Sunday morning globe., 1901-10-13

Texan, who sat with a few friends in a
down town hotel.
Some one proposed a game Of draw asa
pleasant pastime for the evening and the
Texans refusal to play was unexpected as
it was laconic. They waited a little while
for some explanation, for his tone seemed
TO imply that there was a story somewhere
around After a pause one of his friends
said
when did you come out of Egypt
Harry2 As / remember it you were one of
the most inveterate players In the club be
fore you made that break for the West and
left us all wondering what had become of
you. There isn't anything in the Texas
air, is there, that's fatal to the poker mi
crobc? If there is, / know some who
might do well to migrate
No, said the Texan, slowly, "it isn't
the air In fact, the climate of the whole
Southwest seems 10 agree remarkably well
with the game, but 1t was down there,
an The same, that ] was cured. never
made any good resolutions, or anything like
that simply conceived a violent hatred
for cards, and never got over IT, don't
think that ever will
y
continued after some pause. 1T won't
stop anybody else from playing, but il will
explain my feelings As you all know,
was a desperate player before left What
you didn't know was that / played the
whole of a respectable fortune. When
realized that II was gone I made break for
the open. The idea Of staying among friends
and accepting help from them in the s,rug-
gle that was ahead of me was intolerable,
so I quietly sold out everything ] had left
and started for God IS own country. ldidn't
know, by the way, that it was specially his
till got there, but had to get taway and the
stories l heard of life on the cattle ranches
were attractive,
81 had no particular regre for my losses.
The money had cost me nothing and ] had
had the fun Moreover. the fascination of
the game was on me, and ! had no more
notion of stopping play than had of ceas-
ing to breathe. The only thing that ] had
to earn my living and didn't care to do It
in an office
1T wasnt hard to do after reached the
plains, for polo had made a fairly good rider,
and was active and willing to work and had
sense enough TO stand the good-natured
hazing of the other cowboys without a kick
so / made friends fast and after the strange
ness wore of 1 enjoyed myself hugely.
mo small part of the enjoyment came
from the fact that it was always possible to
get up a game of poker when there was no
work on hand. We played almost every
uight and. after l had grown used 90 the
slightdiacrences in the game peculiar TO the
locality, I held my own fairly wcll-better
D s.. tH
we played at the club.
"What I couldn't do was TO win when we
went to town, as we always did after pay
day, and play with the professionals that
were there looking for us. OF course I
was ON the lookout for crooked play all the
time but ! never detected any tin long
aiterward and I actually believed 1t was
either bad luck or poor play ON my part
that sent me back TO the ranch dead broke
every month ] was no bigger fool than
thousands of others are, and if ! was a fool
il didn't worry me. earned my money
and had my fun and paid for il. and was
entirely satisfied.
There was a man on the ranch with me-
though, who didu'ttake things so pleasantly
and as the time went on I came to under
stand the reasons. He called himself George
Carey, but was careful TO say whenever he
thought he was called on to do so, that was
not his real name As he and came TO
know each other better we became fast
friends, and he told me his story. II was
one that is common enough In books, and
perhaps more common than we realize iu
actual life Anyhow / learned altsrward
that 1t was true 70 the letter He had given
up most of his patrimony 20 save a worth
less younger brother from disgrace and had
settled the remainder on his mother, and
had then started out to make "a fortune for
himself, and the girl who was waiting for
him, back here In the East. And he had
taken am assumed name 20 save the pride
of his relatives
81 reckon he would have made his for.
tune all right enough. If he hadn't been iu
such a hurry aboutit He had every chance
that ] had, and was fully as capable as ],
and ! had no trouble in making money
after cut ont the poker But George was
a boru gambler and he played AS constantly
as did, with this diiference--he played for
the money and played for the excitement
and the fun Losing was no great hardship
for me I would rather play and lose In
those days than not TO play, but TO him,
losing was a foretaste Of hell 1 had rather
a contempt for him because of his being
such a hard loser until 1 came TO know his
full story and saw the picture Of the girl
who was waiting for him Then under
stood it better.
We'll all this was over five years ago,
now We kept on playing and going broke
each month for more than a year, and
George began to grow moody, but he
wouldn't cut out the poker He was no
further along than when he started but he
got furious when ] suggested that If he'd
saved his wages instead Of gambling he
would have had enough for a first payment
on a small ranch. We came near quarreling
over It and decided that I'd rather keep
my friend than TO quarrel hopelessly. /
never spoke TO him again about H. /
never played against him again, though,
and Pm glad Of that much,
"rhe last time we went 10 town together
he was ia high spirits He had luck in a
small way for couple Of weeks and with
his wages he had between $500 and $500
with HIM enough, as he said, joyously, 70
sit In at a steep game and win a really
worth while stake. listened as IL he were
going to do It, too, for a while after he got
playing, for luck was with him for half an
hour. We usually went TO a saloon kept
by California gambler named Bob Aver,
q