His eagle eye caught sight of a fat man with some three parts of a jag sitting at the "dope" table, alternately puffing at a ravelled cigar and nodding sleepily. This jagged man had on one side of his head a straw hat that looked as if it had been rained on and then sat on. The red-haired tout went over to him.
"Say, your lid's on the pork all right, ain't it?" he said amiably to the jagged man. "Been scrappin' with a cable-car?"
"Fade away—fade away," said the jagged man, sleepily. "Do a disappearing stunt."
"I'll tell you what I'll do with you," said the red-haired tout, edging over confidentially to the jagged man. "I'll pass you this cage o' mine—on'y bought it three days ago, and coughed a two-spot f'r it—f'r that one o' yours an' half a buck t' boot," and the red-haired tout removed the pretty fair-looking straw hat he was wearing and pushed it over to the jagged man. The jagged man took his ravelled cigar from his mouth and grinned broadly.
"Say," he said to the red-haired tout, "you gimme th' tizzy-wizzy—hones' yo do. Me wear a No. 2 lid? Say, do your fadin' stunt—fade away."
The tout picked up his hat, put it on, and walked away.
"Now they've hammered Rolling Boer down to 80 to 1, hey?" he said, looking up at the second line of betting. "B'jee, I'd climb a porch t' yank out a couple t' put on that one."
He was disconsolately biting his nails and looking around to see if there was any way out for him before the bunch of two-year-olds at Gravesend went to the post.
"They're at the pump at Gravesend!" announced the board-marker.
Just as the announcement was made, a little man with a straw-colored mustache and a red, white and blue band around his straw hat mounted the stairs, passed the spotter sitting at the door with a nod, lit a fresh cigarette, and walked up behind the red-haired tout.