Adventure Magazine Cover, June 18, 1921 — page 32: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

VIII ae? THE Del Norte roof-garden is high ‘and cool and it was there that Tex and Beers foregathered, at Beers’ invitation that Tex have dinner with him. The flyer was immaculate from his shining boots to his crisply waving hair. The rib- bons on his blouse in a long line beneath the double wing of the pilot lent a touch of dis- tinction to his uniform. The meal was excellent, and Tex enjoyed it to the full while he took in Beers’ identi- fication of himself as an ex-cow-hand, now a cattle-buyer from St. Louis, and sundry descriptions of the good times that Juarez held in store for any one who was thoroughly familiar with its more hidden virtues. Tex announced solemnly that he was in for any . good time and a tentative trip across the river had been agreed on. “Ever play any poker?” queried Beers as the parfaits were set before them. “Some. I suppose you indulgewccasion- ally.” The hard-faced Mr. Beers laughingly ad- mitted that he did. “I was thinking we might get up a little game tonight if you have nothing better to do. I met a couple o’ fellows I know a little while ago and they’re pinin’ for action.” ’ The light in MacDowell’s eves could have been taken as the joy of a gambler at the prospect of a game and yet his reply was not the prompt acceptance that might have been presupposed. “Well, it’s like this with me,” he said, meditatively stirring his parfait with the long spoon. ‘‘When I play poker I like to play—real action, you know. And I’ve only got a couple of hundred dollars with me. Naturally checks wouldn’t be accept- able among strangers.” “All right with me, boy. And I can speak for the others. You’re the kind of a man I like to see—win all or lose all, eh?” “That’s me!’ stated Tex with marked appreciation of the compliment implied in Beers’ remark. Inwardly he was thinking: “First gun is to try to get me financially embarrassed. Wouldn’t I look pretty ac- counting for a bunch of bad checks or un- paid gambling-debts?”’ The prospect did not seem to bother him. One of Mr. Beers’ friends proved to be a well-dressed young Mexican, although Beers assured MacDowell that he was Spanish. Adventure The other member of the quartet that gath- ered in Beers’ room was a small, neutral- looking man of middle age who might have been a clerk, were it not for gnarled hands and pronouncedly bowed legs. Tex took the seat nearest the door into’ the hall. When every one was seated and two new decks of cards were produced, the question of banker arose, with Beers a prompt volunteer. 3 “The lieutenant, bein’ a hombre that likes to play ’em high when he gets ’em, and bein’ prepared to the extent of only two hundred bucks in cash, had my assurance that checks would be O. K.: The rest of us have cash, I guess,’”? and Beers looked around questioningly, as he finished counting out four hundred-dollar stacks of chips. “Tt ees satisfact6ry to me, sevor,”’ smiled the dapper Mexican with a beautiful dis- play of shining ivory. Mr. Searles, the bow-legged man, grunted assent. Beers leaned toward Tex confidentially as he shoved over his stack. “In case you should get shy of dough I'll stake you, boy,” he said. “Your I. O. U. will be all right with me. That’s the kind of a sport Iam, when I cotton to a man.”’ “Thanks,” returned Tex gravely. “TI may call on you if luck don’t run at the start.” For the first hour the game was rather slow. Tex, alert as a cat at a rat-hole, could catch nothing crooked. His expert eye had failed to detect any markings on the cards, nor had any of the trio done anything sus- picious. He himself was a hundred dollars ahead and the Mexican was likewise on the right side of the ledger. At eight o’clock Beers produced three quarts of bonded whisky, but Tex did not imbibe. It was a silent game, there being practi- cally no conversation aside from the busi- ness of the evening. All three of his com- petitors knew the game from A to Z. Had it not been for the need of unceasing vigi- lance, Tex would have enjoyed the game thoroughly for its own sake. As it was, there was a constant feeling of expectation within him that kept his interest from flag- ging. The joy of fighting against odds that was so much a part of him showed plainly in the sparkling gray eyes that unobtrusively fol- lowed every move of his silent companions, He would have sworn that he was cast for the rdle of a lamb and the fact that he was COmicloo CN WM) CO