CHUCKY was posed in his usual corner. As I came in he nodded sullenly as one whom the Fates ill-use. I craved of Chucky to name his drink; it was the surest way to thaw him.

“Make it beer,” said Chucky.

Now beer stood as a symbol of gloom with Chucky, as he himself had told me.

“It's always d' way wit' me,” said Chucky on that far occasion when he explained “Beer”, “when I'm dead sore an' been gettin' it in d' neck, to order beer. It's d' sorrowfulest kind of booze, beer is; there's a sob in every bottle of it, see!”

Realising Chucky's low spirits by virtue of present beer, I suavely made query of his unknown grief and tendered sympathy.

“I've been done for me dough,” replied Chucky, softening sulkily. “You minds d' races at d' Springs? That's it; I gets t'run down be d' horses. I get d' gaff for fifty plunks. Now, fifty plunks ain't all d' money in d' woild; but it was wit' me. It was me fortune.”

Chucky ruminated bitterly.

“Oh, I'm a good t'ing!” he ejaculated, as he tilted his chair against the wall with an air of decision. “I'll play d' jumpers agin, nit!

“W'at's d' use? I can't beat nothin'. Say! I couldn't beat a drum! I'm a mut to ever t'ink of it! I ought to give meself up to d' p'lice right now an' ast 'em to put me in Bloomin'dale or some other bug house. I'm nutty, that's what I am; an' that's for fair! Now, I'd as lief tell you. It's d' boss hard luck story, an' that ain't no vision!

“In d' foist place, I was a rank sucker to d' point of deemin' meself a wise guy about d' horses. An' it so follows, bein' stuck on meself about horses, as I says, that when Skinny Mike blows in wit 'd' idee that he can pick d' winner of d' big event, I falls to d' play, an easy mark.

“Mike is an oldtime tout; an' wit' me feelin', as I says, dead fly, it ain't a minute before I'm addin' me ignorance to Mike's, an' we're runnin' over d' dopes in d' papers seein' what d' horses has done. To make a long story short, we settles it for a finish that War Song's out to win. Which, after all, ain't such a sucker t'eory.

“'It's a cinch!' says Skinny Mike; 'War Song's got a pushover. Dey can't beat him; never in a t'ousand years!'

“It looks a sure tip to me, too; so I digs for me last dollar an' hocks me ticker besides, an' makes up d' fifty plunks I mentions. Mike sticks in fifty an' then takes d' whole roll an' screws his nut for d' Springs to get it up on War Song. Naw; I don't go. Mike's plenty to make d' play; an' besides I had me lamps on a sure t'ing for a tenner over on d' Bowery.

“Of course, while Mike's gone, I ain't doin' a t'ing but read d' poipers all to pieces. War Song's a 20-to-1 shot; I stan's to make a killin'—stan's to win a t'ousand plunks, see!

“An', say! War Song win! Mebby I don't give d' yell of d' year when I sees it in d' print.

“'W'at's eatin' youse, Chucky?' says me Rag, as I cuts loose me warwhoop.

“'O, I ain't got no nut!' I says, givin' meself d' gran' jolly. 'No! not at all! I has to ast some mark to tell me me name, I don't t'ink! I'm cooney enough to get onto War Song, all d' same! Say! I'm d' soonest galoot that ever comes down d' pike!'

“That's d' way I feels an' that's d' way I chins.

“At last I cools off me dampers an' sets in to wait for Mike. Meanwhile I begins to figger how I'll blow d' stuff, see! an' settle what I'll buy. It's a case of money to boin an' I was gettin' me matches ready before even Mike shows up.

“But Mike don't come. 'W'at th' 'ell!' I t'inks; 'Mike ain't crookt it; he ain't skipped wit' d' bundle?' An' say! you should a-seen me chew d' rag at d' idee.

“But I'm wrong on me lead. Mike hadn't welched, an' he hadn't been sandbagged. He comes creepin' along a day behint d' play, an' d' secont I gets me lamps on his mug I'm dead on we lose. I don't have to have me fortune told to tumble to that. Mike looks like five cents wort' of lard in a paper bag. An* here's d' song he sings.

“Mike says he goes to d' Springs all right, all right, an' is organised to get War Song for d' limit d' nex' day. It's that night, out be d' stables, when he chases up on a horsescraper—a sawed-off coon, he is—an 'd' horse-scraper breaks off a great yarn on Mike.

“'I ain't no tout, an' dis ain't no tip,' Mike says d' coon says; 'it's a rev'lation. On d' dead! it's a prophecy! It's las' night. I'm sleepin' in d' stall nex' to a little horse named Dancer. All at onct I wakes up an' listens. It's that Dancer horse in d' nex' stall talkin' to himself. Over an' over agin he says: “I'm goin' to win it! I'm goin' to win it!” just like that.'

“Well,” continued Chucky, “you know Skinny Mike. There's a ghost goes wit' Mike, an' he's that sooperstitious, d' nigger's story has him on a string in a hully secont. He can't shake it off. Away he wanders an' dumps d' entire wad on Dancer, an' never puts a splinter on War Song at all.

“W'at do you t'ink of it? On d' level! w'at d' youse really t'ink of it? That Mike's a woild-beater; that's right; a woild-beater an' a wonder to boot! I'd like to trade him for a yaller dawg, an' do d' dawg!”

“Did Dancer win?” I asked.

“Did Dancer win?” repeated Chucky; and his tones breathed guttural scorn; “d' old skate never even finished. Naw; he gets 'round on d' back stretch, stops, bites d' boy off his back, chases over be d' fence an' goes to eatin' grass; that's what Dancer does. He's a dandy race horse, or I don't want a cent! I'll bet me mudder-in-law on that Dancer some day. I tells Mike to take a run an' jump on himself. Naw,” concluded Chucky, with a great gulp, “Dancer don't win; War Song win.”