The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1901-04-01

because his play showed IL, not because
could see the mark. for | could not. m
would not have recognized IL IL Ia
r seen IL.
F'Al l knew was that he certainly d
some marking. and that he was watchir
so closely that he must have known
all events, he opened the jack pot for 81
= having the nrst saw The Memphis ma
. PASSED and the Texan came in
The next man, who looked like "A Law
4 yer, raised IL $50 more. and the deals
laid down. Hobbs made IL $50 more. AN
the Texan came back with $50 making
$40 more for the lawyer TO play. He mad
good. and Hobbs showed up a hundred
THE Texan raised IL again and the la "
yer dropped. lie had three Queens. for
saw them before ne threw them away
but ne wisely concluded that even thre
queens before the draw was not goo,
enough 10 stay with under cross-fre
Hobbs made good once more, and call
ed Tor a card getting, of course the acl
he knew was coming The Texan stood
pat. having. as I saw later. ten fun
and when Hobbs bet hundred he simply
| called
III was good play against a one-csrd
draw, though [ was a little surprised al
IL, for he had been playing a bold game
and ten full was teinptingly big hand.
Ills call however, made a showdown
necessary and OF course Hobbs raked the
pot.
AS he pulled In the money saw a
| queer expression come on the Texans
| race. IL was not wholly Chagrn al loss
OF his bets, but, as read IL. was partly OF
| chagrip and partly OF suspicion. Hobbs
| saw H. too.
| II presume he had been expecting IL
! and had made UP his mind what TO do
when II came, for as the Texan reached
over and picked up the discard pile, with
he ~. ant f..t.
cards, Hobbs thrust the money in front
~ him into his pocket. and, rising sud
Senly from his chair. leaped rather than
ran toward the door OF the saloon.
which was wide open as 1t was hot
weather.
A SWIM FOR LIFE.
Quick as he was, the Texan was close
behind him, and | saw him pull his gun
as be rushed after the fleeing gambler.
We an Iollowed, or course. and | got
TO the saloon door saw Hobbs leap from
the rail OF the boat into the water
The Texan fred once AS he ran. hut n
he hit the other there was no sign OF IL
apparently. for Hobbs came TO the sur
race presently fully so feet away and
swimming like fish. despite the fact
that he was fully dressed
mere was lot OF excited shouting
anu talk among those OF us who were
looking on, but the Texan was apparent-
~ the coolest man I'm the crowd
h, squarlng himself by the rail, he laid
ms heavy revolver across his left elbow
"hu, taxing n careful aim, he fired twice
az the swimmer before the captain OF the
npat l9t3 came up and interfered. which he
uid as soon as he could reach the spot
lt looked as IL his Interference came
100 late, though for the swimmer at the |
second shot threw up his arms and dis |
appeared under the surface OF the wa
yer. W neither he was hit or not 1 don't
hnYWi OUT ne was certainly not killed or 1
seriously hurt To prevent his swimming 1
ashore but what we all thought then was |
that he was killed
18th was too dark for us TO see where |
ne, ne came up at all. though of course he
lhhoAs lhnas hientIy Tor a moment of two
him rs IS no use sending boat after
Keep alive IN that current after he's got
a bullet i'm him. So we kept on our way.
leaving @ Hobbs 20 his fate and If anybody
against the Texan ! never heard OF IL.
-, ne general verdict was that Il served !
exnres n1nes rlsht. and the only regret ] heard
had gone down with him.
TOO TOUGH TO KILL.
You may imagine that was rather
astonished some i've years afterward. To |
run across Hobbs in saloon In New
Madrid. lie was playing poker In a back
-o9m s ana looked him some minutes
ne same man., but after 1 had watched
~ mistaken.
More than that saw that he knew
ne, and was evidently considering v
o 90. lie aid not meet my eyes suuarely
or some minuIss. but presently he did |
%, ana J saw that he was looking for
Then saw that he was letting mo
in9w ,,,i, that he knew that | knew him.
quite complicated, isn't a.. but YOU can |
ay a good deal with you eyes IL you
now how
Pretty soon he cashed in. and strolled
ut TO the barroom, and when followed |
'ss spoke TO me. ] don't know what sort
! man YOU are he said, as coollv as
ne were talking about the weather,
ION tons to p'fsnh tsiirSy you won't have any objec-
ng 10 try To make trouble for me
assured him that | had no such in
elling goods and that | preferred 10
make friends rather than enimies at
very stage Of the game. More than
lie for you would have done il the night
saw you playing on the boat
Yes. he said, In the most matter of
Don AS YOU came on board, and | was
athcr expecting you would interfere So
moving that u those chlmps ever
derlto back them up I decided that the .
My thing TO do was 10 make a bolt for
ID, case they caught on
e.. " q YOU nlli l asked MN.
No he said with n grin, but the
ulletS were coming uncomfortable close
hd ! made up my mind the safest course ]
as 20 make everybody think | was kill
~ The swimming was nothing / reck-
u swan four miles before | got r
MAN OF RARE COURAGE.
Naturally 1 set Mr. Hobbs down as :
lore or less OF coward, or at least as
man who would rather run than fight. J
nd not being anxious for his acuuaint- =
nee anyhow. ! had little 60 say 10 him ! 1
ma Vas not sorry To hear him say he : /
nS leaving town that night !
whether he went away because / was \
iere or not | neither new nor cared The | :
ext time saw him however I decided r
'at he was ready enough 10 fight when /
2 saw III 10 do SO. =
IL was IN a faro hank in Nicksburr \
AT | ran across him about a year later {
was doing the town with "A customer n
nj among other things we decided 10 :
lck the tiger for y small amount When
e kot inside we found Hobbs PLAYING
it as nobody seemed 90 know him,
lid nothing
lie was I'm hard luck apparently. for as
~ friend ana l stood loDking on for "A
w moments before buying chips. / saw
mn lose i've stacks one after the other
What also noticed Was that a piker
Jung az lie other sful ~ the table was
'ppering his play right along. evidently
uniting either pn 1oNhe haH l,,.L I