“Now you are demonstrating your sound common sense,” Don Mike assured him.  His right hand closed over the roll of bills Father Dominic surreptitiously slipped him.  Scarcely had he transferred the Restoration Fund to his trousers’ pocket when Brother Anthony nudged him and slipped a tiny roll into Don Miguel’s left hand, accompanying the secret transfer with a wink that was almost a sermon.

“What news, Don Miguel?” Pablo ventured presently.

“We will win, Pablo.”

“Valgame dios!  I will wager my fortune on Panchito.  Here it is, Don Miguel—­one hundred and eighty dollars.  I know not the ways of these Gringo races, but if the stakeholder be an honest man and known personally to you, I will be your debtor forever if you will graciously consent to attend to this detail for me.”

“With pleasure, Pablo.”

Carolina drew her soiled little tobacco bag from her bosom, bit the string in two and handed bag and contents to her master, who nodded and thrust it in his pocket.

Two tiers up and directly in back of Don Miguel and his guests, two men glanced meaningly at each other.

“Did you twig that?” one of them whispered.  “That crazy Greaser is a local favorite, wherever he comes from.  Those two monks and that cholo and his squaw are giving him every dollar they possess to bet on this quarter horse entered in a long race, and I’ll bet five thousand dollars he’ll drop it into that machine, little realizing that every dollar he bets on his horse here will depress the odds proportionately.”

“It’s a shame, Joe, to see all that good money dropping into the maw of those Paris Mutuel sharks.  Joe, we ought to be kicked if we allow it.”

“Can you speak Spanish?”

“Not a word.”

“Well, let’s get an interpreter.  That Tia Juana policeman yonder will do.”

“All right.  I’ll split the pot with you, old timer.”

Directly after the first race a Mexican policeman touched Farrel on the arm.  “Your pardon, senor,” he murmured politely, “but two American gentlemen have asked me to convey to you a message of importance.  Will the senor be good enough to step down to the betting ring with me?”

“With the utmost delight,” Don Miguel replied in his mother tongue and followed the policeman, who explained as they proceeded toward the betting ring the nature of the message.

“These two gentlemen,” he exclaimed, “are book-makers.  While book-makers who lay their own odds are not permitted to operate openly and with the approval of the track authorities, there are a number of such operating quietly here.  One may trust them implicitly.  They always pay their losses—­what you call true blue sports.  They have much money and it is their business in life to take bets.  These two gentlemen are convinced that your horse, Panchito, cannot possibly win this race and they are prepared to offer you odds of ten to one for as much money as the senor cares to bet.  They will not move from your side until the race is run and the bet decided.  The odds they offer you are greater than you can secure playing your money in the Mutuel.”