Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1870-08-18

LudO PIdJ JClo uCdiu IL uOt' w Hdt
was the tumult of raging elements
to them whose destiny hung on
the turning of a card? And the
smiling blue-eyed stranger in
buckskin still stood by them with
his pencil and paper, calmly MOTTO
ing the developments of the game.
Finally the storm passed, as the
beautiful daybreak came out like a
thing of glory in the great gray
east. Then the infatuated mer-
chant, distracted with his heavy
losses, dared the climax of folly.
He staked five thousand dollars,
comprising his last cent Of mon
ey in the world, "on two pairs of
kings" The whiskered gambler
scaled" him; they showed hands;
the blackleg had "two pairs of
aces" and "raked the board" >
The merchant dropped to the floor
as if he had been shot through
the brain, and that beautiful
young wife flew to his side and
fell shrieking upon his bosom
They were both borne away in
sensible to the ladies cabin.
AS he deposited the winnings
in his pocket, the gambler emitted
a hoarse laugh that sounded fright
full as the chuckle of a fiend; but
he instantly lost color as a low,
calm voice remarked in his ear
"Villain, you play strong hand
at many different games, but here
stands one who can beat you at all
of them!'
He turned, met the glance of
those keen blue eyes so prete, nat
urally bright, and shuddered.-
But he Immediately regained his
presence of mind, for he was no
coward, and then he frowned till
his shaggy brows met like the
coil of a serpent, and demanded
sternly-"Beggar, who are yoas to
banter a gentleman thus rudely?'
81 am james Bowie, of Texas"
the other answered with care
less laugh; "and you are John La
ftte, a bastard of the old pirate !"
The gambler reeled in his chair
as if he had been struck with a
thunderbolt, but recovered again
from the shock in a moment, and
asked in a firm tone-"What game
do you wish with me?''
"R6ker first, and pistols after
wards if you play foul p replied
Bowie.
"Very well" rejoined the other,
and they took their seats at the
table.
For a time the success seemed
about equally balanced, the gain
and loss being alternate. At last,
the gambler ventured one of his
skilful maneuvres in dealing
Bowie smiled strangely as his
bright eye detected the trick. He
said nothing, however, but looked
at his hand, and bet FIVE thousand
dollars, stalking the money in ten
large bills. The gambler went
five thousand dollars higher, which
in a "call." Bowie held
''four jacks; but, with his ha-
bitual fiendish chuckle, his antago-
mist showed "four queens" ex-
claiming as he did so-"By heav-
en-, the pile is mine!'
"Not yet" shouted Bowie, as
with both hands he raked the
heap of notes, to the tune of
twenty thousand dollars, into his
own pocket.
The foiled blackleg made a sud-
den, involuntary movement as if
to grapple with his antagonist,
but the quietly raised hand and
quick glance Of the calm blue eye
withheld him. Presently, how
ever, choking and purple with
rage and shame, the gambler roared
--"To the hurricane deck, and let
pistols be trumps this turn =
"Good as gold!" replied Bowie,
and the two hastily ascended the
stairs and assumed their separate
positions--the gambler over the
stern and Bowie over prov.
At that instant the sun was
just rising in a cloudless sky
Nature looked sublime--a bride
worthy of her Almighty Husband
and God. The woods and waters
as parts of one divine
picture, with the boundless blue
Of heaven for its background
The broad-bosomed river rolled
away like an immense sheet of
FURNISHED silver, speckled here
and there with the fash of golden
bubbles; shining fishes gamboled
in the sparkling wave; and all
the bright birds those sweet sim
gers, whose life is a dream, and
that dream only music-chaunted
their wild anthem to the new day /;
while the two great duellists, the
most deadly ever known in the