Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-05

ed the pot for the size OF It, and all stay
ed. When ] picked up my hand and saw
that / had given myself a clean. pat
flush, ace on top, 1t made me pretty ner-
vous, and before I stayed I did a heap Of
considering. 4
Jim Cathcart, whose beady eyes had
been blazing ever since I doubled the
value Of the pot to draw cards, was as
bad looking a man as / want to see when.
finally, the man at my left called my last
big raise. There had probably been some
signals in knee rubbing under the table.
for the other two cowboys followed the
lead of the first and called me in turn.
When it got around to Cathcart he lam
med his bundle Of ~greenbacks into the
pile with ar oath. aa
JIM CATHCART's WICKED BLUFF.
'Podner,' said he. looking hard at me
with his little red eyes,. some o yoyr
work here tonight, has been so cut-an.
dried lookin' as to excite a whole lot q
doubt about your bein' on the level; an
If you happen to nave anythin' in that
fist O. your'n this time thatll top these
here three aces O. mine. then, by hell, you
havin' dealt this mess yourself, There
won't be no manner o question but that
you're a damned proper crook. J.
WAS / scared? Well, the hand just fell
out of. my paw, face up on the table.9I
was so scared! I was SO paralyzed with
fear hat l simply couldn't move or saysa
word, and, what's more, I'm not a par
ticle ashamed to own up to 1t. When the
cards feM out of my hand Cathcart reach
ed ver n spread them out with his LETT
hand. =.
" Well, by hell. you are a crook. Amt
your he snapped when he saw the value
of the ham hat beat his W good one.
and as he spoke he whipped out the big
gun ON the right side of his belt. I vas
I1l;o1 r.,,tI nr,~o n~a Who's T SnoFWH tho
loud report of a gun ! gave it all UP and
figured that I was aready three-quarters
of the way oven the Big Divide. }r'
when I opened my eyes a second later
I saw Cathcart staring at the door,. his
right arm hanging limp at his side. His
! gun had fallen on the table without be-
ing discharged, and his left arm was in
the air. So were the six arms of the 9TH
| er three men, and they also had their
eyes glued on the floor. I wheeled around
to loo that way myself.
WILD BILL TO THE RESCUE.
eStanding quietly under the Intel Of
| the five of us, was the tall, broad shoul-
dered, long haired man, 1 had noticed eye
ing us before we started the game OF
poker. The man was Wild Bill. Abilene's
celebrated marshal. The shot l had heard
| when / had given the whole thing up was
| from one OF WIFI DIM uAlStIlH6 6uHS'
It had pinked Cathcart in the right
shoulder just in the nick of time, causing
the gun with which he had intended to
shoot me to fall from his hand.
"'Slepe for your camp, son. said Wild
Bill to me quietly, still covering the four
men. Well, for all I know, he might be
covering them yet. I do know, though.
that was out of that room like a cat
out OF a. bag. and the way I cut for our
camp, over the newly aid ties. eight miles
away, was a warning to grasshoppers. g
ut was while I was making this little
journey. hitting a high place only once
in a while, that I came to the determ1na-
tton that for, a man who could not fight
shy OF bull-head luck any better than. ]
could, the game of draw poker was al
together too exciting and spirit ufilirie
for health and peace, Of, mind, and n
haven't departed from that Determination
down to the present momen of time"