The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-12-10
HoLp-up OF THE RED ONION.

The night il happened was a dull one
AZ the Red Onion. because there was a
shindig up at A1esi Doyle's and all the
high-ayers were there bent on making
a night OF IL. At midnight muck Ken
nedy let his bartender and his two
dealers 90, got down OF the lookout.
shut up the faro box and the stud-poker
deal and said TO the few players in the
| room:
Here, fellows. T you want to play it's
got 10 be roulette r nothing Far as
I'm concerned I'd as lief shut up.
Then TO Hitchcock. the young English
man, whose play alone had made the
! night worth while TO the house:
Luck again you, Ell? How much 7
you out?"
More than I care TO say naurmured
Hitchcock, slipping his pile into his coat
pockets and standing up IT II hit hard,
1 Chuck but if you don't mind III bet a
few on the wheel
Two OF the PLAYERS dropped out and
skunk ont Of the lamp-lishted room. A
Mexican tanner, who smelled Of his trade,
Connolly, the one-eyed hack driver, and
I Hitchcock were all that sat in al the
roulette board They bet dollars where
I the Englishman bet tens. and Chuck felt
sorry for the stranger
Peter quit. Hitchcock" he growled
as he swept another hundred off the
I
Connolly and the Mexican. Don't you
never get tired losing? I'm tired O.
winning YOUR money"
The flushed, weary eyes Of the for
eigner looked at Kennedy's for mo-
nent.
You can't win forever" he murmured
drowsily. I've got to get even, GOT to.
Hear that, Mr.. Kennedy?'
The gambler allowed that he WASH I
deaf" smiled sleepily and rolled again.
/ This time Hitchcock cashed, but the
Mexican and Connolly lost and quit.
They ought TO be a load up TO
Molls." said the hack driver passing in
! his little pile Of chips. "and I got 10 get
busy. G'night, Chuck G'night, gentle
men,
I And out he walked, while the Mexican
cufled up in a chair to watch the game
and Hitchcock built his towers of ivory
on the red spots. He watched with fur
/ tive eagerness the little ball as il
whirred and spun around the moving
groove listened TO il tinkling across the
brass divisions, bounding in and out as
it struck the sloping center and finally
settled-on the black.
Kennedy reached for the Englishman's
white castles in Spain and swept them
into the drawer. The players mouth
was drawn and blue. He looked at the
Mexican and then at Kennedy's white,
nervous fingers. He glanced about the
silent room. They were alone-rhese
three. Hitchcock made no move to play
again.
"All in?" queried Chuck.
I've got another hundred UP at the
hotel" drawled the Englishman. If
you'll just wait till
Not on your life," blurted the dealer.
I'm tired. 1 give you a run for your
money and, as 1 told you first, faint
your night to win
But I've lost nearly six thousand
Kennedy; I'm entitled to
You're entitled to lose sixteen thou
sand f you don't know when to quit
That's what. I'm going to bed. It's 2
! o'clock
Kennedy took his pistol of the edge Of
the table and slipped it into his holster.
He drew a buckskin bag out of the
drawer and dropped the bank and the
winnings into 1t. II was a bad move. He
should have put the money away before
the pistol, but Kennedy was sleepy. His
eyelids were heavy, but he looked up
when he heard the Mexican grunt and
bawled:
Git, greaser, Go to b-e-d?" with a
rising infection.
he saw the Mexican's frightened eyes
fixed on Hitchcock, and following their
warning fash turned slowly round and
looked quite narrowly into the nluzzle of
the Englishmans six-shooter.
Drop the bag, Kennedy, If you please"
said the broken but deliberate gam
bier.
The bag, fat with his thousands OF pa
per and gold, chugged on the oilcloth
top of the roulette.
Look OUT" as he saw KeRnedy's hand
swing slightly backward, hold them
up, higher, higher. That's tt
Il hate 10 do 1t, Kennedy" said
Hitchcock, backing slowly toward the
door and holding his artillery level at
the dealers face. TFact is, the money
sister-and-I couldnt stand
He was gonel In an instant Kennedy
had out his gun and started for the steps
down which he heard Hitchcock bound
ing He had reached the hallway below
just as the Englishman swung into the
saddle. The pony, struck with the spurs,
bounded away like a catapult.
Then Chuck, tricked at his own Oft
practiced gun play, outwitted by ten
derfOot who hadn't been in camp two
weeks, heard the cluttering, far-off music
OF Old Molls overworked piano, wonder
ed if his glory would fade when the
gang knew" and, wondering, cursed the
empty pistol in his hand, the Mexican
who had skunk away and the Englishman
already far out on the mesa. But there
was no hope for 1t but TO organize pur-
suit He saddled his own pony. and at
daybreak he had turned over the bus
mess" to Sheppard, the faro dealer. and
with Pat Hickey, the sheriff, and Butch
Holiday. the foreman from Maxwells.
was off across the mesa after Hitch
cock
He's maxim fur the railroad" said
Hickey, as the trio swept away across
the wind-swept tables OF sand, Just ike
a saeakin' tenderfoot
And sure enough al noon they were
riding in his tracks as they led into
Jolla. q railroad station Of four houses.
corral and a water tank. Hitchcock had
stopped at one of the houses for meal
and drink. but he never daIlied min
ute when he got done said the house
wife, who kept sort Of feed paTlOr
for cowmeu. He Just give the boss a
swally an started of towards Pizen
River" They changed horses ~ the
corral and were gone with the hot coffee
dripping from their mustaches- The En-
rIishman's tran now led away from the
railroad. skirted the driving bed Of the
river and stretched away toward the
shifting sands Of that simoon-swept sea
OK hot. white silicate that the miner and
cowboy shuns, and which il called Poison
Farsdls because at its verge ruus the
Shiny river whose water IL death 10 man
or beast
Tonight or quit" said NaxweIi's
foreman. splitting the alNsi from his
rlrchad lips. we cant driak again till
we get 70 Jolia.
And they galioped al night taking
turns ia the rocky bed Of the river. whore
i was cooler. and watching TIE edges
where EIstchcocks pony had doaraered
81 the sand il vas 2 Q clock and The