“I tells you whut, niggers,” Hitch Diamond suggested. “Shin Bone is done robbed us of a heap of money; now less go down an’ bet agin him an’ his hoss an’ rob him of all de chink he’s got. Dat stiff-leg Rattlesnake cain’t run—any hoss kin beat him as fur as you kin shoot a gun.”
“I favors dat!” Pap exclaimed. “Dis is de las’ race of de las’ day of de fair. I favors makin’ it de las’ of Shin Bone. I’s done got plum’ nauseated wid dat nigger anyhow.”
They waited on Shin in a body and proposed to take all his money away from him.
“I bets dollar fer dollar, niggers,” Shin replied smilingly. “I is got one hunderd an’ sixty dollars, an’ I lets it go easy.”
“Who holds de stakes?” Pap Curtain asked.
“I dunno,” Shin answered. “I ain’t figgered on dat.”
“How will Whiffle Boone suit?” Pap inquired:
“She suits,” Shin said indifferently. “Less hunt her up.”
They found Whiffle in the grandstand and explained what they wanted her to do. She gladly consented and accepted their money, keeping a record of the amount of their bets.
When the men left her Whiffle sat for a long time in deep meditation, then she started on a search for Shin Bone.