"'Tis the same game he's pulled on the gamblin' crooks all the way from
the Oregon line to Mariposa in the south. Even gettin' filled wit'
tanglefoot is part of the dodge. They cannot touch him an' the vaqueros
protect him fr'm the shootin'."
"But what about the tryout?"
"Also in the schame. The mare was cross-shod; meanin', two of her shoes,
the near front, an' the off hind wans, were twice as heavy as the others
She could not run top speed in th'm f'r love nor gold. Yesterday she was
shod in light racin' pads, an' under her own jockey. No horse on the
coast could catch her. An' always, the smart racin' gamblers play th'
auld man for a fool. Such is often the end of greed.
"Pay up the dad's gamblin' debts, an' bid this Knight o 'the Green Cloth
a swate an' long fare-ye-well. Then go an' be happy, me child."
The Dragon and the Tomahawk
IX
"Which I wish to remark,
And my language is plain,
That for ways that are dark
And for tricks that are vain,
The heathen Chinee is peculiar,
Which the same I would rise to explain.
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