The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-10-06


er's pocket, an silver, &gold an bills
come up. but Jack Custer was before
us all. He was at the OF mans side in
about three shakes, and, pressin' a roll
O money into his hand, he said" think
I've got a right to help YOU" The rest
wanted to chip in. but Rogers said he
he'd enough, and we could only hold
him long enough fur him to tell us part
o the story. One O. Mike Jasper's kids
met him on his way from work to tell
him that Sue was sick; hurryin' home, he
found her ragin' with fever. Some o.
tho neighbor women was q workin'
with her. but he wouldn't leave her
side until he was jest compelled to 20
fur = doctor. Thet was why he dropped
in there; cause as the doctor would hev
TO come some distance, he might
want to see the color of his cash before
startin'.
He left as soon Is he told rs tibet,
turrib]e worked up; an, in fact, he left
US purity much excited, not KNOWN
how bad sick Sue was
But it turned out, AFTER all, tibet it
wasn't nothin' serious, jest q light
SPELL But 1 tell you OIL man Rogers
was skeered purity bad. He strait ht-
ened up an didn't gamble fur week,
an fur a time folks begun to think tibet
he he'd really reformed. 81 did Custer;
an he packed up his things to leave. .
He was standin' at the door one dav
when Sue passed. an he asked who she
was. When he found it was Rogers
darter- Sue, he whistled~ long an low.
He took good look at her when she
come back tibet way. Thet evenin' he
unpacked his traps an settled himself
to stay. The boys winled their eyes
an whispered to each other tibet "Cus~
ter was goin' to play fur higher stakes,
but 'twasn't no use, fur the cards was
stacked agin him dead sure" Custer
jest went right on maxim no secret of
his intentions, but workin' far an
squar'. He began to try AMI draw Sues
attention, an every body looked on in
interest.
Jem Mace only laughed very quiet.
He reckoned he'd fixed them cards him.
self an knowed jest what chance the
gambler stood fur DRAWN flush.
or ST Rogers, after his weeks spell
O. goodness, CONS back to his table as
eager as ever an jest about as on
lucky. Thet is, at hrst; later on he be-
gan to sorter win.
'Custer's luck has changed" some
one whispered. An thet's the way it
looked. But them tibet tried to take
advantage O. the change soon found
tibet somehow he didn't lose to nobody
but OF man Rogers. It got clearer,
though, one night, when, arter the OIL
man he'd made a big winnin'. Custer
leaned across the table and said: I'll
be down to yore house afore long. 1
want to talk over some business with
YOU" o. course Rogers couldn't re-
fuse. an Custer's game showed out
plain: He'd been buyin' the OF mans .faror.
A good deal of advice, was whispered
to Jem Mace, but he wasn't skeered,
an said tibet he wouldn't interfere as
long as things went on straight an
honest. An they seemed to be goin'
on tibet way to very bad endin' for
pore Jem.
Clusters business with OF Rogers
must a turned out mighty satisfac-
tory. cause he kept goin'.
In tho meantime he N the OIL man
he'd kinder quit playin' so regular, but
one night when they'd been talkin' to-
gether earnest like fur long time the
OIL man got so excited tibet he Jest
bawled out without thinkin': >''No! I
won't try to persuade her to do nothin'
she don't want t do"
They both shut up right away, but it
looked like the gambler was tryin' to
get oil Rogers to persuade Sue to mar
~ him. an every body looked ut Jem
Mace. He was perfectly cool Custer
went up to him an said: "Ef q man
kin win the girl he loves, all far an
squar'. why shouldn't hep"
'Why shouldn't hep" says Jem.
''Hev you any objections to bein' cut
ont in an honest way?"
'Wall, no. - 'e.@'f-7' ---..~---..:--~ g--s-
We all began to look at Jem an
wondered eff he hedn't got spliced on
the sly, but eff anything uncommon
was up he didn't show it. I,.:.y =
AFTER tibet talk Jack Custer got more
desprate. He commenced drinkin'
harder an drawed the OIL man back
again into the same OIL ruts, drinkin'
an losin' his money. But it was al
brought to sudden hold-up one night
long toward the end of August
! 1t was one o. them creepy, quiet
summer nights tibet man feels away
down an all over; there wasn't much
noise in the little gamblin' room o. the.
tavern except tho aip-ha O. the cards,
the occasional shuflin' o. feet as some
man changed his position fur luck, an
now an then IN oath tibet told tibet
somebody ives busted. -,
or man Rogers was all unnerved
tibet night. cause be was losin' heavy
an he'd been fur near two weeks,
while Custer set there lookin' a, cool
an handsome as could be. Hut there
was glitter in his eyes when he fixed
'em on the Of man, tibet made a body
think Of . snake charmin'a bird He
was playin' fur q purpose, it showed
~ his face an the eager grasp Of his
long, slender white fingers rs, thew
touched the cards. The men It the
other tables were finally aroused BY
the deck being dashed on the table an
q groan from Rogers He was busted.
This was commons. 60 the men lest
went on with their own business. But
them tibet was watchin' saw tho
Oh man leansover the table as he said:.
''You asked me fur my darter, the
other day; stake inc fifty against her
until try my luck once more, an eft 1
lose. she's yore'h'.
Done. An Custer lsids down the
bills