Anyway, boys, the bets are off.

I don't take money on a sure thing." It brought a shout of protest which was immediately drowned in a hearty yell of applause.
"Now, don't that warm your heart, for you ?" said Corson as the noise fell away a little.

"I tell you what--" he broke off with a chuckle, seeing that she had taken a pencil and a piece of paper from her purse and was scribbling hastily: "Taking notes on the Wild West, Miss Jordan ?" "Mental notes," she said quietly, but smiling at him as she folded the slip.

She turned to the stripling, who all this time had hardly taken his eyes from her even to watch the bucking and to hear the speech of Perris.
"Will you take this to Jim Perris for me ?" A gulp, a grin, a nod, he was down from the wagon in a flash and using his leanness to wriggle snakelike through the crowd.
"Well!" chuckled Corson, not unkindly, "I thought it would be more Perris than Arizona in the wind-up!" She reddened, but not because of his words.

She was thinking of the impulsive note in which she asked Red Perris to call at the hotel after the race and ask for Marianne Jordan.