Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-04-24
A GAMBLERS GRATITUDE.

which his father allowed him from the
routine of business He was merely a
salaried clerk in his fathers bank, and
was onl, accorded pretisel " the same
amount of freedom that the other clerks
enjoyed. Hence he looked forward to his
holiday with great zest, and he was there
fore annoyed to find that on the present
occasion, even during that short period
of enjoyment, he was not to be wholly free
from the cares of business. The day be-
fore he started, his father-who never
talked business out of business hours-call-
ed him into his private room at the bank,
and said:
''Evasio, as you are going to Homburg
for your holiday, you may as well super
intend the sale of some property of mine
there, which am going to dispose of.
MIR. Watson, my manager, will give you
full instructions and necessary documents,
and when you have received the money
you had better pay it straight into Messrs.
Postsdorff * Guel ph our agents at HON.
burg. That is all. Now go and get your
instructions from Mr.. Watson. Stay a
moment, though-here' G25 for yourself
That will find you in a little spare
pocket money.
The young man, whose face frightened
up little toward the end of the conversa-
ton, thanked his father and pOcketed the
95 notes which the latter had placed on
table. Then he went, as requested, to re-
ceive his instructions from the manager
about the sale of the Homburg property.
These, not being very intricate, were soon
mastered, and Mr. Evasio started for the
famous German spa, with the consoling re-
Fiction that the business involved by the
sale would not occupy him very long.
Arriving at his destination, he made up
his mind to get the troublesome part of
visit oven as soon as possible, and he push
ed forward the arrangements for the sale
SO quickly that at the end of the fourth
day the property had been disposed of and
the purchase money, about 10000 forms,
had been safely paid into the agents
hands
That same evening he visited, by way OF
amusement, one of the numerous gambling
saloons with which Homburg then
abounded. He did not enter it with the
intention of playing but as he stood look
ing at one of the rouge-et-noir tables and
watching the changing fortunes of the
gamblers, especially of one man who was
winning largely, an irresistible impulse
came upon him to stake something him.
self He accordingly laid down 5 forms,
which he lost; then 10 more, which he
also lost Next time he again doubled his
stake, but the 20 forms were likewise
swept away. He began to grow impatient.
Surely next time he must win He would
therefore stake a more substantial sum; SO
he laid down 100 forins. Peste! His was
surely no beginner luck. The 100 forms
vanished also! Biting his lip to check any
outward expression of veXatIon, he re-
solved inwardly to go on until he won.
But, alas! his time for winning never
came! He continued to stake wildly and
lose each time, when at last, on putting
his hand into his purse to draw out fresh
supply of money, he found it empty. And
it had contained all the cash he had
brought with him to Homburg! Here.
then was pretty state of things! Not a
sixpence left. and another week at HON.
burg before him to say nothing of the
hotel bill which he had already incurred,
and his fare back to England. Yet, If the
truth must be told. he was not troubled so
much by this consideration as by the fact
that while he stood and continued to watch
the gambling he determined inwardly how
he should have staked if he had money left;
and almost every time the color came up
In his favor! 1t was maddeningi He only
needed drifting sum to win at least TO-
600 forms, and that triling sum was not
forthcoming. Shortly before midnight he
returned to his hotel, chatting and despond-
ent, and when he went to bed it was not to
sleep. He could do nothing but toss rest
lessly from side to side, and brood over his
losses, and the chances of rouge et-noir.
What pity that he had not a large sum
of money with him! If only he had
enough to weather few reverses at tie
outset he was certain $50 he told HIMSELF
to win a huge fortune. And he
had considerable sum to hand! True, it
was his father money, but then he would
only borrow it and repay it from his win
nings. For that he must win, if he went
on long enough, he had not the smallest
doubt Besides, he was bound to raise
some cash from somewhere, if only to pay
his hotel bill. And what better way than
to borrow from his father.
Having thus quite made up his mind
what course he would adopt he went down
the next day to the agents's and drew out
5000 forms of the purchase money. 1t
would be foolish Che told himself) if he
We're going to borrow this money at all
not to borrow enough to insure success.
When the evening came he betook him.
self to the same gambling saloon. flushed
and eager with the prospects of winning a
fortune. But, alas! his luck was ev
more diaboIical than it had been on the
previous evening, and the more he lost the
more wildly he staked, until in less than
an hour, every penny of the 5000 iorins
had been swept away by the croupler.
Having now borrowed and lost so large
part of his fathers money only one
al - l., Al, IL
row some more and gamble it. in order to
make the deficit good by his winnings. So
the next day he drew out 5000 forms
more from the agents, being determined
that he would not fail from lack of means
to go on. But even a long purse can t
stand against a determined spell ofill-luck,
backed by wild and reckless speculations.
In quite short time the 5000 florins had
gone the, way of all the other money. To say
that the young gambler was frantic scarce
ly describes his frame of mind. Could he
not raise little more cash somewhere
to continue with? For surely fortune
must turn soon. There were still 1000
horins left at the agents, but they could
not be obtained at this hour of the night.
And he had no friends from whom be
could borrow. Suddenly desperate and
unlikely notion occurred to him. He
would seek out the proprietor of the saloon,
state his case to him, and ask him to
advance the whole, or part. of the 200
horins on draft upon Potsdorff 4 Guelph.
How improbable 1t was that the prophet
or would do this for perfect stranger
scarcely struck him in its full force. He
was frantic to obtain the money, and
measured his chance of doing so rather by
his wishes than by the probabilities of the
case.