The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-03-09

which grew stronger and stronger,
until I discovered that all of my
available funds had gone and that
heavy mortgages had accumulated on
my once prosperous, but now sadly
neglected plantation.
AT last I decided to have a last
try at the gaming table, and if that
were not successful to end my I'M
happy and unfortunate life and seek
rest in the great unknown. Accord
ingly raised as much as possible on
all the property which was not en-
numbered. When 1 reached New Or
leans I had just ten dollars in the
form of a ten-dollar gold piece, be-
sides $4,000 in bills of large denomi-
nations.
Il was to go to the club, the Abe
marie, now extinct, where all the
high playing was being done, and
risk all in a mad venture to win back
my honor and my home. If unsuccess-
full, I decided to put an end to my
miserable life in my room at the
hotel.
Il was walking along by the high
stone wall which incloses the park,
thinking OF the young wife who had
blessed my life for such a short
greeted my ears. 1t was the cry of
woman in grief. A sobbing wall,
and it seemed to come from the OPP
posite side of the wall | rapidly
went to the nearest entrance to the
park and hurried to the spot from
which I thought the sound to come.
had not gone far before I heard the
cry again, and fastening, saw a
young girl leaning in an angle of the
wall sobbing as if her poor heart
would break.
L" Tell me what the trouble is, lit
tie one said; perhaps 1 can help
you.
She started at the sound of my
voice and looked up at me with tear
filled eyes. After a few moments Of
questioning I heard her touching lit
tie story. which was told with Just
enough sobbing hesitancy to convince
me that this was no imposter.
She had just left what had once
been her home in the country. forty
miles out of the city Her father had
died a year before, and now her
mother had followed him. Now the
girl, friendless and alone, had come
TO the city to seek her brother, who
had left home for New Orleans sew
eral years before, and had not been
heard from since.
My heart was touched by her sim
pie story, and my hand went down in
my pocket and came in contact with
the ten-dollar gold piece. and I gave
it to her, telling her to be careful of
1t, to get herself a nights lodging.
and to meet me on the We
randa of the club house in
the morning, and that if
were there, would help her to find her
brother: knowing that I would not be
there II unsuccessful at the nights play,
but also that if 1 were there 1 would
be we'll able to help her.
i then left her and went on my way
TO the club and started to play with a
recklessness that paralyzed my oppo-
nents. Bill after bill was thrown on the
board, and soon, before realized what
1t meant to me, only 800 remained be-
tween me and-eternity.
breathlessly threw it on the table.
AS the ball ratified its way about the
spinning wheel my mouth grew dry and
my tongue felt like velvet. Eighteen
the red-and the even the croupier
droned out and 1 rushed from the
room, my head in whirl my temples
throbbing with the pulse which
thought was so soon to cease
Il almost ran out on to the veranda.
forgetting my hat-everything except
the fact that L had lost and that 1
would keep my VOW. 1 stumbled over
a chair, and looking down into it, was
thunderstruck to see, calmly sleeping
there, the girl l had befriended. She
had evidently wished to be near her
benefactor, and. unbeknown to me- had
dogged my footsteps to the club.
Il remembered the ten dollars l had
given her. Did she still have it? l
fumbled until l had found her pocket,
and there, tied into the corner of her
handkerchief, was the gold piece 1t
looked very big and shiny when had
united the knot.
Il ran back into the club and threw
the money on TO the table. The coin
Law on the square II, the 1ed and the
odd. 1t won, paying me thirty-two to
one.
Again 1 won, and again. l was play
ing for my life now. and made no more
rash bets. ! won in the remainder of
the night enough to buy back the old