one, and I win a bit, they'll howl."

"You can't make a success of racin', sir, an' run your stable for the
public--they don't pay the feed bill."

"Perhaps you're right, Dixon," answered Porter.

For immediate financial relief Porter knew that he must look to
Lucretia--no other horse in his stable was ready to win; but more
immediately he must arrange certain money matters with his banker, who
was Philip Crane. To Porter, Crane had been a tolerant financier,
taking the man's honesty liberally as a security; not but what Ringwood
had been called upon as a tangible asset. So that day, following his
conversation with Dixin, the master of Ringwood had an interview with
his banker. It was natural that he should speak of his prospects--his
hopes of winning the Eclipse with Lucretia, and, corroboratively,
mention her good trial.

"I think that's a good mare of yours, Mr. Porter," said Crane,
sympathetically. "I only race, myself in a small way, just for the
outdoor relaxation it gives me, you know, so I'm not much of a judge.
The other horse you bought--the winner of the race, I mean, Lauzanne--
will also help put you right, I should say."

Porter hesitated, uneasily. He disliked to talk about a man behind his
back, but he knew that Langdon trained for Crane, and longed to give the
banker a friendly word of warning; he knew nothing of the latter's
manipulation of the trainer.

With a touch of rustic quaintness he said, with seeming irrelevance to