Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 2 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

CROSSROADS. cion until by her own act she confesses that she is not ofthe elect. Such an act is the entry of a place like this one of Jerry Conklin’s in the Double Bend. _ All this must be understood in order to read the confusion of mind with which Dix Van Dyck stared at the feminine intruder. He read in the glances of the men that deference which is accorded to only one type of woman in the Southwest. She was known and she was respected. Then what was she doing there? He leaned back against the bar and scowled steadily at her. Something toid him that he was on the trail of excitement. As for the girl, she swept the great room with a calm eye, almost like the glance of an ennuied man looking for excitement. At last she approached a crap table. It was surrounded by a dense circle, two deep, every man intent on his game. But at her coming one of the men glanced up, recog- nized her, raised his hat, and stepped back to surrender. his place. The wonder of Dix Van Dyck made his face redden furiously. As for the other men at the gaming table, they turned to- ward the girl with broad grins, such as those which proclaim that the luck is running against the house. Dix Van Dyck caught the man on the stick (he who handles the dice for the house), in a keen scrutiny. The fellow was scowling blackly. The girl took the dice. Her hand dipped in a pocket of her short riding-skirt and came out with the glint of yellow. She made a féw casts and lost. A low groan came from the gamesters; evi- dently they had wagered heavily on her luck. The girl stamped in vexation, which made Dix Van Dyck smile. At least she was like other women in being a bad loser. She drew cut another gold coin and tossed it on the table. CHAPTER III. THE STORY OF THE CROSS. AFTER that her luck apparently held consistently good. The others at the table were still wagering on her and with her, and the payer at that table did little 165 besides constantly shovel out the coin of the house. However, the other men in the house paid little attention to the scene. In his part of the country Dix knew that such sensational winning would have drawn everyone about in a great circle to watch the big coin roll in. He gained a sudden and deep respect for a community where such prodigious luck passed with hardly a notice. It was like a crowd in a new mining town, where gold almost loses significance except when it comes raw from the earth. At length the girl left the table, and the payer Wiped his sweaty forehead and turned a venomous glance after her retreating fig- ure. She went straight to the roulette wheel, a small group. following. Dix Van Dyck drew a little closer and saw that she had taken the most extreme chance which the game affords—she had placed a whole handful of gold on a single number. . The wheel whirled, the man behind it watching with anxious eyes. It slowed; it purred and clicked softly to a stop— and on her number. Stack after stack of coin was counted out and shoved to her—thirty-six for one. The payer watched her with a wistful eye. She placed her entire winnings again— and still on that most dubious of all gambling chances—a single number. Again the wheel whirled, purred to a stop, and again the girl won. The payer shook his head in gloomy doubt, and counted out the money slowly, stack by stack. Plainly, it would not take much more te break the bank. But before he had half finished the count the girl, as if impatient, picked up a hand- ful of gold—less than her original wager— dropped it into her pocket, and said care- lessly: ‘‘ Keep the rest of it, Bill. I ride light. Keep the rest of it, and the next time a gent drops in here broke—and thirsty—buy him a drink and stake him.” The payer ceased in his count and stared after her with blinking, uncomprehending eyes while she strolled away to another table. Here she lingered only a moment, and then passed on to the dancing floor. Dix Van Dyck waited for some one to follow her, some one to take the chair next COMICLOOOkKS (C@