Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-05-08

strongly excited, for knew of course tho.
,oiiie scheihe was afoot to fleece the stran.
ST. anu from prior experience I even had
general idea of what was coming
both players bet heavily continued the
captain, and one of them who sat diract
~ III front of the dark man. was presently
more IMAM 500 loser. A moment later two
pls hahds We're apparently dealt At any
rate there was swift interchange of het
ing and raising before the draw tbnt ,,lt
perhaps sl5o on the table when the sharner
on the opposite side suddenly hoisted the
pot sIoo more. AT that his companion made
gesture OF chagrin. I'd see your hundred
with pleasure, he said in tone of bitter
annoyance. but l have less than $40 in NV
pocket Hold" he added. as if struck by an
afterthought perhaps YOU will ALLOW, ~
TO show my hand to our friend Van NAV, 'arv
IL you like said the other indifferen.Iy
and he passed the cards to the stranger
VINO was leaning forward. evidently deeplv
interested. The hand as / con}d seq CIV
tanned four and a six of clubs The
Ozark man passed them back without dis
arranging them and the gambler imrna
dlately laid them face down on the table
How would you like to back me and 20
halves on that? he asked IF your friapG
is wiling, said the stranger deliberately.
1 nave no objection said the other man
ana the stranger counted out and handed
over $1,000 in bills. The gambler to whom
the loan was made threw 5000 In the not.
Il see your bet and raise you a hundred
he said. 1 see it, said the other and now
suppose We stop this fooling and draw
cards The big hand still Law face down
on the table, and without looking at il.
the gambler pushed aside the card on the
extreme right, where he had apparently
placed the six Of clubs.
III was an old, cheap trick, and 1 knew
perfectly we'll he was discarding one of his
aces, SO as to lose to his confederate and
would claim later that he did it by acct
dent. His companion dealt him one card
and took himself Now | raise rou
n held
tlhg the rest OF the strangers money in the
pot i call you, replied the other, count
ing out the cash. Then an astonishing
thing happened. I have four aces sid
the first gambler, and began to turn over
his cards one by one. By the eternal! that
was exactly what he had. He was conf
dent or course, that he had discarded one
or them, and was all prepared to yell;
'Merciful heavens! l threw away one If
my aces by mistake" But there were all
four staring him in the face! The other
blackleg, who had four kings almost fell
out of his chair. and before they could re-
cover from their amazement the dark man
was on his feet. We seem to have won.
ne said coolly to the gambler he had staked,
counted over his 81 900, put it in his pocket
and split the balance, making his share
as remember it, about $3.50. The faces of
the two gamblers were a study but there
was something SO indescribably menacing
in the mans look and they were SO clearly
outwitted that they offered no objection.
He then babe them an ironical good night
and disappeared to his cabin. He got off
before morning at plantation landing and
learned long afterward that he was a
noted professional card sharp, whose home
was In Baltimore. How did he do the trick?
Well, the best l can give you Is nv theory
believe he substituted an ace for the six
spot when he examined the hand. The gam
bier subsequently discarded an ace all right
enough: but unluckily for him he still had
four left. If it wasn't done that way l give
it up