yellow chamois bag under the buttons," I says and, recalling to mind
+a chap named Joe Hankins who fought a bunch of Comanches all one night
+in a psycopathic ward at a hospital in Louisville, I continues to smile
+pleasantly while I eases my chair back.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Jimmie says, "lined with flannel so as the bridle will not get
+scratched up none."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I agrees, "flannel."</p>
+
+<p>"Saratoga," says Jimmie, "Havre de Grace, Narragansett, Hialeah,
+Aqueduct."</p>
+
+<p>"Hawthorne, Churchill Downs, Empire City, Belmont Park, Thistledown," I
+chimes in nodding like a Chinese laundryman who has lost your wash. I
+holds my breath and gets to my feet praying that I will be able to ease
+him out quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"Through?" Jimmie says, cool as a cucumber. "What say we see if we can
+get a game of pool on the cuff?"</p>
+
+<p>The next day he breaks the track record.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>I has thought about it a great deal since then and do you know what I
+figure? I figure it like this. I figure that Jimmie had got on to a
+secret. There is a secret to doing everything. Like tight-rope walking,
+or shooting par golf consistent, or whizzing a ball over a tennis net
+so as it falls just so and dribbles off before it can be got up off
+the ground. There is a secret to juggling plates and a secret to pole
+vaulting higher than anybody else. The plates and the pole and the
+rope and the golf clubs and tennis racquet is all the same. What I
+mean is you could take half a dozen plates and throw them up in the
+air and they would land behind the eight ball. But take these here
+same identical plates and give them to a juggler and he will make them
+perform without so much as mussing his tie. Why? Because he knows the
+secret.</p>
+
+<p>Well, then, why can it not be the same way with horses? I am not saying
+you can take a plow horse and make him win a race any more than that
+there juggler can juggle plates made out of pig iron. But I am saying,
+if you know the secret, you can take a <i>race horse</i> and make him
+win a race. And, like I said, I has thought about it a lot and I figure
+there is a secret and Jimmie has got on to it. I figure the secret
+comes to him in a flash like when you know, in a sort of a burst of
+knowing, that the dealer has aces back to back. Because from that day
+on he never rides a loser. Except one. I will get around to that in a
+second.</p>
+
+<p>Saratoga and Hialeah and Havre de Grace and all of them is not no pipe
+dream. And neither is Ditsy's grand piano, though it is not in no
+two-room flat. It is in a living room as big as from here to there.
+One of them two-storied jobs that goes all the way up to the roof.
+One of them studio living rooms. And done real classy with drapes and
+hand-carved furniture and lamps with rose silk on the underneath parts
+of their shades, and them black-and-white, pen-and-ink-looking pictures
+on the walls, and a rug that feels like it will arch in the middle and
+purr if you rub it, it is that soft.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, it does not happen pronto. It starts out gradual with
+Jimmie's name in the papers—"Keep your eye on So-and-So up on
+So-and-So"—and then it takes a up curve with the sports writers
+pegging him with this here Wee Willie and first thing you know he is
+appearing regular Sundays in the rotogravure, him and Ditsy, holding
+a horseshoe or a shamrock or this here bridle or such as that, and
+persons are talking about the "Winkie Technique" and children is eating
+their weight in cereal because Wee Willie Winkie says as how it has got
+Vitamin Q and for six box tops or reasonable facsimiles thereof the
+cereal people will send you a handsome, autographed photograph of Wee
+Willie on Martinique or Little John or Fireflow or some such as them.
+And his stock is going up like a fever chart. And he is in the bucks.
+But I mean <i>in</i>, brother.</p>
+
+<p>It changes him some. I do not mean he goes around putting out like
+he has hung the moon and painted the blue sky; if anything, he
+quietens down and kind of draws into hisself like. In fact, when he
+is congratulated on his ability, which he is every time he turns
+around, he acts like it is making him sick to his stomach. And when the
+write-ups come out about how modest he is and shy and retiring and how
+he always tries to give the credit for a win to the horse, why then he
+acts like he is even sicker and getting no better fast.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, while most of the publicity is along the lines of sweetness
+and light, there is some of it as squeezes out a few lemons. Like them
+that says as how Winkie rides a horse walleyed, and them as hints it
+is mighty peculiar he does not never lose and a pity, furthermore,
+because the odds on a horse what is toting Winkie is something to
+behold in a new all-time low.</p>
+
+<p>Then there is the follow-up gang that always seems to heel to a celeb.
+Whether he gets to be a celeb by riding horses or eating goldfish
+or drinking thirty buckets of beer does not make no noticeable
+difference—they follows. It gets so Jimmie cannot go nowheres without
+getting the press took out of his pants and he is lucky if the pants is
+not also took out with the press.</p>
+
+<p>People sends him alligators from Florida and salmon from Alaska. He
+gets lariats made out of tail hair plaited, and high-heeled boots with
+tooling. He gets silver spurs, and leather jackets, and saddles, and
+gloves, and sombreros. He gets blankets and pipes and racks for this
+and holders for that. He gets a sheep dog, a pair of love birds, a
+coon cat, a baby leopard, a bearskin rug with the teeth still in it, a
+stuffed owl, a collection of butterflies, and some twisty horns off a
+mountain goat all set and glued on a wooden thing to hang on the wall.
+He gets socks by the gross, handkerchiefs by carloads and one dame even
+sends him a box of pink silk underwear with his initials stitched in
+fancy in orchid embroidery.</p>
+
+<p>To give you the idea, one day he appears in the papers cutting a
+piece out of one of them round coffee cakes and the next day there is
+nineteen round coffee cakes delivered to his address and he does not
+<i>like</i> round coffee cakes nor no kind of coffee cakes, but is
+cutting this here piece to please the press photographer who wants a
+homey touch.</p>
+
+<p>But for everybody what is giving him something there is two wanting him
+to give <i>them</i> something. Jimmie used to say he got so he could
+tell right off who was a givee and who was a gimme. Not that he does
+not appreciate what is give him, even if he does not keep it, and not
+that he does not hand out to the gimmes—it is just that he does not
+want nothing off of nobody and does not want nobody to want nothing off
+of him.</p>
+
+<p>But when you gets in the major brackets that is not the way things is.
+So, like I said, it changes him some. Some way, he reminds me of a kid
+what has eat a quarter's worth of jelly beans all one flavor.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>It changes Ditsy, too. Her hair is not loose-like and fluffy no more.
+It is on the order of a cocker spaniel's, only precise, and her ears
+has got earbobs in them, and instead of wearing print housedresses she
+is all diked out in them dresses which is not referred to as dresses,
+but as "creations." She has got a new wheelchair which is streamlined
+and has more chrome on it than a limousine, and some bird with a
+Vandyke and a accent you can spread like marmalade is giving her some
+kind of underwater massage for her legs, so she should be very happy.
+She is not, though.</p>
+
+<p>She puts on like she is happy and anybody what does not know her would
+say, "My, she is happy," and they would be ninety-nine and forty-four
+hundreds percent wrong because she is not happy by no means. She fools
+Jimmie because Jimmie is so anxious for her to be happy that, when she
+keeps saying she is happy, he believes she is happy and it does not
+occur to him that when you are happy you does not go around saying,
+"My, I am happy," like you was learning a lesson in memorizing.</p>
+
+<p>When a woman is happy she sings and brushes her hair a lot and says
+stuff like, "I declare, it is four o'clock <i>already</i>, can you beat
+that?" and she looks smily even when she is not actually smiling. So
+it is obvious Ditsy is not happy because she is not doing none of them
+things. When she smiles it is more or less of a lip movement going on
+under her nose and not having nothing to do with the rest of her face,
+and she does not sing spontaneous, though when she is in that two-room
+flat the landlady has had to request her several times to pipe down.
+And, instead of saying, "I declare it is four o'clock <i>already</i>,"
+she just says, "It is four o'clock," like you would say, "The dodo
+is now become extinct," or, "I see where there in a population of
+ninety-two in East Gleep, Nevada."</p>
+
+<p>So, as I said, it changes Ditsy, too. And it is pathetic to watch them
+two, him and her, working so hard at being happy and pretending that
+life is a bowl of cherries when it is plain life is a onion poultice.</p>
+
+<p>Some time passes and I am here, there, and yonder and word gets around
+that Jimmie Winkie is hitting the paint which occasions me to be
+surprised because Jimmie Winkie is never one to hit the paint even in a
+mild manner. So I am not paying any attention to these here remarks and
+I am once or twice very near smacking persons in the puss who say that
+it is a fact that Ditsy is turned into a red-hot momma.</p>
+
+<p>What's that? Oh, that. Well, it seems that this here underwater massage
+is the stuff and she is able to get around some—not good, understand,
+but some.</p>
+
+<p>What! Her! Say, listen here, bub—well, all right, no offense taken,
+but she is not that kind. O. K. O. K. Let it ride. Sure I will have
+another beer, only do not make no more remarks like that, see. O. K. O.
+K.</p>
+
+<p>Maybe I do not make myself clear. I mean she has gone in for
+double-jointed cigarette holders and red fingernails and them
+long-haired guys what paints a picture of somebody so as they have one
+eye here and one here and clockwork springs for the top of their head
+and maybe a spare tire for one hand and a fiddle for the other with a
+bunch of carrots sprouting out of it.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, that is what I am hearing and—here's bumps, brother. You know
+I set and watched a glass of beer bubble from the bottom one night
+and it bubbled for three hours and a half 'fore it got flat. That was
+when Ditsy—But I will get around to that quick enough. Now and again
+I still catches myself trying <i>not</i> to think about it. And it has
+been a long time. A long time.</p>
+
+<p>What was I saying? Oh, yeah, Jimmie hitting the paint. He <i>is</i> all
+right because I am setting in a place in Cleveland—having just got off
+the train—and some fellow comes in and I does not pay no attention
+until I see he is walking like a banty rooster which is sea-sick. And
+I yells, "Jimmie!" And he looks up and focuses on me and I see it is
+true he is hitting the paint and, if his present condition is a fair
+example, he is hitting it with a capital H.</p>
+
+<p>I am not one to stick my nose in other people's business. I am one who
+says other people's business is their own business and no business of
+mine, having found that a nose stuck in other people's business usually
+gets itself pinned up so as it does not look like a nose for quite a
+while after.</p>
+
+<p>But this is different. First, it is Jimmie Winkie. Second, he is
+running a race the next day I have seen by the papers. Third, it will
+not put no shine on his shoes if somebody says, "Oh, look, is that not
+Wee Winkie and is he not skizzled?"</p>
+
+<p>To make a long story short, I gets him out of there. I thinks about
+checking into a hotel, but there is those somebodies again, so there is
+not nothing to do but get a cab and take him home. The same which I
+does.</p>
+
+<p>When I first sees Ditsy I also thinks it is true that she has turned
+into a red-hot momma. She has done something to her mouth so it looks
+like it has been swatted by a ripe plum, and she is wearing one of them
+"creations" that does not leave but very little to the imagination, and
+she is walking with two silver-headed canes, and her fingernails looks
+like they has been dipped in calves' liver while it is still in the
+calf.</p>
+
+<p>She is quite a sight for sore eyes until you remembers it is Ditsy
+and, then your collar gets too tight and you say, "Hello, Ditsy," and
+she does not say nothing. She just looks at Jimmie until you thinks
+she does not know who it is and, then, she looks at me and her eyes
+is the color of a horse's flanks after a workout—dark and wet and
+velvety—and she says, "Bring him in, Jacks," and, some way, her voice
+sounds like it is bleeding. And, all at once, you know that underneath
+all this cover-up she has put on is the same old Ditsy. Worn finer, and
+kind of tired, but Ditsy.</p>
+
+<p>She knows what to do, too. She does not put him to bed. She has me set
+him up in the bathroom with his head over the basin and she feeds him
+soapy water and as fast as one glass full comes up down goes another.
+And when he says he cannot do it no more, she wheedles him into doing
+it until his insides is as clean as a old maid's conscience, and his
+head is woozy but not boozy. Also, I am under the impression this is
+not the first time them two has underwent this here same procedure.</p>
+
+<p>Soapy water? Best thing on earth. Makes you feel like you has been
+hollowed out and whittled thin, but it does not leave nothing in you
+that you would want to wake up with the next morning. Of course, it is
+not exactly a pleasant treatment while it is going on, but, after it is
+done, although you could not fight no mess of apes, you could give them
+a run for their money, if such become necessary.</p>
+
+<p>After some time, Jimmie says in a washed-out voice, "O.K., go ahead.
+Tell me I am a louse."</p>
+
+<p>Ditsy does not say nothing and I does not say nothing, neither, being
+busy examining my cuticles.</p>
+
+<p>"I know I am a louse," he continues. "Go on. Get it over with. Go on,
+tell me I am a louse."</p>
+
+<p>So I says, "You are a louse, period," and I leaves off examining my
+cuticles and takes up examining Jimmie like he is a rare specimen of
+garbage that has got in among us while we are occupied elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>"I was not asking <i>you</i>," Jimmie says, and he looks at Ditsy and
+Ditsy looks at him and Ditsy does not say nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," I says, "I thought you was addressing the general
+public of which there are several that says you has lost hold of your
+senses."</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up," Jimmie says. "SHUT UP. I did not ask you to butt in, did I?
+Why do you not go back where you come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I says, "I will be delighted. But when you is handing out
+your interviews tomorrow do not give the credit for the win to the
+horse—give it to Ditsy, here. <i>If</i> you win."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean 'if'?" Jimmie says. "It is in the bag." He laughs.
+"Literal," he says. "You and Ditsy need not worry none."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not worrying," Ditsy says toneless-like. "It does not matter
+either way. Nothing does not matter. Any more."</p>
+
+<p>The way she tags that "any more" on to it is horrible to listen to. It
+has a dead, flat, hopeless sound and I keep thinking, if I look down,
+I will see it laying there on the bath mat spread out on its back with
+its eyes rolled up.</p>
+
+<p>It gets Jimmie, too, because it is clear that if Ditsy had batted him
+on the bean with a lead sock he would not be more took back.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" he says. "What do you mean?" like that, see, with a
+up on the end.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean it is no good," Ditsy says. "I cannot stand it. You are not
+Jimmie Winkie any more. You are somebody else. Somebody else I do not
+know. Somebody else who I do not want to know. I hope you do lose
+tomorrow," she says and her words bump into each other and bunch up,
+like the field in a steeple-chase taking the first hedge. "I hope you
+lose tomorrow," she says, "and the next day, and the next and the next
+and next and next, and we can go back to that two-room flat and eat
+beef stew and take turns washing the dishes and put toothpicks in the
+windows to keep them from rattling, and play pinochle and watch the car
+lights come over the Freeway and, maybe, have a pint of ice cream for a
+treat and ... and ... be ... happy"—and her voice breaks in the middle
+and she puts her face in her hands and starts crying.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>It is a awful experience to see a girl cry. It makes you feel like all
+your joints has swelled and your ears and feet belong to a two-humped
+camel.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie says, "You want me to <i>lose</i>?" like he is suffering from
+hallucinations.</p>
+
+<p>Ditsy keeps on crying.</p>
+
+<p>I gives her my handkerchief and wonders if I ought to pat at her or
+something.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot lose," Jimmie says.</p>
+
+<p>"Look," I says, "I think I has had sufficient. I am going."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot lose," Jimmie says, "and, if I do, they will not call me Wee
+Willie no more. Guys like Moe Prentice will give me the laugh. I got to
+keep on winning. I cannot stop now."</p>
+
+<p>"You has not <i>got</i> to do nothing but die," I says, "and if what
+guys like Moe Prentice says means more to you than Ditsy, here, I would
+go on off and die if I was you."</p>
+
+<p>"What about your grand piano?" Jimmie says to Ditsy.</p>
+
+<p>"I hate it," Ditsy says through her fingers. "I would like a c-c-canary
+b-b-bird."</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot lose," Jimmie says, shaking his fist. "I
+cannot—unless—" And he quits shaking his fist and uncloses it and
+looks at it like he expects to find it has varicose veins. And he looks
+at Ditsy setting there on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean what you said?" he says.</p>
+
+<p>Ditsy makes a kind of soft <i>oooooo</i>ing noise like a stable hound
+what has been stepped on.</p>
+
+<p>"O.K.," Jimmie says. "O.K." He gets up and sort of wavers a minute
+and then he goes out and Ditsy keeps on crying and I clears my throat
+once or twice and wishes she is a horse so as I could gentle her and
+then Jimmie comes back in and he is carting this here bridle.</p>
+
+<p>"From me to you," he says, plunking it on the floor. And there is a
+long pause and then he adds, "Temporarily."</p>
+
+<p>Ditsy looks at the bridle, hiccuping slightly like a baby what has been
+having colic.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not get it," she says, hiccuping again.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie indicates the bridle. "Remember the time," he says, "that we was
+in the Home and you found a four-leaf clover in a book what belonged to
+Miss Watson? I had a toothache, so you snitched the four-leaf clover
+to put in my shoe so as it would go away—the toothache I mean. Only
+you said it was 'temporarily' because it was somebody else's four-leaf
+clover and might have repre ... repercussions being as how it does not
+actually belong to me. So I did—put it in my shoe I mean—and I got a
+blind abscess and it was—well, you know how it was."</p>
+
+<p>"I still do not get it," Ditsy says looking at the bridle like she is
+expecting it to turn into a four-leaf clover.</p>
+
+<p>"It is like this," Jimmie says. "That there"—he points to the
+bridle—"is the same as the four-leaf clover. Maybe you got a toothache
+now, but, if I lose, it might turn out to be a blind abscess. So it is
+only temporary. I am not giving it to you. I am only letting you keep
+it for me."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>still</i> do not get it," Ditsy says, blowing her nose in my
+handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>"I do," I says. "He is saying you thinks you wants a canary bird when
+what you really wants is a grand piano, which you have already got."</p>
+
+<p>"You stay out of this," Jimmie says.</p>
+
+<p>"Lay off Jacks," Ditsy says to Jimmie. "He is all right."</p>
+
+<p>"Jacks is a old lady," Jimmie says to Ditsy.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going," I says. Which I does.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>No. No more beer. I am not half through with this one. I do not like to
+crowd them. And, speaking of crowding, that is what I think happens to
+Jimmie.</p>
+
+<p>Lose? I reckon he does. He does not even get away from the post.</p>
+
+<p>What I mean about crowding, I figure this here horse Jimmie is up on
+gets crowded quick. There is some crows slow, some easy, some quick.
+Jimmie happens to be up on Beeknight and, the way I figure, I figure
+Beeknight crowds quick. You know how it is, out of the barrier,
+everybody trying for a inside track, some pushing maybe, though this is
+not noticeable unless you is up. Now them that crowds slow gets out and
+tries, and them that crowds easy falls in, but them that crowds quick
+rears up and starts doing the Highland fling. There is not many. But
+there is some. And, like I said, the way I figure, Beeknight is one of
+the some.</p>
+
+<p>After it is all over, there is plenty who say there is something fishy
+because Beeknight is never one to crowd slow, easy, <i>or</i> quick.
+Jimmie has been up on Beeknight before and Beeknight has always came in
+home free. In fact, before this here episode I am getting ready to tell
+you about, Beeknight is being touted for the Jockey Gold Cup, so there
+is plenty who say the atmosphere smells highly of cod.</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie pull him? You mean on account of Ditsy saying what she said?
+Maybe. I thought about that angle, but I am almost sure for certain
+that is not the case. I seen him right after it is over and, if he is
+putting on a show, I am a snub-tailed bloodhound.</p>
+
+<p>No, I figure horses like I figure human beings. They is subject to
+change. This here Beeknight might of slept restless, he might of been
+overtrained, he might of been scary, he might of had gas, he might of
+sensed Jimmie was not in no mood. Them things affects a horse. So I say
+there is nothing off-color, but that this here Beeknight has underwent
+a change and happens to crowd quick.</p>
+
+<p>It is like this, see. I avoided Jimmie like he has got the plague and
+this is reciprocated on his part. I see he is jittery and keyed up, but
+this is no mud on my boots, so I leave him be. Not that he is left be,
+because there is many who do not think he has got the plague. It is
+very sickening to watch.</p>
+
+<p>I wonder if Ditsy is in the stands, but I do not wonder long as
+somebody asks him if his sister is in the stands and he says, "No, she
+is home." And somebody says, "Don't she like horse races?" And he says,
+"No." And somebody says, "Well, that is odd. Your own sister." And he
+says, "How would you like to go bag your ears," which shows that he is
+keyed up to a considerable degree.</p>
+
+<p>He is up in the first, again in the third, and again in the fourth. I
+am not up at all until the next day. In fact, I am only there because
+I cannot stay away, so I goes out and hangs over the veranda rail to
+watch the first.</p>
+
+<p>It is a swell day. One of them high, blue ones. There is music
+coming out of the announcing system and people is walking around and
+everything is kind of stirred up like—like it is before the start. It
+is a fast track and pretty to look at and Happy Slauderwasser comes out
+and says, "Move over," and we both hangs over the veranda rail and just
+look at how everything looks, if you know what I mean.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp95" id="illus2" style="max-width: 39.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/illus2.jpg" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Then the horses is mincing past, Jimmie about as big as a good-sized
+pea, and then the barrier is in, and it is Beeknight in No. 6, and
+everything gets quiet with a little murmur running through it like a
+breeze with a lid on it, and you can hear the popcorn peddlers real
+plain, and then there is that swelling cry, "THEY'RE OFF!" But it
+chokes in the middle and there is a surge for the fence and the stands
+rise up and cranes their necks and Happy says, "My God!" and I near
+falls over the veranda rail because Beeknight is pawing the air and
+kicking and acting in general like he is a prize exhibition at a rodeo
+and for all them shenanigans he does not go nowheres. It is like he is
+trying to kick his way through a wall or something. Jimmie is stuck
+closer than a plaster, but not for long. Beeknight gives a lunge and
+Jimmie goes over, and a sort of a soft, gusty sound goes up from the
+crowd like a thousand breaths has been let out at once.</p>
+
+<p>By the time Jimmie has hit the ground, they is taking Beeknight out and
+do you know that confounded horse is as calm as a June morning? Jimmie
+gets out under his own power.</p>
+
+<p>Yeah. You see it coming, kick loose and roll with the fall and it does
+not no more than scrape off the top fuzz.</p>
+
+<p>It seems like a hour at least has gone past, but it cannot be no more
+than a handful of seconds because it is all clear when the field moves
+into the stretch.</p>
+
+<p>Happy and me look at each other.</p>
+
+<p>Happy says, "Wow."</p>
+
+<p>I says, "It looks like somebody is going to get a bird."</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Happy says, "a Bronx one."</p>
+
+<p>"No," I says, "a yellow one with feathers what sings," and I go on down
+to stand on the edge of the crowd what is surrounding Jimmie and listen
+to what is being said.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>What is being said is all the same color and cut equal. Howinever, I am
+positive that Jimmie did not do no pull. He is white as death and keeps
+shaking his head like there is lead shot in it and he is listening
+to it rattle. He keeps saying, "I cannot understand it, I cannot
+understand it," over and over. No, he did not do no pull. Spencer Tracy
+cannot act that good and Jimmie Winkie is not no Spencer Tracy.</p>
+
+<p>I mosey on off and am popping my knuckles and thinking when it comes
+over the announcing system that Winkie is not hurt none and will be up
+in the third as scheduled.</p>
+
+<p>But this does not take place, as before the third, Gus Wever comes up
+to me and he is pale and his Adam's apple is riding up and down on his
+collar and he says, "Jacks, I got something for you to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Shoot," I says.</p>
+
+<p>"I want you should break the news to Winkie."</p>
+
+<p>"What news?" I says. "They is not going to disqualify him for falling
+off a horse, I hopes."</p>
+
+<p>"No," Gus says. "Word has just came that his sister has met with a
+accident."</p>
+
+<p>I says, "Ditsy," or I tries to, but it sticks in my throat and, some
+way, I finds I am grabbing hold of Gus and there is guys endeavoring to
+pull us apart thinking we is having a altercation.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave go," Gus says, shrugging them off—he is a big guy—"I am asking
+Jacks, peaceful, if he will tell Winkie his sister has met with a fatal
+accident. He is a friend of Winkie and if your sister is dead, it is
+better it comes from a friend. That is all I am asking. I, myself,
+cannot do it."</p>
+
+<p>So I does it.</p>
+
+<p>When we gets there everything is confusion. There is people everywhere
+and a important-acting guy is asking the maid questions, only this does
+not do no good as she is setting in a chair having hysterics. And there
+is other men down on their knees examining the floor and blowing powder
+on the doorknobs and there is a doctor putting his stuff away in a
+little black bag.</p>
+
+<p>And there is Ditsy.</p>
+
+<p>It does not look like Ditsy. It does not look human even. It is just a
+smashed-in, crumpled-up thing what is wearing Ditsy's clothes, and it
+has blood all over.</p>
+
+<p>It reminds me of the way Tod Beemis looks when he is drug out and laid
+on a shutter after he is caught in a stall with a crazy stallion. Kind
+of ... kind of ... trampled-looking. It makes me feel kind of numblike,
+like maybe I has got a scream in me that has froze solid before it can
+get out.</p>
+
+<p>The important-acting guy, by now, has saw us and advances forward.</p>
+
+<p>"The maid, here," he says, "says she left Miss Winkie setting by the
+window and holding a bridle in her lap. Mooning over it kind of, she
+says. She goes downstairs, the maid does, and she has not no more'n got
+good and down when she hears a racket and she runs back up fast as she
+can and it is like this. We has not touched nothing. This," he, says
+pointing to a scruffed-looking place on the rug, "I guess is where she
+fell down and got up again, and this"—pointing to a spot where the
+plaster has been gouged out of the wall—"this here is where whoever
+done it must of swung and missed—and, from the evidence, whoever must
+of done it was strong as a horse. And this here is the bridle she was
+holding, which looks as if it was tore out of her hands and—" He
+pauses and squints at Jimmie. "Hey," he says, "you do not look like no
+coroner, who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is her brother," I says, and my voice seems to come from some
+far-off place and does not seem to belong to me at all.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," the man says embarrassed. "I am sorry, buddy. I did not know
+about you being related to the deceased. I am mighty sorry."</p>
+
+<p>Jimmie does not answer. He is looking at the bridle like it is Lazarus
+arose from the dead and it is plain he is going to keel over.</p>
+
+<p>He puts out his hand, as if he is in a trance, and takes the bridle
+from the man.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all right," I says, "it is his bridle. Leave him have it. I will
+take him out of here." Which I do as they bring in a wicker basket and
+set it down by this thing on the floor around which they draws a white
+chalk mark before ... before they—</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Guess I must be coming down with a cold. Yeah. Sure I will have another
+one. Just to wet my whistle. I seems to be kind of dried up like.
+Talking too much, I guess. There is times, though, when you has got
+to get it out of your system—the cold, I mean. Yeah. Well, here's to
+nothing, mister. If you got nothing, you got nothing to lose and, even
+if you does, it stands to advantage.</p>
+
+<p>What did who win after what? Oh, Winkie. He does not win no more. And
+does not lose no more. Because he does not ride no more. No, I mean
+no more. Never. You see, he ... he bumped hisself off. I took it for
+granted you knew.</p>
+
+<p>Yeah. Yeah. It was one of them things. After Ditsy—why, he kind of
+went haywire. I tried talking to him. Thought if he got to riding again
+it would take his mind off what it was brooding on. No, no, they never
+did catch whoever done it. I wish they <i>had</i> of. If I could of got
+just within reaching distance—</p>
+
+<p>No, Jimmie would not pay no attention to me. He would just set there
+staring straight ahead and sometimes he would look at me like he could
+see clean through my backbone and out the other side.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not bother none, Jacks," he would say. "You do not understand. It
+was my fault. I should of knowed."</p>
+
+<p>And I would say, "Do not be like that. Them ... them kind of accidents
+is figured out statistical. You could not of knowed in a million
+years."</p>
+
+<p>"I was wrong. I was the one who had the blind abscess. Not Ditsy,"
+he would say. Morose, see. Only I thought he would snap out of it,
+eventual. But he does not. When he snaps, he snaps the other way.</p>
+
+<p>I remember the night that he done it. I set up with him until midnight
+talking up Parvalu, which Colonel Crandall wanted him to ride in the
+Bay Shore. I says, "Look here, Jimmie, if you will just get out and mix
+around some, you will be O. K." And I says, "Do not forget what you
+always said: 'You can shake grief or sorrow, you can bury remorse—but
+you can't never lose the feel o' a horse.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," he says, and he looks at me for the first time like he really
+sees me. "Yeah," he says, straightening up, "you can shake grief or
+sorrow, you can bury remorse ... bury remorse—"</p>
+
+<p>"But you can't never lose the feel o' a horse," I finishes for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," he says—slow. "Yeah, that is it."</p>
+
+<p>So I goes home brightened up, thinking I has at last got him squared
+around and the next morning—it is in the papers.</p>
+
+<p>They was two thoroughbreds, them two was. Yessir, two thoroughbreds
+that, some way, got boxed on a inside turn.</p>
+
+<p>What's that? Bridle? Oh, that. I had it buried with Jimmie. He had made
+a will leaving everything he possessed to me. Can you beat it? That is
+the kind of guy he was. Yeah. Oh, I could of kept it if I had of had a
+mind to, but bridles is cheap and he had set such a store by that one
+that it did not seem right to keep it. Besides, I could not ever of
+used it and kept my mind on what I was doing. He ... he hung hisself
+with it, see. He was out of his head with grief, that is all. He did
+not think. Jimmie was not no coward to take the easy way out. I know
+that. But I could not of had it around me just the same. So I buried it
+with him. Holding the reins in his hand. I think he would of liked it
+if he could of knowed.</p>
+
+<p>Well, bottoms up. I got to be going.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks, brother, and the same to you. It has been a pleasure. No, I do
+not reckon you will be seeing me in no papers, unless it is the funny
+papers. Did I not tell you? Horses has got a habit of slowing down when
+I am up on them. Like they has got a dead weight swinging on the bridle
+holding them back. They calls me Jinx. Yeah. Jinx Jackson.</p>
+
+<p>Well, so long, buddy.</p>
+
+
+<p class="ph1">THE END.</p>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN BRIDLE ***</div>
+<div style='text-align:left'>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Updated editions will replace the previous one&#8212;the old editions will
+be renamed.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
+States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG&#8482;
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
+the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
+of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
+copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
+easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
+of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
+Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away&#8212;you may
+do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
+by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
+license, especially commercial redistribution.
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin-top:1em; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE</div>
+<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE</div>
+<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+To protect the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &#8220;Project
+Gutenberg&#8221;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
+or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.B. &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&#8220;the
+Foundation&#8221; or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg&#8482; work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country other than the United States.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work (any work
+on which the phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; appears, or with which the
+phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+</div>
+
+<blockquote>
+  <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+    other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+    whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+    of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+    at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+    are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
+    of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
+  </div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase &#8220;Project
+Gutenberg&#8221; associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg&#8482; License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg&#8482;.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; License.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work in a format
+other than &#8220;Plain Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg&#8482; website
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original &#8220;Plain
+Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg&#8482; works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+provided that:
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'>
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &#8226; You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+        the use of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works calculated using the method
+        you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+        to the owner of the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, but he has
+        agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+        within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+        legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+        payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+        Section 4, &#8220;Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+        Literary Archive Foundation.&#8221;
+    </div>
+
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &#8226; You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+        you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+        does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+        License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+        copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+        all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+        works.
+    </div>
+
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &#8226; You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+        any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+        electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+        receipt of the work.
+    </div>
+
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &#8226; You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+        distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works.
+    </div>
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
+the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
+forth in Section 3 below.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain &#8220;Defects,&#8221; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &#8220;Right
+of Replacement or Refund&#8221; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you &#8216;AS-IS&#8217;, WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg&#8482;&#8217;s
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg&#8482; collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg&#8482; and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation&#8217;s EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state&#8217;s laws.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+The Foundation&#8217;s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
+Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
+to date contact information can be found at the Foundation&#8217;s website
+and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
+public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
+visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
+facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This website includes information about Project Gutenberg&#8482;,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+</div>
+
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/old/69890-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/69890-h/images/cover.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae421d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/69890-h/images/cover.jpg
diff --git a/old/69890-h/images/illus1.jpg b/old/69890-h/images/illus1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fe47c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/69890-h/images/illus1.jpg
diff --git a/old/69890-h/images/illus2.jpg b/old/69890-h/images/illus2.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47150f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/69890-h/images/illus2.jpg