Langdon looked up, having cinched the girth tight, and took a step toward the two men.
“Well, we both can't win,” he said, half insolently; “an' I don't think there's anything out to-day'll beat Lauzanne.”
“That mare'll beat him,” retorted Porter, curtly, nettled by the other's cocksureness.
“I'll bet you one horse against the other, the winner to take both,” cried Langdon in a sneering, defiant tone.
“I've made my bets,” said Lucretia's owner, quietly.
“I hear you had an offer of five thousand for your filly, Mr. Porter,” half queried Crane.
“I did, and I refused it.”
“And here's the one that'll beat her to-day, an' I'll sell him for half that,” asserted the Trainer, putting his hand on Lauzanne's neck.
Exasperated by the persistent boastfulness of Langdon, Porter was angered into saying, “If he beats my mare, I'll give you that for him myself.”
“Done!” snapped Langdon. “I've said it, an' I'll stick to it.”