The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-23
THE PLAY THAT SAVED
THE OLD HOMESTEAD.
A Game of Stud Poker With a
Mortgaged Farm Depending
on the Result
Got any money. Jim2'

on the Result
SO, any money, Jim7'
Not dollar. Cleaned out last night
Can you raise any,
-Dopt see how can before the first OF
the MONTH and that's ten days OF. But
what's the diference2 It's easy enough
to live on tick for ten days. did begrudge
the losing hist night, though. 1t was pretty
fierce game--table stakes stud, and Sawyer
sat In. You know SawyerP'
"Yes."
well, have you ever seen him get one OF
those streaks Of hck he has now and again
| and watched how he backed emp
-No. never saw him play poker You
know haven't played for a year.
as 1t as long as that7 I knew you hadn't
PLAYED lately, and I never understood
why. 'Tisn't any moral scruple, is it3'
'"No; but can't afford it,
II had a notion that might be it, but
Jack, old boy, can't quite understand
that. You get more salary than do, and you
spend less However that's your business.
want to tell you about Sawyer's luck
Hang Sawyer's luck, l want you to tell
me how I'm going 10 raise $500 this week
Three hundred! Well, dear boy, three
hundred isn't mudh for some people to
| raise, but YOU might as well ask me for three
million. What's the trouble?'
Trouble enough. Things have been
going badly up on the farm for the past two
or three years. fancied you saw as much
when we went there last summer
Never gave 1t a thought, Jack. i was
! 90 happy that vacation ! thought every
| body else was happy, too
well, we weren't any Of us happy. unless
Elsie was. She doesn't know anything
about the trouble yet
Good said Jim. I'm glad Of that
Shell have to know Of 1t soon, though,
| for the mortgagell be foreclosed next
week II I can't raise the interest money
And Jack, a serious looking young fellow
Of twenty-fv or so, went on with long
story Of how he had done all he could
to help the old folks. and how misfortunes
had come. till now the home was to be sold,
il this call was not met, and how his father
had expected to meet it. but at the last
moment was disappointed.
Jim took in none Of the details. His one
thought was of Elsie, Jacks sister, and Of
how she was going to lose her home.
unless
-That what you've been doing with
your money!" he asked, after'a time.
yes"
why didn't you tell me before'"
| Il wouldn't have told you now, but
am desperate I've tried everything l
knew, and 1 thought you might suggest
something"
Il can't, Jack Not this minute, can't
but then I haven't thought yet. How
much time is there2"
1.-TWO days
And how much do you need?"
pm shy three hundred. l have a part
OF it.
well, good night. See you Tomorrow
And the two friends parted.
On the way to his rooms jim thought
hard. 1t was the first time in his life
that he had been up against a serious prop
osition, and this bewildered him. Three
hundred dollars did not seem such tre-
mendoue sum, but the necessity for 1t was
staggering.
His thoughts went back to those long
afternoons In the grass on the hillside.
and those moonlit evenings on the piazza,
when he had learned to love Jacks sister
80 dearly, but had choked back the words
Of love that tried 30 hard to come out, feel
ing that abe was too young to WOO as yet
Jack had suspected nothing he was certain.
and he had intended to wait year or two
before speaking.
Waiting, he had not realized any neces-
sity for providing for the future. 1t was
a Lesson he had never learned, and the
time ahead seemed long. But now-it
was distinctly up to him to do some
thing. He knew Jack well enough 10 know
that he would never have spoken as he
| 4. \ a. L. Mo- ot tbxaa 80
But what was there to dor Carefully
he thought over every possible expedient,
until finally he settled on one. 1t would
be easy for him to borrow fifty from the
cashier against his next months salary,
and he might borrow as much more in
small sums here and there. but that would
do no good, and he had never borrowed a
dollar In his life. Aside from that, there
seemed only one course open, and by the
time he reached his room he had quite
Opening his desk, he took from an inside
drawer the portrait OF q beautiful woman.
It was an exquisite miniature painting on
ivory, and was set in a jewelled case Hold
ing It in his hand, he looked at it long and
earnestly. At last he said, half aloud:
Il know it's wrong mother, and you
know that nothing but this would make
me think OF such thing. But mother it
Ia for her and / must
Taking the picture carefully out Of the
case he wrapped the latter In tissue paper
and put it in his pocket. Next day he went
to a jeweller and sold it for $50, with the
privilege OF buying 1t back at an advance.
That night he sat down at a round table,
baize covered and green, with room for six
armchairs around it, In the other five
chairs were Dusenberry and Quinn and
Sawyer-he Of the damnable luck the night
beforehand Taft and Preston. There were
two decks of cards on the table and six
symmetrical piles Of little celuloid discs
the size Of q silver dollar.
The game was stud poker, table stakes.
Jim had played It often enough to know
what q fierce game 1t was, and he had
played with these men often enough to
know that he had no mercy or considera
ton to expect from any one OF them in
the play.
He had not played so heavily before as he
! intended to play this time. his usual stake
being ten or twenty dollars, and fifty or a
hundred at the most beng the Elm limit OF his
chips this evening, however, he said quietly:
.Give me Atty and he threw lbs money
over to Taft, who was banker.
| The others were O little surprised, but