Cinder Path Tales

38 CINDER-PATH TALES At the comingof the spring I found my book very well filled, and would by June have been quitecontent tohave trained Mac with no recompense whatever. Yet I had no objections to make money from others, and discovered a very fair opportunity, as I thought, about two weeks before thegames. I then received a bit of information that there was a dark horse grooming for the hammer throw, in the person of an Irishman by the name of Duffy. He was an enormous fellow, as strong as an ox, could do nearly one hun­ dred feet, and the tip made him a sure winner. Now, I was very confident I knew better, though ninety feet, in those days, wasphe­ nomenal for an amateur, and a throw ofone hundred had not been made inany previous contest. The bestof the newswas kept for the last,and that was that Duffy had plenty of friends with good money toback him. I figured at once that MacLeod could just about callthe trick, that being a smaller man would help theodds, and that, properly man­ aged, therewas a pretty penny in it. Mac was now doing from one hundred to one hundred and five in the most consistent manner, andI made up my mind to plunge on him a bit, keeping quietso that Duffy's