Billy Eanes was desperate for money. To pay gambling debts. Without the money he would be dead—and soon.
Billy was now working as a freelance field trial scout. For years he had scouted for Moose Morris, the top all-age handler on the circuit, but Moose died, heart attack. Since then Billy had freelanced.
Billy needed ten grand by tomorrow, or tomorrow would likely (no, surely) be the last day of his life. How could he come up with ten grand? He wracked his brain.Then he remembered something, and he gained a ray of hope.
Tomorrow two dogs would compete in a run-off for the Masters Quail Championship. Not since The Hitch Hiker and Chinquapin Bisco Buck had been called back for a run-off in the National Championship had there been such a run-off. (Buck had run off (no pun intended) on a deer, thereby assuring The Hitch Hiker the National Championship).
Tomorrow Double Rebel Roxanne would go in the run-off with Marvelous Mack, a white-dog multi-champion in the string of Kentucky handler Ozzie Blevins. Roxanne had been in the string of Moose Morris before his untimely sudden death. What Billy knew from his days scouting Roxanne for Moose was that if she had more than two finds in less than an hour she would drop on the third. How could Billy turn that knowledge into ten grand for the gambling debts?
Marvelous Mack would be Purina Top Bird Dog if he won the Masters but not otherwise. Mack’s owner craved that award and its publicity. Billy decided to approach him with a proposition, and maybe save his own life. He knew the owner was staying at Merry Acres in Albany so at dawn he was waiting for Mack’s owner to come in for breakfast. When he did, Billy approached him with this proposition.
“I can guarantee you Mack will win today. I scouted Roxanne when Moose had her. I broke her in fact. She has a hole. If she has more than two finds in a race she will drop on the third. I know the course she runs this morning in the run-off with your dog. I can guarantee Roxanne has three finds and drops on the third—for ten thousand dollars.”
“How can you do that?” Mack’s owner asked.
“Just promise me the $10,000. You don’t pay unless it happens, but you have to pay right after the winner is announced.”
The owner agreed to pay.
The course for the run off was on Blue Springs Plantation. The cover surrounding the course was ideal for woods scouting, and Billy was expert at that. After Roxanne has her second find in the runoff, her scout had instructions not to call point for her again. But Billy Eanes called point for her (imitating her scout’s voice) and when the judges arrived she dropped.
Mack’s owner paid Billy Eanes $10,000, thus saving his life from the bookie’s thugs, and Mack got the Purina Top Bird Dog Award.
The End
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Tom Word Books are great summer reading! All are available in the Strideaway Store!
