The Van Buren press., 1895-11-09

spoke his voice rolled forth In those
rounded billows that In . rich diapason
sing tho mysteries Of the deep.
my friends" he saiss with God'a
help aud the brizsdiers consent
which he never took the trouble to ~
cure-''it seems too hard for this poor
child 70 tell what happened to her in
the gambling house 1T Butte that day.
I was there when II happened and saw
It al, and will tell you the story. I
can't bear to SEQ her tortured - she
has been this night Cadet Annie
Smith, take your seat"
He said that still without looking at
her. With . glance ~ the brigadier
which meant: "How can help it when
this big thing shoulders me away?"
she slipped behind the rose embarked
parlor organ and the empowering foli-
ago plants on the stage and was lost to
view.
The brigadier sat watching the man
with . peculiar expression which no
ono could have understood had anyone
thought to observe it, but the stranger
so completely filed all eyes and so inn
pressed his mastery personality on the
consciousness of all who could see and
hear that nothing else could be OBJ
served. The stranger resumed:
II knowed the gambler that played
It low down on this brave little Sal
vation Army lassie that day-knowed
him we'll He was big. hulkinR dog
thnt had skinned tenderfeet all the way
between Puget sound and Lake Michi-
gan. He didn't know what it was to
earn IN honest living. He just sailed
through life laughing 1t everything
and skinning tenderfect
He was running faro game in tho
Montana joint when somebody left the
door open and this little girl drifted in.
The fellows wasn'tused to the way she
went after 'em. She Just waded right
~ and tackled 'em, and them blue eyes
that she carried in her head looked
straight At 'em and through 'em. as
much rs to say: I think you'd be real
decent fellow If you'd read the War
Cry. quit gambling, quit drinking gin
and have respect for good women
That's what the fellows told me her
eyes said to 'em.
Then the big gambler she started
to tell you about comes up and says to
her: Hello. little Parson Sallie, what
do you wantT I want to sell you q
War Cry she says. "A what7' says he.
"A War Cry says she; and her calm
blue eyes looked him through and
through. "A War Cryr says he.
What's that? and he knowed as we'll
as she did what it was
After badgering her that way and
not making her lose an inch of ground,
he told her he'd make proposition by
which she might sell him all the War
Crys she had The poor little thing
listened to him. and her eyes got
bright, and she asked him what the
proposition was He had her sit down
1T card table, and he took three
cards-a king and two spot cardsr-and
shuffiad 'em on the table SO that she
could see the king while he was shut
fling 'em, and then asked her il she
could pick out the king as the three
cards lay face down, alongside one an
other, on the table. She said Of course
she could. He says to her: Try it.
She done so, and Of course she picked
out the king.
He says: That's smart, and Ididn't
think you could do It. Now, I'll tell
you what I'll do; I'll shufae the cards,
and every time you pick out the king
I'll buy two War Crys Every time
you pick out spot card You are to give
me War Cry for nothing She agreed
to that
"The poor child didn't know that she
was gambling-didn't know that she
was tackling the notorious Montana
Bill in his particular speciality-didn't
know that she had run up against the
slickest three.card monte .thrower in
the whole northwest
''Well, you know what happened.
Bill cleaned the poor child out of every
War Cry she had and then laughed 1t
her. / saw her as she sat there, and /
saw how she looked when she began
to realize that she had lost all her pa
pers and didn't have . cent to show for
'em: l saw how white she got, and how
she stared at Bill like he'd run knife
through her body; saw how she got
mp and looked around at the laughing
men, like a lamb cornered by q pack
Of wolves; saw her try hard to keep
down the tears, and then she says:
Men, will pray to God to lead you all
into better lives And her voice was
so choked up she couldn't say any
more. Then she walked out slowly,
and cried all the way up the street"
The big man paused, for his own
voice had become unaccountably thick,
ana had lost much Of its rich, deep
swing and romance. But he soon re-
gained his self-possession and then
proceeded:
Montana Bill was hard case, for
sure, but he had small streak Of man
hood somewhere under his thick skin
The boys in the joint all thought it
was great joke on the little girl, and
they laughed and shouted till they al
most cracked the roof. But Bill didn't
laugh. He stood silent and glum, with
his hands in his pockets, looking out
through the door. Then he went out,
saying he had . game awaiting for him
at lke's saloon, and he went slouching
up the street The further he got
away from the joint the faster he
walked, and then he done sneaking
thing-he looked back to see if any of
the boys was following him. They
wasn't, though, and then he let out
them long legs of his for the liveliest
walk he ever took in his lie.
HE soon caught sight Of her, and
then he slowed sp aud follered. She
st,1l .nI -voulJ -