Beadle's Dime Library No. 429 — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

as e - Ri Pe emi ET a PR wy —— bunk in with Shaw while I roll up on the floor, your brother make himself comforta- ‘ble with the rest in the big room, and you share the couch with Miss Darelle. The rest of the gang—the Nyes, the prisoners, and the men from the Isabella don’t count.” “Thank you,” answered Fanny, curtly. ‘*T would as soon share the couch of a tiger. For Arlington’s sake—and the little rascal Was ashamed to own me when he came to the Bar in at least the shadow of her com- pany—for Arlington’s sak» I tried to warn her. Never accuse me of having good in- tentions again. I renounce them forever.” ‘*T don’t know what you'll do then unless you come in and play draw with the rest of us.” ‘Thank you. Ill consider the proposi- tion. Il might be in more unprofitable busi- ness if you all play fair. Boutelle, one question, if you please. Why was your mine called the Isabella? That the name of any friend of yours?” ‘*T have no friends—ahem! Though I am very willing to have them to tie to. And an Isabella | have never known, not even in my boyhood’s days. The mine always did have that name, and I guess got it from some streak of sentiment in the man who made the first strike there.” ‘And who was that?” “The name is lost in antiquity; and yet— it seems to me it was a man by the name of Carey. Ihave a clean title from the first recorded owners; but I have never troubled myself about shows as long as I had a firm grasp on the substance.”’ ‘“Not that man who lies out there?”— pointing as she spoke, ‘Well, scarcely. Though he chose to as- sume it [ am not sure that his name was Carey at all.” ‘‘Quite acommon kind of uncertainty in this country. Governor Shaw, for instance, who is so kindly Icoking after the shattered Becker. Who can tell what his name was before he left his own country, possibly for his country’s good. By the way, have you ever met a gentleman named Edgar Otis? For reasons of my own | would like to make a few inquiries about him if 1 could run across a man of knowledge.” ‘‘Perhaps, but the name is not familiar. If you have no other questions I must tear But, Colonel | 29: ‘‘T took your advice, governor; or your Fan herself a bit ago, and invited her to jcim suggestion rather. Three or four more of , the sitting. She didn’t exactly accept, and the men that had shinned across the ropes, | she didn’t nrecisely decline. if she comes same way as the boss, arrived, and seemed a_ we can scarcely freeze her out.” heap disgusted that the fun was over. For! ‘‘Good heavens, man! When she makes fear there should be a famine in the land I | up her mind she won't be frozen. I’d sooner sent them back with the prisoners; and I | face a dozen card-sharps than interview that guess they'll have a fresh supply of grub. icy little bit of femininity over a deck. I here by morning, and the latest news, from | have tried it once or twice and—but, psha» the bridge. Anyhow their room, just now, | what’s the use of wasting time. Mr. Darelle is worth more than their company. They | has the cards shuffled—cut and we'll see «ho could have camped out doors, as they will do | is to have the deal. Talk is good; but after anyhow; but as they get restless they | all, when you play cards you may as well develop a tendency to whoop; and if they | give it your attention. There's a heap of decide to vary their monotony by hanging | money been lost by speculating when the the road-agents I don’t want to have them | work might have been going on. Ah! The where there is a chance the ladies might see | gods are good. My deal. Now, to busi- them kicking.” ness.” ‘You can hardly call it my suggestion to The talk ceased and the sober, steady send the prisoners away to be hung—and | playing began with a ten-dollar ante all hung they will be—sure,” responded Shaw, | around. a little moodily. | Colonel Boutelle, who had become more of ‘‘ However, we will, as you say, have a a business man and less of a spendthrift since more comfortable night here. And I feel | the prospects of the Isabeila had so wonder- like it, lL confess, The ride, and the wind, | fully brightened would have been suited just and—everything! I can hardly keep my | as well with a smaller ante and more talk, eyes open now.” though he made no particular effort to have ‘*Come, come!” piped the quavering treble it reduced, or to introduce a limit. At the of Sidney Darelle. same time his interests were such that if he ‘*' You know you are not so sleepy as you | could not win himself it was best for him look, and I expect to find you very wide | that Darelle should not lose, and when he awake before the night is over, or I'll have | set out he rather thought he could act as a more than my revenge.” kind of balance-wheel in the game. He stopped to cough a moment, and then There was not much call in the outset, went on: however, for him to exercise caution, as the: ‘They say you can quit tobacco if yoa | cards ran provokingly slow, and he contented use more whisky; and since I have deter- | himself with watching the methods of the mined to play for millions—in the quartz of | two players with whom chance had decided the fair Jsabella—I don’t—ough—feel half | he should be so intimately related. so inclined to cards. Are you well enough Luck was pretty evenly distributed. supplied with cash to make the game inter- The first hand Boutelle chipped on a pair; esting? If not, we may as weil defer the | Darelle threw up his hand; Shaw came in; bout. I want to have one more trial tomake | Boutelle drew three cards; the governor sure—ough—about what I told you, and | stood pat; the colonel raised; Shaw called, then I’ll stop for good. I—I—don’t believe | and threw his cards into the deck when —ough—lI can afford it.” | Boutelle showed a pair of queens. In fact, ‘* Nonsense, man, you couldn’t make a per- | he had a pair of tens.” ceptible hole in your fortune if you played! ‘‘In no great haste to get rich,” laughed for a lifetime. It is only after a bad little , Boutelle, as he drew in the pot. streak that you feel a gentle pinch. The ‘“What sort of a hand do you stand on next break brings you even. Andso far the | when it won’t beat the brace of virgins? It luck has been really your way. I doubt if | strikes mea little draw might have helped you are a dollar poorer than when you en- | it.” eee eee —_ who had come up from tae bridge. At our last meeting you were ee i CHAPTER XXXII. THE BIG GAME BEGINS. CoLoNEL BOUTELLE had revealed to Miss Fanny the arrangements for the evening, without any hesitation. He had not been enlightened by Egbert Shaw as to the idio- synerasies of their shaking old friend; and though he knew the latter had a large sum of money about him he had no idea that the pliy was likely to grow more than ordinarily deep. »* in the room secured by Shaw, the colonel | telle, looking up with a laugh. entering last of all, ‘“‘I happened to be chatting with Miss fF ‘ os 7 - ie oe eT ‘ ;_ aa 4 . = 4 d _ * » _ tered the Bar. ‘“Come, Boutelle, I can’t see any way for myself away. If you feel hke joining our | on velvet, since you had captured the tiger | little party we should be glad to see you, and | to some purpose. Of course I am _ well will allow you tochip in on a special, mod- | enough heeled. If I run short of coin, I erate limit.” have plenty of collateral; but I don’t think, ‘‘Thanks. Perhaps you are aware I have | from the looks of things, either of us will ten thousand with me. I pull cards to make | want to press the game very hard to-night. money; not to lose a little fortune. And yet, | Lucky that we have cards and lght to keep I don’t know. Good-by, and take care that | us from dying in this dismal old hole.” Ee. Shaw does not swamp you. Perhaps | There was a slight inconsistency in the shall see you later.” governor's talk; but his words varied with s Queer little woman, that,” muttered Bou- | the change in his face and feelings. telle, as she sailed away. As he threw out a pack of fresh cards ‘Honest and brave; handsome and not a | there wasa change in Darelle’s face also, and bad heart. I fancy there is something of a | Boutelle, who happened to be watching him, mystery about her. She isno great friend to | started with surprise, it grew so wolfish and Eg. Shaw, let the world say what it will. He | eager. There was a cunning look, too, in has tried to be her friend, or a little more, | the deep-set eyes, and the hand that grasped but in spite of their seeming to pull together | the cards trembled more perceptibly than I think she makes him keep his distance. If | usual. I was out of the woods with the Isabella, I | If ever he had the gambling fever, the fit don’t know but what I would try my own | was on him now. chances. Oh, well, we'll see what turns up “If Mr. Becker had not behaved like a to-morrow, when we have looked the prop- | brute, we might have invited him in,” he erty over. From what Dick says about the | said, ;erhaps knowing and trying to conceal new developments she will look better than | his eagerness. ever. Wonder if I could hold on alone? ‘‘Tt seems lonesome to have but three in Fifty thousand is mighty cheap.” the game. Ough! There is that Mr. Woburn. Then he went down to talk to the men | As he risked his money with some judgment at faro perhaps if we asked him he would take a hand. What do you say, governor?” : ‘‘No, I thank you. It seems to be pretty certain that he is just what he seems; but he is Fairy Fan’s brother, and that don’t make him any better. Skill at cards seems to run in the family. And he has been doing the unexpected so frequently that [ don't yearn to have him break out in a new place. He might take us all through the flume, a boil- ing.” And the governor shrugged his shoulders, and meant every word he said, though he There was no great anxiety shown by ee would have been willing enough to under- one to get down to work. There was enou | take a private seance with the gentleman else in their thoughts to divert their minds, | from Boston, if there had been no better and the evening had rolled along pretty well | game afoot. toward positive night before the three met ‘Sorry you don’t like the lot,” said Bou- you to pay for that information, so I don’t see any call for you to ask questions. Per- haps my eyes are not as good as they might be—this is a devilish poor light—and I’ve no doubt the angel Gabriel himself sometimes mistakes the size of his hand.” “If he plays,” said the colonel dryly, who had no particular convictions himseif, but hated irreverence; and he drew the cards to- gether with a look of injured innocence, as though the other had becn attempting to lead him into some particularly wicked path. After that, however, he made no irrelevant remarks, for some half-dozen hands the game going on in silence. Then Darelle suddenly seemed to take more interest, and went blind a hundred dol- lars, the colonel giving him the chance while Shaw held the deck. ‘‘T think my vein is coming, and you see,. I work it in season and out of season— ough! I might as well have waited till I saw what I was betting on, but they say a blind must win, so I'll see whether it won't change the luck a little; so far there has not been enough out to risk cigars on.” Still, there was a little quaver in his voice that a sharp ear, watching for a pointer, could detect, and just the ghost of a smile stole around Egbert Shaw’s hard-set lips. He didn't care to hear Boutelle talk: but he was willing to listen to Darelle, if bis. tones gave him away. ‘The old man grows anxious; end accord- ing to his system the time has about arrived to bet. ITll give hima chance to test that vein down to the bottom,” he thought, as he coldly pushed two hundred dollars over to- ward the middle, a movement that was fol- lowed after a few moments’ hesitation by the colonel. As a beginning, they were ae well, since Sidney Darelle instantly fluttere another two hundred down, thus leaving matters in statu quo. ‘‘Straights beat two pair?” interjected the old gentleman, while the governor dealt. ‘‘And royals four of a kind,” added Bcue telle. Eomichboo ‘S ye P alt © wet A