Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-24

the Chinaman knew what he was doing,
and l kept my face closed. But l tell you
/ was worried some when saw Four Tons
whack open jack pot for ten French louis
when he didn't have the sign of an open
err in his hand. He was sitting to the left
of the dealer, who was the cockney. The
omhrey next to Four Tons raised it ten
louis: the next greaser raised it ten SOW
ereigns more. which the cockney saw and
raised still ten more SOvereignS -Four
Tons still had left forty or fifty pieces OF
yellow worth about s. EACH and he stayed
me standing behind him and not knowing
what to make of it. for he only had an
eight high: the two greasers also stayed
Which made the pot already worth about
500 of our money. When Four Tons the
pot opener stood pat on his eight high.
just took hitch in my pants and stood by
for trouble.
To Tun Stood Pat
1.-The other three each drew two cards
after looking right hard at the dead-faced
Chinaman opposite them. When Four Tons
bet twenty fye-dollar gold pieces on the
eight-high that he had opened the pot and
stood pat with. had to look at him to see
II ne had gore crazy. but he was just as
bland and unconcerned as he always was.
so l just edged over to the hole in the hut
that looked down upon the garden where
my Shipmates were hitting up the mescal
and waited for the smash-up that 1 knew
was coming. 1 also fingered my bo'sun' 8
-Four Tons kept right on raising it, and
was seen and raised a little more every
time by all three Of them. Finally the
Chfnaman came to the end of his pile.
Without turning his head from the table,
he called to me to let him have my sack
This was the first time / had been ashore
for months. and l had a couple of hun
dreds in gold in the channels sack under
meath my mastering shirt. l tossed 1t to
him. but. says l to myself. -Four Tons.
you're in hole. intending to see him
through. though, all the same. The China
man had hundred of my money in the
the gretser to the left of Four Tons slap
ped the amount of the Chinaman'S last
raise into the pot and called. Four Tons.
without batting. an eye. waited for the
other two to call likewise Then. quicker n
Il backyard cat. d-n my eyes if that
.Ghink didn't kick back his chair and lean
right over the three beach-combers with a
big gun in each fist. covering all of 'em.
Won on n Pair.
This pair of skies are my openers. and
they win he said. calmly. in his pidgin
English. and he hadn't got the words out
of his head before l gave blast with my
whistle that could have been heard a mile
away. and / followed that up with an All
hands to quartersv that must have made
EN- cock up their ears way out on the
ship. At the sound my shipmates down
in the garden did a bit Of abandon ship
scramblng that beat anything any of
them ever did in the drilling line. They
certainly got up into that room in a hurry.
and when they saw Four Tons quietly
leaning over those three beach combng
sEort-card sharks. holding his guns with
out the tremor of a muscle, they took in
the whole thing in jiffy.
Take the money says Four Tons to me.
without moving his head or twitching a
hand. 1 walked over to the table and
scooped up the whole pile in my necker-
chief. / had no sooner stuffed it inside my
shirt than the British bluejackets began to
appear at the head of the stairs. only to
get themselves kicked to the bottom by our
fellows who stationed themselves for that
work. Then, while Four Tons kept the
three men who had tried to skin him COW
cred / went behind them and removed
enough guns and knives from their buds to
start an armory. When I had finished this
the Chinaman calmly stuck his guns under
his blouse. and, reaching over. slapped each
one of the beachcombers in the face as hard
he knew how Then went down to
the garden. mixed il up with the lime-juicer
blCeiackets and had them yell for quarter
marched down to the steam cutter landing
in parade formation and went Off to our
ship. Four Tons divided the spoils with u.s.
after deducting the money he had when he
went into the game. So that 1t took a
Chinaman to show us the only way to
handle a beach-comber-and that is. to
manhande him..