Sitting in the stand Allis saw, with a cry of dismay, Redpath's whip-hand go up. That Lauzanne had been trailing six lengths behind the others had not bothered her in the slightest--it was his true method; his work would be done in the stretch when the others were tiring, if at all.
“If the boy will only sit still--only have patience,” she had been saying to herself, just before she saw the flash of a whip in the sunlight; and then she just moaned. “It's all over; we are beaten again. Everything is against us--everybody is against us,” she cried, bitterly; “will good fortune never come father's way?”
By the time the horses had swung into the stretch, and Lauzanne had not in the slightest improved his position, it dawned upon Redpath that his efforts were productive of no good, so he desisted. But his move had cost the Porters whatever chance they might have had. Left to himself, Lauzanne undertook an investigating gallop on his own account. Too much ground had been lost to be made up at that late stage, but he came up the straight in gallant style, wearing down the leaders until he finished close up among the unplaced horses.
Allis allowed no word of reproach to escape her when Redpath spoke of Lauzanne's sulky temper. It would do no good--it would be like crying over spilt milk. The boy was to ride Lucretia in the Derby; he was on good terms with the mare; and to chide him for the ride on Lauzanne would but destroy his confidence in himself for the other race.
“I'm afraid the Chestnut's a bad actor,” Dixon said to Allis, after the race. “We'll never do no good with him. If he couldn't beat that lot he's not worth his feed bill.”
“He would have won had I been on his back,” declared the girl, loyally.
“That's no good, Miss; you can't ride him, you see. We've just got one peg to hang our hat on--that's Lucretia.”
Lauzanne's showing in this race was a great disappointment to Allis; she had hoped that his confidence in humanity had been restored. Physically he had undoubtedly improved; his legs had hardened and smoothed down. In fact, his whole condition was perfect.
She still felt that if Redpath had followed her advice and allowed Lauzanne to run his own race he would have won. The race did not shake her confidence in the horse so much as in the possibility of getting any jockey to ride him in a quiescent manner. When it was impossible of Redpath, who was eager to please her, whom else could they look to? They might experiment, but while they were experimenting Lauzanne would be driven back into his old bad habits.
