I silently complied.
He studied the programme briefly, smiled a satisfied smile, and returned it.
"There 's a good thing coming off in the fourth," he remarked in a confidential manner. "If I can see you somewhere just before the race I 'll put you on. It 'll be a 'hot one.'"
I thanked him.
"The owner himself is going to 'put me next,'" he continued; "it 'll be a 'lead-pipe.'"
I began to be interested. "I should like to know it," I replied, "and I will wait for you after the Derby. I may not bet on it myself, but I have a friend who doubtless will, if you will give him the information."
"I 'll give it to him if he 'll go down the line, but it's going to win a city block, and we ought to make a killin' on it. I went broke myself, on Senator Irby, or I 'd have gone home to-night with a bankroll."
"Well," I replied, "we 'll see when the time comes. Now, what do you fancy to win the Derby?"
He lighted a cigarette and puffed it a moment in silence.
"It's a dead-tough race," he at last remarked, "and I would n't play it with counterfeit money. There 's no use in playing any race unless you 've got some information. These geezers that play every race go broke. But it's an easy game to beat if you just stay off till you 're next to something good, and then plug it hard. Why, if I could shake the faro-bank and crap-game, I 'd have money to burn ice with.