The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-15
By w, C, MORROW,

went after 'em. She Just waded right IN
and tackled 'em, and them blue eyes that
she carried in her head looked straight at
'em and through 'em, as much as to say,
i think you'd be a 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 Sally, what do you
want?' Il want to sell you War Cry
Cry says she; and her calm blue eyes
looked him through and through. "a War
Cry2' says he; What's that? and he
knowed as well 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 a 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 at a card-table, and he took three
cards-a king and two spot cards-and
shuf1ed 'em on the table, so that she could
see the king while ne was shutting 'em,
and then he asked her if she could pick
out the king as the three cards lay face
down, alongside one another, 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 l didn't
think you could do it. Now, I'll tell you
what I'll do; I'll shuttle 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 know that she was
tackling the notorious Montana Bill in his
particular special-ity-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 at her.
saw her as she sat there, and saw how
she looked when she began to realize that
she had lost all her papers and didn't have
cent to show for 'em; saw how white
she got, and how she stared at Bill like
he'd run knife through her body; I saw
how she got up and looked around at the
laughing men, like lamb cornered by a
pack of wolves; 1 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 and had
lost much of its rich, deep swing and
resonance. But he soon regained his self
possession and then proceeded:
Montana Bill was hard case, for sure,
but he had small streak of manhood
somewhere under his thick skin. The bows
in the joint all thought it was great joke
on the little girl, and they laughed and
shouted till they almost 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 Ike's saloon, and went SLOUGH
ing 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 life.
HE soon caught sight of her, and then
he slowed up and follered. She was still
crying, and people would stop and wonder
what was the matter, and some of 'em
laughed. Bill got on to that, and it riled
him through and through. He slapped
fo1I ~
street, and went right on without word.
I heard afterward that several people that
he knowed spoke to him, but he didn't see
none of 'em, and kept right on.
''The girl went straight to the headquar-
tiers of the Salvation Army, and Bill fol-
Tered her in. She went into little office,
where there didn't happen to be anybody
else, and sat down and put her head ON the
table and cried like her heart was broke.
For the first time in his life Montana Bills
nerve broke down. She looked so small
and forlorn and misera BILE that If he hadn't
been the man that done her up he'd "a
gone out and whipped the fellow that did.
And when he knowed that he was that iden-
teal scoundrel and that there wasn't any
body big enough and brave enough and
Hdu cuOuSu W whip Ill., ue IeII JUST ike
a thoroughbred dog that had been caught
sucking eggs.
81 want 10 say this for Bill. Bad as he
was he never meant to rob the girl. He
was only having fun with her in the sa-
loon, and he meant to give her back the
papers, but it was the way she acted in the
saloon that made him forget. 1t was the
pity that she showed for him and the little
prayer she said that made him lose his
head. And that was the first time in
his life that Montana Bill had ever lost his
head.
"And so, when he saw her crying out
her heart in the little Office, she not know
ing that anybody was about, he didn't
have the nerve to own up like man. He
just sneaked a $40 gold piece on to the table
and stole out like thief But she heard
him, and saw the money, and looked at
him like he was ghost, and sprung ahead
OF him and stopped him, and stood there
looking at him with look he'd never seen
in no mortal face in his life.
" 1t was God who put it into your heart
to follow me and bring that money! she
said to him, and as he has done that much
ha hos n