"And I ain't going to miss that, either," Chuck interrupted, "that Y-Bar outfit over on the Vermejo took everything in the two-mile sweepstakes last year and they've been bragging about it ever since. They think that Thunderbolt horse of theirs can't be beat. I was going to put Silver Tip in this year. He can put that black in second place—"
"No, he can't," the Ramblin' Kid remarked quietly, "—you'd lose your money. There's only one animal on th' Kiowa range that can outrun that Vermejo horse."
"What animal is that?" Charley asked.
"She's in th' circular corral," the Ramblin' Kid answered laconically.
"The Gold Dust maverick?" Bert questioned.
"That's the one I mean," the Ramblin' Kid replied in a low voice, "for two miles—or five—there ain't nothin' in western Texas, or Mexico either, that can catch her."
"Why don't you take her in when the Rodeo is on and run her in the sweepstakes then?" Chuck asked eagerly. "I ain't caring what Kiowa horse gets the money just so that Y-Bar outfit is taken down a notch or two. Ever since they got that Thunderbolt horse and beat Old Heck's Quicksilver with him they've been crowing over the Quarter Circle KT and I'm getting plumb sick of it—"
"Old Heck lost three thousand dollars on that race!" Bert interrupted rather triumphantly.
"I didn't neither," Old Heck corrected sullenly, "it was only twenty-five hundred!"
"Well, that Vermejo crowd has got a hundred of mine," Chuck said vindictively, "but I don't give a darn for that—I'd be willing to lose twice that much again just to set that Thunderbolt horse of theirs back in second place!"