Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 67 — page 1: what you’re looking at

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

| ' Hi] p HHH ily j Pi =n st a iil = ) = UR . = Arews\S <li \\ « \ NY M " a a Ar x Vey, OYTO ) a oo WW ; 1 | «\ \ ME, HOA WA, - . > W. OBA- Sosy , @a Tries Tes > = ? \ iy = Aull | 7 q = n't if . = | lal | ’ = i" "1 —— <r eee i] f t! " 11) 1 i aon roe SwIT —— sig - " i" Me Copyrighted in 1878, by BEADLE AND ADAMS. — rr ee ————— — — — SS ee Vol. IIT. . Sixg'e. Patent-leather Joe; oR, Old Rattlesnake, the Charmer, A ROCKY MOMNTAIN ROMANCE, BY PHII [P 8. WARNE, AUTHOR OF ‘‘ ELEGANT’ EGBERT,”’ “TIGER DICK,” “‘A HARD CROWD,” THE KIDNAPPER,”’ ETC. CHAPTER I. A GREENY—FLASH LIGHTNING. ‘‘ Now, gents, you had better be born lucky than rich. Who’s the next candidate for the smiles of the fickle jade? Why soil your hands and make your back ache, grubbing a_ few as the air you breathe, only exercising your wits? Now, gentlemen, do you, or don’t you? Take it while it’s going. Ah! this ent wins. Here youare, sir. never quarrel with a man’s luck, Chuck-a-luck! Chuck- a-luck! Who’sthe next lucky man?” His dress was decidedly “loud,” his plaid pantaloons being very wide in the legs, his * b‘iled” shirt displaying what might or might not be a diamond, and an immense seal ring decorating his fin- ger, After the manner of his like, he was called Patent- leather Joe, The ‘‘ next lucky man ” at the moment we open our story, was a ‘‘ greeny ”—that is to say, one who has just come to Virginia City from the ‘* States,” knowi as yet only so much of musing and the life of a miner as he had picked up in the news- rs. yeT rihut Hamilton had al- ready ‘‘tried his. luck” at Patent-leather Joe’s ‘ little ame,” until he had only five ollars left. Then he had sat down in a corner in rath- er rueful cogitation. Evidently his meditation had been productive of some idea; for he now advanced again to the gambler’s table, ‘Is there any limitation to the amount of bets in your game!” he asked. “No. Anything not less than ten cents, or more than my pile.” ‘* And how much is that? ‘* Say five hundred dollars. Can you see it? The question was sarcastic. “No, not now,” replied Arthur; ‘‘but that’s not grains of the filthy out of the earth, when it’s as ree by rag, 4 i) f yy 4 rn bi) =, } ’ ’ ; ld : BEADL No..98 WILLIAM STREET,.NEW YORK. — —— - ee ee ee saying I won't be able to before the night is over. *‘ That’s so, stranger! If you clean me out, you won’t be the first, or last; Ireckon. You’re welcome to try.” ‘Will you play with this .understanding—I can bet much or little, as I please; and, no matter how luck runs, who wins or who loses, neither can stop without the consent of the other, until one is dead-broke? Again Patent-leather Joe smiled. ** All right,” hereplied; ““I’ll agree to that,” “Suppose we write it down, so that there will be no misunderstanding.” And Arthur put the agreement in writing. ‘* That’s all right is it? Patent-leather Joe ran his eye carelessly over the panes ‘* 'That’s square,” he assented. ‘‘Gentlemen,” said Arthur, addressing the spectators, ‘‘you all hear?” f j ( ae ‘ “itd ' \ ; \ \ \ \\ \ \ WN \\\\ \\ \ \s hue “ Gap,” said the boy, carelessly, “I'm Flach Lichtning, miner and prospector, yy? at’s wholam. And I mean Jusines: E AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS, hte : Ly. WY Price, S. Then the game began. Arthur bet ten cents—and lost. He bet twenty—and lost again. He bet forty—with the same result. He bet eighty. This time he won. Beginning again, he bet ten cents, and won. Once more he bet ten cents—and lost; twenty —and lost; forty—won. Pocketing his winnings, he returned to his first stake of ten cents. You may well believe it did not take Patent- leather Joe long to drop to this little game. “ Hold on, stranger,” he said, “you ain’t giv- ing me any show.” ‘Why not?” ‘Why, every time you lose you double, so that fwhen you win—and you're bound to win first or last—you’re just ten cents ahead.” ‘'That’s so.” “Well, at that rate v can skin me, ten cents a time.” ** What of that?” ‘Why, that ain’t fa’r. You don’t give me no show. ‘Certainly I do.” “*T don’t see it.” ‘Suppose that you had such a run of luck that you kept winning until I eould double no longer? you’d ral my pile, wouldn’t you?’ Su — the heavens should fall! I reckon one sid can’t win more than half a dozen times running.” _ “I see nothing to prevent it, if you’re lucky enough.” The crowd began to grin. Patent-leather Joe Kon n- ed angrily. “Thea do one slim show!” he muttered, proceeding with the game. Arthur won steadily until! the bler’s patience was completely exhausted. Suddenly he stopped. ‘*Look a-hyar, stranger,” he said, ‘‘ this won’t do!” ‘Why not?” *T might as well give ye my money out and out, as t fool away my time lettin: you have it by driblets.” ‘*T want your money only as I win it.’ : “That'll do for talk; but the long and short of it is. you've got the dead open and shut on me. You’re bound to give me a show, or you can't take my money!” “But, as I showed you vou still have the chance of breaking me by an unusua run of luck.” ‘* Yes, a doggoned unust: run 0’ luck! A run ’o’ Tuc that never happens to an body. No, boss, that worn % go down. You're borre to give me a show tl y show.” Gomicbooks (E(@)