Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-11

unprecedently hearty, IN consequence OF the
the zest impaired to the general appetite,
and it was twilight by the time the table
was Quilted. Almost Immediately a full,
unclouded moon began to illumine the
camp and breeze, so faint as to hardly
make the long shadows of the foliage waver
on the grass, carried away the heat which
the sun had left behind.
There was no chair in Camp Nineteen. But
Will Brown politely conducted Deuce Low
to a spot of grassy upholstery at the foot of
a tree, where she might sit with her back
comfortably against the smooth bark. The
moon beautifed the face into which it
shone. The sunburnt skin became alabas-
ter, the hair showed its brown tints glossily,
and the eyes glistened with reflected light.
Whatever she thought of these advantages,
or of the still more potent one of being the
only girl her companion had seen in weeks,
the consciousness was not divulged in her
resting, careless attitude, nor i'll her child
ishly unalert manner. Will stretched him
self on the grass before her, and by chance
or choice he lay in the shadow of the trees
trunk. He fancied that from his compara-
tive obscurity he could crafty his admira-
tion of the illumined face without breaking
etiquette's law against staring. They
talked trivialIy of their immediate sur
roundings; then about each other q little;
and at length Will said:
WHICH ndU6 may Cdll you.
80, Deuce Low" she lightly replied.
"That's an insulting sort of nickname"
he protested.
"I didn't think So" she answered. eff
my tall Dad was TO be called Jack High,
wasn't it well enough to name his short
daughte-. Deuce Low2 1 haven't always
found so much consideration as that since
we started from Omaha FOR Oklahoma
"And what makes you go to Oklahoma"
IT-11 IL MI
and /; and we're rovers-yes, adventurers.
Dad thinks we may prosper in the new ter
ritory. I've voice to sing with, and feet
to dance with"
''And face TO bewitch with
Instantly the glistening in the girls eyes
increased, as there was the sudden moisture
of tears to reflect the moonshine, and she
was silent. The young man had spoken so D..
honestly that be did not perceive how his
blunt compliment had panied her. He
went on: "Your father-while you are
singing and dancing in some Oklahoma
concert hall-what will he be doing for an
income?"
She was resentful. Should he not have
already found out by her improved language
and her decorous manner toward him that
she was by education and experience better
than the condition of wayfaring in which
she had come to Camp Nineteen? Yet he
dS
though she had already reached Oklahoma,
and they were chance acquaintance across
a table in a concert hall. Her desire to i'm
press him favorably was gone, and without
q waver of gaze or voice she shortly an
swered; "Mv Dads a gambler, and he's
down on his luck. If he's to play for grub
stakes, he'll do three-card monte in the
streets till 1 get an engagement. If he
strikes it rich enough he'll deal faro in
den of his own"
"And you?" Will exclaimed, shocked by
what she had SAID and her way of saying it,
but with no idea that she had spoken other
wise than heedlessly, "what does he intend
to do with you?''
Didn't YOU yourself say 1 had face to
bewitch With" and she held her visage
still for him to examine. go. Dadll do
very we'll with me in Oklahoma
Meanwhile that responsible father was
seated with Aleck Wiams ten RODS distant.
A fat stone was between them, and on Its |
smooth surface were the cards and cash of |
game of poker. The moon made light |
enough for the players, and they were en-
gagged so earnestly that no other talk than |
the play required was INDUCED in. When |
they spoke it was in very low voices, too,
and it was manifest that they did not care |
to be discovered. Neither man could have |
told, if he had tried to, exactly how the |
game had been brought about, nor could |
either have recalled anything in his own
case bur eagerness for it. Jack High had |
airily remarked at the beginning, as he |
drew his only dollar from a vest pocket. |
There's plenty where that came FROM
and so there was if he meant the Govern
ment mint; but Wiams did not demand an
insight of the pocket, and so the first bluff
in this game OF poker was made and won
by the professional gambler Nor did he
require other capital than that single dollar.
He played to the end of the first hand with
only the coin and promissory words, and
afterward he had a steadily increasing num-
Der of bank notes provided by Wiams'
losses. Luck and skill allied themselves on
his side Of the stone, and his accumulation
OF one-dollar and two-dollar bills at length
bulged the pockets that had been empty be-
fore.
80, here you be, gents?" and the intrud-
ing figure of Old Jugg Brown stood before
the players. 'Yes-here you be-
His inebriety had passed of, and he was
not only sober, but also pompous with the |
official duty of being the night wstchman of
the camp. He was too untrustworthy to be
hired for regular work, manual or mental;
yet on his sons account, and under the reg
ulating influence of that circumspect Young
man, he was employed to guard the portable
property of the expedition while the rest of
the company slept. He was now making
his first slow, sauntering round for the even
ing, and he promptly intermitted his patrol
to sit down.
'Playin' for keeps, too" he continued,
with wistful eyes Oh the several bills that
lay on the stone.
Hush" said Wiams, and Old Jucg
obeyed, for Wiams was man of import
ance.
"Hush," said Jack High, but this time
Old Jugg was about to fout the command
for who was this frayed vagabond that he
should presume to dictate silence?
At that instant Jack High won stake
and wadded the money into pocket already
full.
"G-r-a-cious g-u-d-ness, Old Jugg ex-
claimed, INDUCING his mannerism of SPELL
ing out the first syllable with more con-
vincing emphasis than photography, vet
keeping his voice down to a horse whisper;
but you're a winner, sure-sure. You
didn't have a dollar when you struck the
camp"
'Pray don't interrupted u.s." Jack High
hastily interposed.
so, don't let me poster YOU. What 1
wants to jine into g-ine in.''
Cant be done without money" said
Wiams, who knew that Will Browns dis
clpline of the erring father permitted no
money to him when within days walk of
a barroom, $50 you're barred out"
Old Jugg heaved deep sigh, and walked
away, only to return five minutes later He
squatted by the stone, covetly disclosed a
gold watch in his palm. and said, with a
fabby attempt at braggadocio: ''Does my
watch go for SO? Say does it go?''