"No ---- nonsense," he snarled.
"I thought you said we were both naked men," replied Silver, folding his arms.
"Never mind what I said," the other answered. "Keep your ---- distance, or I"ll puddle you into a pulp."
Jim regarded the other with admiring eyes.
"You learned more at Oxford than I did," he said. "Learned to express yourself at least. If I"d that command of language I"d be in the pulpit or in Parliament to-morrow."
There was the sound of a horse"s feet behind them.
Boy was walking Four-Pound-the-Second toward them.
"Good morning, Miss Woodburn," called Joses cheerily. "So _you"re_ up to-day."
"Yes," said the girl.
"Going to take him for a spin?"
Boy did not answer.
"Mr. Joses has been doing the spinning this morning," interposed Silver urbanely, holding up the wire.
"Oh," said the fat man. "I"ll leave him to spin his yarn, Miss Woodburn.
But don"t you believe all he says. You"ll hear the truth when I bring the case into court. He"ll want all the money _you_ can win him by the time I"ve done with him."
He disappeared down the hillside.
The girl came close and leaned down over the shoulder of the great horse.
"What is it?" she asked.
Jim Silver showed her.
"Only this," he said. "Right across the track."
The girl took it as all in the day"s work.
"Did you catch him at it?" she asked.
"No; he was lying doggo near by--to watch results."
She examined the wire.
"He means business all right," she said. "We must look a bit lively.
I"ll have the track patrolled."
"I shall patrol it," said Jim.
CHAPTER XLII
The Doper
In her darker moods Maudie held that the world to-day only possessed one man who could take his place beside the knights of old; and that man, to be sure, was Monkey Brand.
The lads teased or ignored her; the various Four-legs were uncouth to a degree; and the Monster-without-Manners was, of course, just himself.
Therefore Maudie pa.s.sed all the time she could on the shoulder of Putnam"s Only Gentleman. Perched up there, aloof, lofty, and disdainful, she would purr away like a kettle on the simmer.
That evening she was enthroned in Paradise, when Joses shambled by.
Monkey Brand, stroking her back as he stood at the gate of the yard exchanging greetings with the pa.s.sers-by in the road, shook his head disapprovingly as Joses pa.s.sed.
"Mug"s game, Mr. Joses," he said _sotto voce_.
The fat man, who had not seen the jockey in the dusk, drew up short.
"What"s that?" he said keenly.
"That wire business," continued the little man in the same monotonous undertone without moving his lips. "Ought to be able to do a little better than that with an edication like yours. Where"s the good of Oxford else?"
Joses came closer swiftly.
"See here, Monkey Brand," he said. "Do you mean business, or don"t you?"
The jockey"s face was inscrutable.
"I never said no to _good_ business yet," he answered.
"This is good business all right," laughed the tout. "Big money, and safe as houses."
At the moment a voice called from the office.
"Comin," sir," answered the little jockey. "_That"s the Gov"nor. Back o"
Lads" Barn. Eight o"clock_," he whispered, and was gone.
Joses kept the tryst, and went straight to the point.
He had burned his boats now.
"When do they box him to Liverpool?" he asked.