The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1868-02-18

changed and fortune few over to the gen,
tleman of the bald head, whom the others
called Captain Smith, and his enormous
accumulations went ON until they threat
ened the rest with bankruptcy, when the
6ckle goddess sgainsshifted her golden
altar and shed her brightest smiles upon
the hairy face, whose swner was address.
ed as Squire JACK, Minutes and hours
few away, and each, BY different altera-
tions of triumph and sfeat, had beer
exultant and depressed and still thu
game was carried on with; syer increasing
interest. It was STUDY to watch
the several countensIces iof the players
as the time progRsssa without any deci'
siye result such as to insure the ultimate
victory. The bald-headed gentlemau
seemed cool and confident, even when
suffering the heavies losses. The hairy
face wore smile of 6endish determine
tion and the black eyes looked keen
lenough to pierce through the whole pack
Of cards down to thevery bottom. Ma
Ijor Ryan's features wsrs flushed and ex-
cited, and whenever hs iealt, it might be
observed that his hahdirembled Violent
lly. But singular to OIL the stranger
whom they ali sopposedto be : novice, 9
harmless boatmanSor farmer, eyinced
the fswest exterior sign. denoting feeling
of them all. Not ripie or change was
allowed. to rise to the surface Of his vis-
age from the deep sea1f his soul, His
small gray eyes appearel to be made Of
ice, they gazed upon esrything with IN
expression so cold and iareless, and but
for the consummate ski which be dis
played in every movemeIt, and the reck.
less bravery Of his betsfhe might have
been mistaken for Q mn Of marble. as
passionless, as disintereaed in the fnal
| issue that was to render lin penniless or
achieve ample riches.
With all Of them, hoHEer, as the night
wore away and morning approached, the
energy Of attention and concentration Of
the Intellectual facultie augmented to
almost maddening de,rec. Still they
played on. The words poken were few
and perpetually recurrijg in the same
order, such as shuttle, ,lcut, deal, pass,
bet, ante,' &c.
For some hours beforethe ultimate ca
tastrophe in the game. tie cold eyes Of
the stranger had observes, without SEEM
ing to notice the fact, hat whenever it
came Squire Jacks turfto deal, he uni
formly cheated by triE that no ordi-
nary player could detsctS As a conse-
Iquence, whenevor the'hairy face gave out
EsAg cards, Major KaAss was losHE q pntil
six thousand dollars. e esually nap.
pens in such cases, was aunceasingiy
making desnera.e eforts to retrieve his
fortune. and iass, for. the same reasons,
only tended to involve him the more. As
the stranger had discovered the Squire s
trick withoptssying anything, he silently
inYepted counter maneuver to defeat it,
soon playing his hands SO successfully as
to divide and even halve the immense
mountain of winnings that had accumu-
lated. by the elbow Of his adversary
Vexed and irritated by this sudden
change in his luck the Squire yentured
another and different act Of legerdemain,
and attempted to shuttle or "stock" the
cards, as the technical expression is, so
as to give ali parties very powerful suits
intending as a matter of course to reserve
the strongest for himsele. But while he
lrss carefully preparing the arrangement,
Ae strangers small eyes Of ice at once
turned into flashing orbs Of fearful fire,
his lips vreathed with smileof strange
meaning, and he said in low yet awfully
distinct and sneering tone:
esquire Jack, don't be a rascall If
you 60 to cheating I'll cut both your
ears off, ...s
"Do you know to whom you are ad-
dressing such enguage?p exclaimed the
other, in loud and menacing tone. 20
II don't wish to know you any better
than l DO at present, lest I should find
you out to be still greater thief than |
even now think you, land in all conscience
that is bad enough" was the answer"
81 am Jack Jones, of Mississippi" re-
turned the hairy face, with laundering
as'if he expected to bring the
enemy to his knees by the bare announce
ment Of his name, we'll known as being
that Of a celebrated duelist; and have shot
down half dozen men at the first fire
without allowing them the chance to draw
a trigger" i,ilR g
AS he said this he pulled out his pis.
tol, cooked it, and laid it in his lap un-
der the table, while his partner, Captain
Smith, did the same. :
"And |, !" exclaimed the stranger, smi-
ling still more ferociously, s'am named
Bowie, and have scalped hundred In
dians, and cut up a score Of seoundrels
with my famous knife, and I propose now
to serve two more 10 the same way aud
with the last two words he. blew out the
light and bounded over the table. Two
pistols went of simultaneously in the
darkness. Their roar was succeeded by
the sound Of several blows, and Of per-.
sons falling heavily on the floor. besides
a few faint stiAed groans Of mortal ago
ny; and when they rushed in from the
room with fresh lamps. horri-
bic vision revealed itself There lay the
gamblers, Jones and Smith jim large pools
If their own blood, ghastly corpses;
while over them, unharmed by lead or
,teel, stood their triumphant foe. holding
Iloft the dreaded knife, dripping with
yore from hilt to point. h
"How are you, Bowie2 You seem to
% victorious, as usual" cried several
who recognized him-and all
hat ever knew him we'll were his friends.
lie. then detailed the circumstances and
'ause of his recent combat, and his be-
iavior in the transaction met with the