Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-08


the spots o, the cards. and cast onto a
table from a big tin shaker. The player
puts his money on IL diamond on the
painted oilcloth. say, and if he chucks a
diamond from the shaker holding the big
dice he hauls down his OWE money and an
equal sum from the dealer: if he throws
two diamonds he gets twice the sum he
has bet from the man running the game
But mustang is a hard game to beat and
the dealer has heap of percentage
1nlS sergeant I'm speaking of probably
made more money out of mis- chuck-a-luck
game than he did from his stud and monte
and faro layCuts all put together for as a
general proposition, if You want to win d
soldiers money, give him game that has
the most points against his own chances
and he'll play it until he goes color blind
Made Killing.
The sergeant had pelted this Young
recruit l mentioned for his whole months
pay three months in succession on this
mustang game. But the boy didn't seem
10 take the thing much to heart. He was
quiet. biS-eyed. g0rpy-looking fellow,
who didn't appear to have any more than
ms snare OF shiewdness- 1t was Il staff
on-ct mmiSsioced officer who told lie On
the quiet what happened when the recruit
tackled the sergeant's mustang game on
ms fourth bay day He took his whole
Sl3 down to the shack where the game wae
IN progress. and promptly lost s. of it,
Ihen. with fine bit of acting as of a mao
in a desperate frame of mind, he tossed his
remaining 50 down on a club and there
were two of them. After this he stuck
10 g bets, losing one of them occasionally
tut in general winning. He exhibited great
1artiality for the club and the heart aud
played them almost altogether 1t was
observed by the lookers-on that when ne
paved the other spots he almost always
lost.
Anyhow. when he had captured $50 of
the sergeant's money the sergeant closed
down the game while he went 10 the quar-
tiers for more coin. When he opened the
game up again the recruit was on hand
with his cOuntritied leer that almost set
the sergeant crazy, and he began to shake
II up some more. When he had gathered
in another 500 of the banker sergeant's
money the other games were practically
suspended; the men all gathered around the
mustang table to enjoy the disc omfi:ure
Of the man with the cheyrons, who was
dIsliked.
Winner Cut for Home
by the time taps was sounded the SER
geant was out clean $3.50 on his chuck
a-luek game, ard it was given to me that
he WIS about as miserable a looking man
as ever wore stripe his leg when the
recruit, stufHng his last rake-oT into mis-
tulging pockets announced with a grin
that he had had enough for that night. The
recruit said Cert'nly' when the sergeant
Iathetically asked him if he wouldn't give
MN a show to get lack on him on the toll
lowing night, and walked out in the direc-
ton of the quarters. But he never got
there. Instead, he took the midnight train
on the Oregon Short Line for the east and
they haven't got him yet. either. When he
failed to turn up for reveilie the next
morning the sergeant WIS torn by Il sudden
agonizinS thought and he raked out his
mustang dice in hurry. He found that
they weren't lis own dice at all. but first
class limitations of them, and that two of
them Were just almost bewitched to roll
so that A club on ore and a heart on
n hE fIlrr Th. kyriaf hot
consumed him when he made the discovery
was net assuaced by the hcarse h1otins he
got at the hands of the men who had had
financial dealings with him.
This thing, as i said, started the wheels
in my sergeaEt's head to whirring. and he
got haggard with anxiety to get even He
wanted TO win that $3.50 back the worst
way. ard IL was for this reason that he
fen into the habit of playing draw poker
with some of the Shoshone Indians who
used TO hang around the post at times.
Some of those ShOshones always had
good sum of government money slowed
about their clothes for awhile after their
quarteraSe days. when the agent would
make them their payments. and the SER
gcant took it into his head to have try for
some of it He had pretty good success at
first, for he knew good deal about the
game Of draw. and got $50 or sGO each from
four or five Of the Shoshones without much
trouble
An Indian Expert.
Then he fell in with Charley Daw, a
chief with a face hard Easter Is
land lava statue. Although the sergeant
didn't know 1t at the time, this Charley
Daw had mastered the game of draw poker
right here in Washington. on visit that
he made with some other Indians for the
adjustment of some Shoshone claims-and
when a wooden-faced man becomes a really
good player of draw poker, II is wise
thing TO steer clear of him. The Sergeant
was too much ratified, however, over the
way he had been looted by the recruit to