Evening Star Newspaper, December 4, 1935, Page 33

'DAILY SHORT STORY 'HIGH TONED NAG By Anita "ITELL you, Skid, T this one’s sure- firel It is an abso- : lute cinch!” Hoofer : eased himself into a more comfortabl> position on his plain white hospital b-d and stared con- fidently out of the )7 one good eye which § peeped out from be- hind the bandages swathing his head. “Accidents will happen, Skid. You Just gotta have everything doped out ahead of time and you can't lose.” Their last little at- . tempt at chicanery, & gasoline doped up with ether and some other com- pound they had purchased from an inventor had, so to speak, backfired. But hope, it seems, springs eternal in the human breast, Hoofer was no exception to the general Tule | His one usable orb clouded with| thought for a moment, in which Skid | felt the hovering wings of the angle| of bad luck beating periliously close | overhead. He crossed his fingers, any- way. Hoofer cleared his throat self- consciously. “I bought a horse last week, Skid, just before this, uh, mis- adventure occurred.” Skid started. “You bought a what?” he groaned. *“What in the name of all that's unholy | do we want a horse for?” Hoofer hastily explained. “We're going to race him in the Mc- | Caffery Handicap next week and we're going to win, too.” This time Skid's groan was genuine. Ry "AR!: you Skid was still sure,” he questioned, “that besides a little skin you| didn't lost part of your mind in that taere explosion?” He snorted. “Bought | & horse to win the McCaffery Handi- | cap! Utsnay!” “I'll admit it seems a little unbe- tevable,” conceded Hoofer, “but let| me explain.” “It had better be good,” warned Bkid, “or I won't have no part of it!| So far you've got an unbeatable record | for miscues!” | “I'll start at the beginning,” started | Hoofer. “This horse is not any old| horse, it's educated! I happened to pick him up at an auction over at Danville, where they just got some new | fire equipment. This was one of the| fire horses they had on the old rig!” Skid disdained from objection. “Go ahead,” he sneered, “the rest can’t be any worse!” | “All right, wise guy! I know it| sounds screwy, but here is where the | ace in the hole comes in. This nag| won't run ordinarily any faster than the horse next to it on account of it ran so long teamed up it has the habit. But . . . when it hears a gong like they have at fire houses, you can't| hold him back for love or money! And he really can run, too, let me tell you!” * x K % ‘HIS time Skid merely held his head in both hands and pantomimed | great pain. “What did I ever do to get such a dummy for a partner?” he | moaned. “Listen,” instructed Hoofer, “all you have to do is to hire a stable down at | the track and get a stable boy who can ride. The handicap is a free-for- all, so there won't be any trouble get- ting entered. Then you get one of those gongs like they have at fire sta- tions and bang on it when this nag is half-way around the track and watch his smoke! Time him, and if you don’t think I'm right, we'll call the whole| thing off. But that five grand prize looks mighty good, old boy!” | to discussing the race. | rail at the turn into the stretch, just | Jardine. “0. K. Hoofer, I try it, but I'm not counting the dough-re-mi yetl Just give me the dope on where the nag is now, and T'll get set and let you know about it when I come over tomorrov..” ‘The following day Skid showed up at the hospital with a smile creas- ing his homely fea- tyres. He entered Hoofer’s room and greeted him af- fably. “Maybe I was s little hasty yesterday when I said that horse couldn’t run,” he apologized “I timed him without using & bell this morning, and at that I think he could almost keep up with anything that will run in the handicap!” “No gong? How come you didn’t have a gong?"” Hoofer asked querulous- | ly. “’Course, he can keep up, but that's | the whole point of the scheme! Tha* | gong will shoot him way out in front to win!” | * K ok % “I HAD to order one, and we won't be able to get a delivery until| ‘Tuesday night, and the race is on| Wednesday. But I guess we don’t have in the dark. to train him with a gong,” said Skid, || “since, like you say, he’s been running to one for a couple of years!” The two laughed and shook hands, and fell On Wednesday afternoon Skid agaia | stopped in to see Hoofer before hurry- ing to the track for the big race. “Don’t forget,” were Hoofer's parting words, “you have *the gong, the entry fee is paid, our horse is set to go, and | it’s all up to you from now on! I'll be right here waiting for my split!” Skid hurried out. Two hours later he almost shook | himself out of his bandages with ex- | citement as he heard Skid's familiar step in the corridor. The door opened, and Skid slipped, rather than walked in. In one hand he carried a shiny new fire gong which he set disgustedly | upon Hoofer's bed of pain. “Where's the cash?” Hoofer questioned. “There ain't any,” admitted Skid sadly. “They all lined up at the start- ing gate all right. I was hiding by the like you told me to. When they came | around the turn our horse was running fifth, right in the middle of the bunch, with a horse on either side. And then I did what you said to do, I jumped up and gave the gong a whack with this | spike.” | * ok K % “WWHAT happened then?” inquired | Hoofer breathlessly. | “That's just it . . . nothing hap- pened! Our nag just pricked up his | ears and kept right on running fifth | right up to the finish!” Skid blew his | nose. “And that’s your educated nag!” | he accused sarcastically. Hoofer had picked up the gong and | tapped it tentatively with the spike. A | low brazen note filled the room. “I'm a dummy,” exploded Hoofer in self-| accusation, “I clean forgot to tell you!” “Tell me what?” “Sure our nag is educated, too edu- cated! That gong on the Danville fire house is an E-sharp bell, and he never answered any other!” | “So what?” Skid was still in the dark. Hoofer again struck the gong and listened. “You sap,” he said, “this gong you bought is B flat!” | 5.) PLANS FOR PAROLES Alabama Governor to Issue Be- tween 500 and 600. MONTGOMERY, Ala., December 4| (®).—Gov. Bibb Graves yesterday esti- | mated he would issue Christmas pa- roles to “between 500 and 600 of Ala- bama’s most deserving convicts,” now being selected by their wardens. | The men, usually given from De- | eember 15 to January 15, are paroled | for the Christmas season on “a man- to-man” promise they will return. The Governor instituted this practice dur- ing his first term ending in 1931. ! 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