Rocky Ford enterprise., 1894-06-07
|, LAWYERS STORY.

There hau been the usual run Ol
stories about the campfire, when the
lawyer spoke. 1t was a late fall camp.
Hunters yarns had run riot. Inven-
tions had become exhausted.
II am no sportsman he observed,
''but have had some fun occasionally,
when was younger"
In a second he had the usual close
attention accorded to the quiet man
who unexpectedly becomes laxative.
After Il moment some ones pipe went
Out and staid out.
at was back twenty years ago.
was practiclng at c., In Northern
Ontario, where clients We're scarce and
poor as myself, and where law prac-
tice took one out collecting rents from
farmhouses ten miles apart, by roads
terrifcally rougll-one wheel up bowl
der, the other down In rut.
1.-THE county towns adjacent are
Owen Sound and Barrie. Several
times year 1 went to both places Oh
circuit. Owen Sound was 4 pretty Wild
place in those days; plenty of young
Ell sllsbmen spending the quart .rly III
lcwaECe they got from home the first
week 1t arrived, and plenty Of young
fellows in banks und law offices tr. ing
tc keep up their end with much less
E.cney. Shrleber Bolton of Barr. and
myself usually went every three
months or so, To the Sound together.
We knew nll the men about town, and
always counted on n fairly .OOd time
while court was In session.
"On one occasion we reached Owen
Sound pretty played out. We mad had
to stage 1t from MeafOrd, twcnty-forr
miles. So, when the first days work
was over, we refused all invitations
and settled down after dinner 10
quiet smoke ut our hotel.
"Howcver. about 0 o'clock some chaps
come along and fairly routed us out.
There were Merrill, teller IN one of
the banks, and Arnold, the son Of
wealthy brewer, both well known
young fellows in the place, and whom
we had met frequently before. They
would not take any refusal. Go to
Dinny Dinoon's we must before the
night was over; we were only there
ouce a three-month and so On. Dinny
kept Il saloon with card rooms and bill
liards, In decent enough part of the
town and we had been at Dinny'S be-
fore.
"rhere We're drinks, Of course, aT d
billiards, / think. Presently some one
said cards. We tried to get out Of
the game; Bolton played very little and
never for money and 1 did not care 10
play that night, ever for small stakes.
But 1t was no use. and the upshot
vas that we soon found ourselves In
small upstairs room, with n bottle
or two, and the prospects Of a nights
plny before us. A chap named Hook
irg, a law student, had Joined rs n the
bar and there were five Of us in the
game. I was hideously sleeDy, but
when some one suggested loo jumped.
As some of you KIN w, unlimited loo Is
the thievingest game going and l re-
tained lively recollections OF the wick
edness thereof.
"Years before, when line Of boats
played between C. and Chicago, the
captains found themselves in C two
or three days out Of each week; there
was tail playing and loo was the game.
Well, in those days 1 had played
good deal for youngster, but had at
the time of which speak forgotten the
game entirely. AS for Bolton, ns he
subsequently told me, the only thing he
knew of loo Mt all was providential
bit of advice he got years before from
nm old uncle. to the effect that there
were only two ways to play loo. One
the two or three cards left over which
the person next the dealer has the
privilege Of substituting for his own
hand) every time and the other was to
leave 1t every time So Bolton left 1t
nlone every time nrd played along tram
quilly, standing to be not much out or
in when the game was over.
II saw that low limit was fixed, a
Accent one, and we started 1t. After a
bit 1t all came back to me. but l lost
and gained about evenly. After a little
some one bent card accidentally and
new pack was called for. Dinny
brought in the fresh cards still in their
unopened wrapper. Well, the minute
l laid my eyes on the cards, horrible
suspicion seized me-horrible when you
consider that we were all friends play
ing together--and, rs opportunity oner-
ed, carefully examined my cards.
"a long time before j had found 1t
necessary during n lawsuit to study
thoroughly the systems of making
cards. There are several Of these, and
when you have mastered them 1t Is an
easy matter to spot marked cards any
where So knew for dead certainty
that could detect the cheat II there
was one, and somehow, In spite OF the
repugnance to believe it, / felt suspi-
cious of the new pack. So 1 waited
moment until got two kings together
and compared them. There was no
doubt of 1t, the cards were marked!
Naturally was very angry. and my
first impulse was to dash down the
cards and denounce the players. When
i thought of the situation. we two
young chaps decoyed in here to be
cheated out of the little we had by
young fellows like ourselves, whom
we met socially and frequently, whom
we had entertained in our own towns
Il almost boiled over. Such bastard
ly bit of business! l am furious yet
when think of it!
However, l took a few minutes to
think over the matter, and presently
beautiful scheme of vengeance dawned
upon me. l set out to find out the sys-
TEN on which this particular pack was
marked. 1t was obviously very sim
pie one. and I knew that the minute
/ got onto it could tell every card in
the pack The two kings had each n
petal off the rose in the left-hand cor
ner on the back. As soon as got two
queens together l examined them and
found that each had two petals of the
same rose. Then I was dead onto the
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