Well, it looked good to pa, and he talked to the other managers, and the result was when we got to Guthrie we had made up our minds that as money was what we were after, the easiest way was to get it by racing our horses.

So when we got settled in Guthrie, and got the tent up, we announced that part of the show was in a wreck down the road in Arkansas, and we should have to abandon the afternoon performance, but in the meantime there would be a little horse racing on the side, if anybody in Oklahoma had any horses they thought could run some.

Well, I thought there were Indians and ponies and squaws enough before the announcement was made, but in less than two hours more than a thousand ponies were being brought in, and we got our chariot racers, and our bareback hippodrome horses, and they were being led around and admired, and we all laughed at the little runts of Indian ponies, and the Indians got mad and backed their ponies.

Pretty soon the races began in the vacant lot just outside the town.  The old showman we had brought up from Memphis was made master of ceremonies, ’cause he could talk Choctaw, and Comanche, and other Indian jargon, and things got busy.  The Indians wouldn’t run their ponies more than an eighth of a mile, or a quarter, and we consented, because the poor little things didn’t look as though they could run a block, they were so thin, and sleepy.  Pa was afraid the humane society would have us arrested for cruelty to animals.  All our fellows were provided with money, and they flashed rolls of bills in the faces of the Indians, and finally Mr. Indian would reach down under his clothes and pull out a roll, and wet his thumb and peel off big bills, and before we knew it we were investing a fortune in the racing game.  Then the racing began, and the horses were sent off at the drop of a hat, or the firing of a pistol.

I was given some money to bet with the little Indians, ’cause pa said we wanted to get every dollar in the tribe, for if we didn’t get it the Indians would spend it for fire water.  The first race was between one of our best runners and a sleepy little spotted pony, and when the hat was dropped the pony made a few jumps and was off like a rabbit, and our horse couldn’t see him for the dust, and our horse was distanced.  The next race resulted the same, and all day long we never won a race, and the Indians took our money and put it in their pants and never smiled.  The old showman we had befriended seemed crushed.

[Illustration:  The Pony Was Off Like a Rabbit.]

When our money was nearly all gone to the confounded Indians, and the sun was going down, he went up to pa and said:  “Uncle, what does this all mean?  I thought your horses could run.”

Pa said:  “Damfino, I never was no horse racer, nohow.”

When our money was all gone, and our horses were nearly dead from fatigue, the managers all got together in the big tent for a consultation on finances, and it was the saddest sight I ever saw.  Pa tried to be cheerful, and he said:  “Well, we will give the evening performance, and when the Indians are all in the tent we can turn out the lights and turn the boys loose on them, and maybe they will find some of the money in their breech clouts.”