Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-11-18

energy Of ~atteation and concentration of
the intellectual faculties augmented to
almost a maddening degree. In proof of
this, it is necessary to mention but a
single fact. About an hour before day
break, the storm which had been raging
since sunset actually increased to a hur-
~rlcane, which uprooted trees, unroofed
houses, and drove half the ships in the
harbor from their moorings, or hurled
them wretched wrecks on the shore. The
electric fires flashed necessarily, until all
the atmosphere appeared enc vast ocean
Of lightning, lurid and appalling, while
the thunder rolled as if the whole host of
OF Olympian gods were running a race in
their ~war-chariets over the crystal pave
ments OF heaven and one bolt, louder
than the rest, IN a peal to ordinary
nerves nearly deafening, struck a tree in
Bourbon street within a short distance
from where the gamblers were seated,
and shivered the solid wood into frag-
ments, and yet they did not seem con
sclous of the awful elemental strife. Still
they played on. The words spoken were
few, mostly monosyllables, and perpetu-
ally recurring in the same order, as
shuttle, cut, deal, pass, bet, ante
What to these excited betters was the
terrible grandeur Of lightning flags I'M
furled and waving in the sky, or the roar
OF ten thousand thunder-drums beating
the march of the furious storm ? Had
they not set their souls and staked their
all on the turning of q card ?-then why
should they care for aught in the uni
verse besides? Like the Romans and
Carthagenians, in that famous battle
which has been i~mmortalized in the verse
of Byron, whose genius embalmed for
eternity everything 1t touched, an earth.
quake might have rolled unheeded away
beneath their feet" and still these infat
uated men would have gone on with their
game. 1t is this wonderful intensity of
thought, this mighty power, or rather
majesty Of passional excitement, this TEN.
porary but total oblivion to all the wants
of our mortal being, and all the common
calls of our nature, that renders the
habits of play SO ineradicable, and there.
fore so perilous. Its deVotees do not in
dulge their unfortunate desire so much
from the bare idea of gain as from this
rapturous mental intoxication which it
induces. 1t is the opium of the intellect,
the glorious champagne that inebriates
the pure mind, until it staggers and falls
beneath a worlds weight of golden
dreams.
For some two hours before the ulti-
mate catastrophe in the game, the cold
eye of the stranger had observed, with.
out seeming to notice the fact, that when
ever it came to Squire Jacks turn to
deal he uniformly cheated by a trick that
no ordinary player could detect. AS a
consequence whenever the hairy face gave
out the cards, Major Ryan was the loser,
until his pocket had been lightened by
some six thousand dollars. AS usually
happens in such cases, he was unceasing-
ly making desperate efforts to relieve his
fortune, and those for the same reason,
only tended to involve him the MORE
AS the stranger had discovered the
squire's trick, without saying anything,
he silently invented a conference.-the
to defeat it, and soon played his hands
so successfully, as to divide and eyen
halve the immense mountains of win
nings that had accumulated by the elbow
Of his adversary. Vexed, and irratated
by this sudden change of luck, the squire
veptured another and different act OF leg
" stock'' the cards, as the technical ex.
preston is, SO as to give all parties a
very powerful suit, intending as a matter
of course, to reserve the strongest for
himself. Bat while he was carefully pre-.
pairing, the strangers small eyes of ice,
all at once turned into flashing orbs of
fearful fire, his lips wreathed with a smile
of strange meaning, and he said, in a lew,
yet awfully distinct and sHeering tone,
9 Squire Jack, don't be a rascal! If you
go in for cheating, I'll cut both Of your
ears off,
DO you know to whom you are adj
dressing such language ?" exclaimed the
other, in a loud and %menacing tone.
II don't wish to know you any better
than l do at present, lest | should find
you out TO be q still greater thief than |
even now think you are, and in all con-
sciehce this is bad enough was the reply.
Il am Jack Jones, of Mississippi" re-
joined the hairy face, with laundering
emphasis, as if be expected to bring the
enemy to his knees, by the bare announce.
ment of his name, well known as being
that Of a celebrated d~uellist " and |
have shot down q half a dozen men at the
first fire without allowing them the chance
to touch a trigger" And as he said this
he pulled out his pistol, cooked it, and
laid it in his lap under the table, while
his partner did the same"
And t. exclaimed the stranger, still
more ferocionsly, " am named Bowie, and
| have scalped half q hundred Indians,
and cut up a score of white scoundrels,
with my famous knife, and | propose nov
to serve two more in the same way and
with the last word he blew out the light,
and bounded yer the table. Two pis-
tolls went off simultaneously, in the dark
ness. Their roar was succeeded BY q
sound Of several blows, and Of persons