The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-09-28

atty on the consciousness of all who
could see and hear, that nothing else
could be observed. The stranger re-
sumed:
81 knowed the gambler that played
it low down on the brave little Saliva
ton Army that day-knowed him well
He was a big hulking dog that had
skinned tenderfeet all the way between
Puget Sound and Lake Michigan. He
didn't know what it was to earn an hon
est living. He just sailed through life
laughing at everything and skinning
tenderfeet.
"He was running faro game in the
Montana Joint when somebody left the
door open and this little girl drifted in.
The fellows wasn't used to the way she
went after 'em, and them blue eyes
that she carried in her head looked
straight at 'em and through 'em, as
much as to say Il 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,
| lllllc L dIcOA Whab uO JOu
want?' Il want TO sell you War Cry
says she. "A what?' says he. "A War
Cry,' she said, and her calm blue eyes
looked him through and through. "A
War Cry says he. what 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 that 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
at card table and he took three cards
"a king and two spot cards-and shut
fed 'em on the table 30 that she could
not see the king while he was shutting
'em, and then asked her if she could
pick out the king as the three lay face
down, alongside one another on the ia
BILE. She said of course she could. He
said to her, Try it, She done 30, 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
III 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 she was
gambling-didn't know that she was
tackling the notorious Montana Bill in
his particular speciality know
that she had run up against the slickest
three. card monte thrower in the whole
northwest.
swell, 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 how she had lost all her papers
and didn't have q cent to show for 'em
l saw how white she got and how she
through her body. saw how she got
up and looked around the laughing men,
like lamb conered by pack of wolves.
l saw her try hard to keep down the
tears, and then she says, Men, l will
pray to God to lead you into better
lives And her voice was 60 choked
up that she couldn't say any more.
Then she walked slowly and cried all
the way up the street.
The big man paused, for his own
voice had become unaccountably thick
and lost much of its rich, deep swing
and resonance. But he soon regained
his self possession and then resumed:
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 almost
cracked the roof. But Bill didn't
laugh. He stood silent and gum, with
his hands in his pockets, looking out
through the door. Then he went out.
saying he had game waiting 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 were following him. They
wasn't though, and then he let out
them long legs of his for the liveliest
walk he took in his life.
"He soon caught sight of her, and