St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-08-15

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dius ooon, said
old man L o n
Hunter. Of Cy-
clone Streak, to
gang Of m boys
I over At the Cross
Is M%fNNN Roads one Satur-
I'M A. MN Is day evenin'. "Aa
WWRMHNAA y the game now
~wANNNMNN~~ stands, don't
make out like Lon Hunter knows any
thing for certain outside Of mules and
niRxers and corn and cotton" the old
man went ON presently. ''but I'll be eter-
nally gormed up il haven't seen the
day when I could tell - well ~ any liv-
in man when Jack pots got ripe enough
to pull"
0ollopang With the Gang.
"Hit was way back there late In the
sixties when let . crowd Of them town
fellers learn me how to play cards. and
henceforwards after that never could
work myself into the game any to speak
Of without movin way on somewheres
amongst rank strangers" says old man
Lon, o. he went down after his tobacco
and put fresh bundle in the rack.
I'm them days It would pay to raise
cotton, and alcng in the fall Of the year
put eleven bags ON the wagons one day
and went up to the city. was then
farmin ON the Murder creek plantation.
which you understand. boys. the lands
down there use to Jest naturally turn to
cotton onct . year. The war was then
over and the niggers was free, but .
vet they hadn't forgot how to work and,
dadburn em, hadn't forgot how to ride
q good horse and tote rawhide and do
some farmin in my saddle.
"At any rates. 1 had made . stavin hne
crop that year and come out ahead Of
the hounds with NO fences to climb.
When / driv into town that day with
eleven bsgs on three wagons snd n mig
ger with every team I felt like the
country mought maybe still be safe.
and when I sold out and felt some
where in the neighborhood Of thou
sand dollars in gold rattle down into
INV tanks il didn't make continental
bit Of difference to me II meat was
four bits q pound and all the creeks
runnin up stream. In the main time
It had leaked out amongst the boys
that Lon Hunter was In town and
plum lousy with money. and along In
the shank Of the evenin I struck mp
with Judge Tomlinson. Squire Tom
Brandon and Red Ben Wallace-all high
fliers and dead games at that. BY this
time I had sent the wagons on home.
and nothin would do the judge and
Tom and Red Ben but that must let
the check rein down and unbuckle the
flank girth ard remain over and 90
the gaits with EN- for one night any
how.
Naturally Of course Il wouldn't be
right for me to say didn't have more
than q passin acquaintance with the
gang had now put out to gallop with.
And they knowed me to some extent
a the all-overest best farmer in the
country. But that wus all. So con-
sequentially when they brung it up
that they had fixed It up to have . pleas
ant time with the documents that
night, and wanted me TO MI out the
gume. was nothin but plain Lon
Hunter from Cyclone Streak. and n
awkward n = blind dog in . meat
house with regards to the ways Of this
wicked world. But nothin else would
do, 90 after pullin ON the bits consider
able finally at last told em would 90
in providin they would learn me how
to play.
Ne 0sea CaagAt sAe Laaka.
"Well. they brung forth the docu-
ments and by and by they learnt me
how to plsy"--and old man Lon had
to stop and laugh 1T his own thoughts-
''but % far ~ 1 know they never have
opened another card school and went
out lookin for scholars.
"And me and the Judge and Tom
and Red Ben. we played poker that
night, we did. had started In to play
green, you understand, and / had TO let
them flx the rules and regulations "a
suit theirselves. They made It . four
bit limit, with Aushes barred, TO start
with and run it along at that lick fcs
three or four rounds In oTteTment "a
learn me all the links and kinks Of tha
game. They all played . monstroua
rocky game at first, and two or three
times they jest naturally throwed theiI
cards away and made me win the pot
But they couldn't fool nobody from
Cyclone Streak with that trick. Ieould
see It - plain and quick - you could aee
fresh coat Of whitewash on the garden
palms.
'In the run u two hours We had cut
some six or seven pots. Sometimes
win and sometimes lose. BY and BY
the judge lowed We would better raise
the limit to ave dollars, with . dollar
ante, % - to keep the gang from gotn
to sleep. and the raise was made. Then
the game briefed up con1idefable all
along the line. but We run Il two houra
longer before anybody got hurt to speak
Of. In one round We piled mp the poi
70 500. when judge and Squire Tom
got NERVOUS and dropped ont leavin
me and Red Ben to fight on to the finish.
We built the pile mp clost to 500 and
Red Ben Talked Il In with three jae]gl
and . pair Of queens. which had been
bettin like fool On two pair, kings up.
AT that pint tie other members ot
the gang lowed maybe they had learnt
mo enough, and Red Ben wasmore thar
willin 70 talee out and quit.
But told e. I would try EN- en.
more round aDd take one more lesson
in The great aFt e handli1g the docss.