The Republican journal., 1874-10-08
Sixteen Aces.


Sixteen Aces.
sam Oglivie was gambler by protes~
sion and practice; but among the planters
who trequented his faro bank (and all Of
those of any wealth or standing within
a hundred miles OF Selma took a turn Al
it when they could) there was not one
who would entertain question rs to sam 5
honesty In that little white cottage, al
most hidden by the surrounding grove.
none but. the tairest of faro was dealt. none
but the squarest 6t poker was bet on.
When the chips We're brought and the
cards cut each one felt that what fortune
meant the pack to bring him would not be
intertered with by amy manipulation OF
the cards
But, alas when was humanity beyond
temptation? Adam fell, Caesar fell, War
rem fell Cat Bunker HilD, and even
Beecher is suspected One day sam was
tempted and he,-but let me give the de-
tails.
Judge Humphrey, Colonel Swain, old
Andrews (whose plantation was measured
by the thousand acres,) and Sol Lovett,
from St Louis, were sitting il Oglivies
draw Ali were heavy betters when they
held the cards; but Just then the cards
We're running light, and so were the bets.
Sam. who cared very little for poker, had
sat by watching the game rather than 90
inc in it, He held a hand OF course; but
his thoughts We're rather on the layout in
the next room than on the cards in his
hands Several times he had limited at
lint 1,,
others had insisted on going on, 50 Sam
had politely stitled his Impotence and had
kept his seat at the table.
AS the clock was telling ten, sam was
called from the table, and excusing him.
self for the moment, left the room. His
way was through the back parlor where
lay the sleeping tiger. The table, with its
lay out, the case, piles of checks, decks of
cards, all Were ready tor the players AS
he glanced carelessly over them, a sudden
thought seemed to flash through Sans
brain. A sardonic smile crept over his
thin cut lips, and his long fingers played
with his mustache, as if to hide the witch
ing lips from some unseen observer. Adj
vancing 10 the card-boX, where cards by
the dozen packs, i'll unbroken packages.
lay piled up, he busted himself for II mo-
ment in opening packs, breaking wrap
pers, and asserting cards, then with an
expression of guless innocence upon his
face, but with Il ''cold deck up his sleeve,
he returned to the parlor-table.
In few minutes it was Sans turn to
deal His hand faltered as he lifted the
cards. a deuce spot tiuttered into his lap,
and, IN packing it up, a rapid movement
of the long, 1.-the fingers, had exchanged
the table pack for the ''cold deck
A grain of remOrse seemed TO touch his
heart when he came to serve the cards,
Il can't take hand this deal, gentle
men. | have got to step around to the
hotel for n moment"
The others acquiesced and the cards
We're dealt. A good hand. one would say I,
by the actions of the players. There was
a thousand in the pot and a very obstinate
expression on the faces of the PLAYERS be
fore the drawing began.
Then singular circumstance was no.
| tieed. The Judge only wanted one card
| one card satisfied the Colonel, and one
| card each took Lovett and Anderson odd.
| thought each one, and wondered whether
they were trying to bite full or flush
or we're hiding tours. But each glanced
at his own hand, and calmly waited the
issue, confident of his own and pitvino
| the others hand.
The cards served, Sam lit his cigar and
started for the hotel If he had waited he
would have seen the tallest betting that
was ever done inside Of that cottage A
thousand dollars the first bet, fifteen hun
| bred the second, two thousand the third,
and twenty-five hundred from the cage
| on the first round. Everybody in and
willing to lap his pile. Out came check
books and pencils, and each one rapidly
| cast up in his own mind how much his
credit was good for among the commits
| sion merchants of New Orleans. Check
after check was written, torn out and
! placed on the table, until there was enough
| staked to cripple the richest men there, if
he lost
The judge stopped it Why, | don't
know, unless it was that he had reached
the last check in his book AS he filled
| that out he remarked, with judicial gravi-
ty:
There is but one hand at the table that
can win that pot, gentlemen; amt it
about big enough? | will see you,
Colonel"
This checked the game The pot was
big enough in all conscience, and some Of
them trembled a little as they thought of
the thousands piled there and how poor the
call was to make three of the comrades.
Two more sights and call brought the
game to focus Perspiraton stood out
upon more than one forehead, and the fin
gers that griped the cards frightened per-
cephbly as the crucial moment approach
ed. And heads had to be turned to pre-
vent b1I fro, faa
tensely upon the pile on the table.
The venerable colonel hardly looked
up as he gently laid down his hand:
''Fours. Aces, gentlemen?'
Then Andrews, with distended eyes and
pursed-lips: -Four aces for me p and the
cards We're laid upon the table to verify
the claim.
Reproachfully Lovett glanced at his
comrades as at inhospitable barbarians
from whom the title of stranger was no
protection, and blandly remarked: "Ex-
cuse me, but mine are aces. 'Fonrs y
and again the cards proved the claim.
Dashlng his spectacles from his Roman
nose to his perspiring forehead the judge
sank back in his seat and gazed despair
lngly from face to face around the board.
AS his eye met Lovett's he partially
Strengthened himself and said: Sixteen
aces, as | am sinner" and again tour
aces lay upon the table.
They waited for Sam that night, but he
did not return to the cottage.
Tear an oyster from his native ped, and
from all the tender affections, that cling
around him at the place of his birth. and
transplant him to the Pacific coast. and
he dies of sheer homesickness within a
year" And yet to gaze upon the extreme
placldity Of fried oyster, you would |