"When they went to the post I picked out a spot on the rail some distance away from the grand stand to watch the race. I felt pretty good. I knew it was going through. My horse had worked the six furlongs in 1:16 flat the afternoon before, and I knew that he was easy money. The only thing I was afraid of was that he would get away from the boy and beat the bunch by eight blocks, thus bringing me into the judges’ stand on suspicion. I was thinking of all these things when I heard a voice behind me.
"’Aftuhnoon, Cap,’ said the voice. ’How’s yo’ all tuh-day?’
"I looked around. The voice belonged to Lem, my fired yellow stable man. Lem was sober, and got up as if for a cake-walk. He had business in his eye, too.
"’Hello, there,’ says I, kind of coddingly. ’How’re you cutting it?’
"’Oh, tol’able, boss—tol’able,’ he replied.
"’I’se a-wukkin’ yo’ all dis aftuhnoon, boss,’ said he. 'But I ain’t no hog. Jes’ half o’ de rake-down’ll do me. Mus’ hev dat much, fo’ sure. Jes’ nachully need dat much.’
"’What the devil are you talking about?’ I asked him, but I knew he had me where he wanted me.
"’Well, yo’ see, boss, it’s jes’ dis-a-way,’ he replied. 'I’se a-gwine tuh quit rubbin’ dem down an’ take tuh speculashunin’ m’sef. I’se a-gwine tuh staht fo’ San Francisco tuh see whut all I kin do with de bookies out da-a-way, an’ jes’ nachully needs de coin tuh go on out an’ begin wuk on ’em. Dis yeah’s uh good one yo’ all’s pullin’ down tuh-day, an’ I was trailin’ yo’ w’en yo’ all put yo’ bets down. Yo’ stan’s tuh win $5,000 on de ole hoss, an’ yo’ll win it. I’ll take ha’f o’ dat, boss, an’ go on out tuh de coast tracks with it.’
"I think I must have been looking pretty hard at that yellow man when he slung me this spiel. Oh, he had me all right. It was my looking at him so hard that made him get off the rest of the speech:
"’I’se dun got de aidge on yo’ all, boss, an’ I’m sure a-gwine tuh wuk it laik uh mean nigguh. But yo’ dun me dutty, Cap.’
"As I say, I knew he had me, but just out of curiosity I shot this one at him:
"’S’pose, you yellow devil, that I don’t cough up a red of it? What then?’
"He grinned and rolled his eyes over toward the judges’ stand.
"’I’d jes’ nachully be obleeged tuh do de bes’ I could fo’ de proteckshun o’ de spoht o’ racin,’ he replied.