The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-08-15

Observation-Disclosures Waterbury and
steel guard. That gave me courage.
81 don't want money" l thought to
myself; 81 am desperately in love with
Parthenia, and have six thousand
pounds. I'll propose to her."
did propose to her.
| 'You know nothing of me, Mr.. st.
John, 81 she said, in establishment. She
said great deal more; so did /. The
interview ended by her telling me to
see as much of her pepper as possible,
and to try and ''get down his back"
understood enough of the American
language to know what she meant.
MIR. Persimmon and / grew very
friendly. We saw good deal of each
o3her. and in the evening we went into
the smoking-room and we played at
poker. When I say 1--WE" mean that
I did, for Mr.. Persimmon declared that
he did not ''know enough about cards"
/ confess that / played little higher
than l could afford, with the idea of
dazzling Mr.. Persimmon and so Great
ing a favorable impression, which is
what Parthenia meant by getting down
his back.
If / had not been taken up with Par
| ty, might have discovered in time that
Col. Jabez Jackpotts, Senator Pat
Straddle and DIR. Clapperton Fudge
were professional sharpers. On one
fatal night they won five-sixths of my
little fortune, exactly twenty-five thou
sand dollars. 1t happened this wise:
The game of poker stripped of its de-
tails is very much like the old-fashioned
game of brag. AS played in the smoking
room of the Bithynia, the first player
''puts up"--i e., stakes small sum;
those who decline to play throw down
their cards, and the next man to the
left exercises his option of raising"
the stake, or ''going better" This goes
on ad infnitum till those who are
betting against the first man decline to
stake more money; when the other
players show their hands in succession,
and the highest hand wins everything,
unless the original player exhibits a
higher one, or puts up" stake so
high that the others refuse to cover it,
in which case they all pay to him and
look as pleasant as they can. If this
takes place, though he takes the money,
he does not show his cards. His hand
may, in fact, contain nothing; in which
case he is said to have ''bluffed the
table,"
Now, the highest possible hand is
what is termed straight flush, or
Flush sequence" to the ace-that is to
say, ace, king, queen, knave and ten of
one suit. This hand it is impossible to
beat when it is held by the person who
makes the first stake; for even should
another player have the extraordinary
good luck to hold an equal hand, ties
pay.
The rules of the game of poker are
extremely strict. All money betted
has to be placed on the table-ru6is sur
rongle as the French have it.
| Now had straight flush in spades
dealt to me; was so astonished at my
great good fortune that my hand shook
as 'splanked down. my ten dollars,
and declared that / stood ''pat"-that
is to say, that / did not want to
better my hand by taking cards. There
were evidently lot of big hands out,
for each of the six men playing, though
it was plain that held big hand or
was simply "bluffing," increased the
stakes. put on another one hundred
dollars when it came to my turn, for
knew that l must win. Then one of
the players was frightened out, and the
stakes went on increasing until had
three thousand dollars in front of me,
for each man ''went better"-that is to
say, increased his stake. Two of the
players caved in.
"You can't bluff me, mister re-
marked Col Jabez Jackpotts; "I1'
double the stakes" and he put mp"
the requisite amount in notes.
Fool that l was, doubled him
again. partly because knew that I
must win, partly because / wished to
dazzle Parthenia's pepper.
But Col. Jackpotts 'sraised" me again,
and % we went on till twenty five