The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-02

He ~ granger, VINO seemed 10 take great
liking 10 me and took me into his conf
9ence 50 FAR as 10 tell me his name was
foley. and that there were two other
placer miner friends of his ia town with
an idiot OF a tenderfOOt who lost more
money playing poker in one night than he
could wash In a week. This person 1 inn
mediately decided was Hank. About
tnat evening ] was introduced TO Hank
and his companions. and invited them 10
take drink. Then we sat around listen
ing 10 some poor hays sing till some one
proposed game of poker. Foley accept
ed the suggestion at once, and secured
small room at the end Of the hall. where
We could play undisturhed by the habhle
IN the bar-room- Now i saw we were IN
for Il, and a hard game il was. But 1
would always take a chance.
Hank and / exchanged glances, and, af-
ter ordering the cards and drinks, the
game started. j felt relieved when j dis
covered our marking on the cards. for IL
was surety now that we would win un-
less some unforeseen calamity like kill
ing bee should Overtake us. Hank and
We're TO all appearances total strangers;
We sat opposite 10 each other, so We could
do the raising act
The drinks flowed with cheering regular
ity and such small matters as cutting
cards and watching the discard We're
soon forgotten. until the game would have
been ridiculOusly easy. but for Foley. who
watched me like cat watching a mouse.
/ was not a large winner. and hOugh
Foley watched me he never thought of
suspecting Hank. The drinks still flowed
-ANNAa hAAAAA NANe NtNAAAtN AAttAA AA AAeAA
drunk enough.
He had lost about 5000. while I was
about the same amount to the good. Hank
had been quietly sailing away his cash
into his pockets, and had hut little money
In front of him. We had been playing
three hours when Hank beat me out of
a pot containing over 5000. and this also
disappeared in his pockets.
Foley was delighted at his luck. but
stiN he never dreamed of suspecting
him of being next to the play. The other
min IN
tident Hank would soon end the game. and
so he did. On his next deal he. in his
liberal way gave every one good hand,
but as was his intention, l secured the
best one.
1t was Jackpot" and the miner who
sat next to Hank opened II for $lO0. his
make things interesting / made It $500
more to play. Foley, feeling sporty,
boosted it TO $1,000 Hank stayed and
the other miners followed suit, and, not
to be outdone in generosity, l raised II
$500 more. Foley had enough and called
motioned Hank not to raise 1t, for
from the look on Foley's face antiei-
pated trouble. The two miners, who had
only a few dollars left, called for a sight.
Hank called cards The miners each drew
two cards, / stood pat. so did Foley Hank
took one. ! bet Foley 500 and he raised
me like amount. / raised him $500 more
and he called me, / showed down -FOUR
tens and started 70 reach for the pot.
meant business. ] looked at him inquir-
ingly and asked him what he meant; then
] noticed the other miners go around TO
him, and began to feel the cold perspl-
ration on my brow and ! knew we were
going TO have parrot and monkey time
Of Il.
Foley and I stood stll, cycling each
other while l noticed Hank walk over
and try a door In the rear Of the room;
he opened IL, then left II aJar; then he
walked over to Foley, and asked In we'll
feigned SURPRISE
What is the dificultyT
"Oh, nothing" replied Foley only
have had my eye on this chap all the
evening, and l have determined he Is too
slick for us / amt seed him do nothing
that allowed me to call him down, but
knowed the minute he picked up the deck
rule to kill shark whenever sees one,
an / amt got no idea of letting this ere
one get away with my cash, and der best
way to stop him is to plant him"
When he finished my sentence OF death
he drew his revolver, and knew II Hank
failed me j would cash my chips for keeps.
| looked at Hank, and he motioned me
to grab the cash, then he laid his hand on
Foley's arm. That gentleman was stand
ing with his back to the lamp Hank
stood with one hand on Foley and the
angry man to spare my life. Not by a
id sight" yelled that gentleman, as he
raised his revolver to extermnate me.
L saw Hank make a quick move to throw
him and | grabbed nearly all the money
and started for the door Just as the light
went out. ] reached the open air, and /
can truly say that no grass grew under my
feet
had proceeded about 100 yards when
I heard Hank call Don't run, Ted" 1
stopped and in a moment he was by my
side and drew me in between two shan
ties he stopped and said, Keep cool and
put away your cash" We walked out on
the main street and turned up toward the
river We kept up steady gait, pretty
fast, but not enough to attract attention.
We soon reached the border OF the viii
lage, but we had no spare time to rest
but proceeded In a slow dog trot over the
hot desert waste lands on the border of
the MopaVe.
Continuing our course up the river till
we reached the antelopei valley, then fol-
lowing the valley until morning, when
we noticed streak Of smoke rising over
the hill to the west of us we started
YEARLY toward It; on ascending the Hill
we beheld beautiful stretch of green
fields that seemed to spring from out Of
the heart Of the desert. ut must be
Shaws ranch" l exclaimed. and so it
proved to be.
Shaw was an eastern man who had
purchased the waste desert land regard
less of the soothing and pleading of his
friends, who declared he had gone daft
but he drove for water and found ii. Hank
and / were nearly famished and half dead
from exhaustion, and the sight of Shaw's
artesian well did our hearts good.
We found Shaw TO be a fine fellow. He
furnished us with lodgings and the best
breakfast we had partaken of for months
We told him we had been tramping over
the desert all night. and he insisted on
our retiring for a good rest, which we
did When we reached the privacy OF our
room we counted the money we had risked
our lives to obtain and found we had
over 5000 between us.
We stayed a week with Shaw, then he
drove us 70 little town called Hesperior
from where we took passage on the over
land train for Los Angeles then proceed
ed to the quiet town of Santa Barbara
TO rest our shattered nerves after our
three months of mining, for which my
wages are yet due.
She Is a Maiden paasfnl Eotr