The sun., 1904-11-13
LUMP JOHNS LAST
i i FOUR OF A KIND
A Winning Streak That Lasted
Till FHty-Fouf Cards Wese
Found IN the Pack.

isn't satisfied with the way It's played.
said Hump John, sthe best thing he can
do Ia TO cash In. The motto OF the house
Is Chips for money and money for chips.'
There won't be any difficulty about getting
full value for all the ivor1es you have left. >
The proposition sounded more liberal
than It looked. For q glance around the
table showed that nearly all tho chips In
sight, besides a large roll OF currency,
were directly In front Of the speaker.'
There must have been 81 700. at least, In
his pile. while all the chips Of the other
players put together would hardly have
totted up 500. They all had money In
sight, but the indications were that they
Amt gettin' cold fest are you, john .
inquired Jim Handy with q sneer.
'No.- said Hump John, quietly: Tn
never the one to break up game OF poker
In my own house, but I'm free to say that
luck I'm having, has grown q little bit
tiresome to me. If you can't take your
medicine. don't see any reason why you
have to keep on playing
I'm playin' to get back what I've lost.
don't mind saying that, said Big George
But ! reckon I'd have better show 10
do 1t il you didn't fill 80 many four hushes
on your own deal
Now, that's enough g that, > said Hump
John still speaking quietly but speaking akHas
amt going to be any trouble here unless
there has to be, but II 1t comes it'll come
quick, an there'n be enough to go round
II any man has anything TO say, It'd be
more Like a man to say 1t. an not be ohuckin'
tn Be from me, an what III say viii be
sOh! don't know" said Shorty. 1I've
seen men try TO stop North American
citizen from talkin' while he played poker,
success at 1t. / reckon I'll make remarks
when feel like it. whether / win pot or
lose IT, ,. - ,.., -, ,,,... .,,.
! remember, said Fat Brown, as he lighted
the game to say, what you liked. Anyway.
that's tie way l play
Hump John looked around the table from
one to another as IL taking their measure.
He was professional gambler who had
for years, but had been in Cairo only a few
months.
His poker room had become a resort for
those who were looking for big game,
and presumably fair one. He had never
been caught cheating and he never % had q a
was usually a winner, he was believed to
play square.
His nickname came from personal de-
formity, and like many humpbacks he
was pale and rather thin. Those who looked
closely at him, however. could see eM-
denoe OF great bodily strength, for his
frame though misshapen was ma assive,
his arms long and his hands muscular
Jim Handy was another professional
gambler, whose usual custom was to play
on the river boats. but who sometimes
stopped over IN some Of the river towns for
q week at time when he could find game
worth playing. The others were steam
boat men, one pilot and the Others mates
on Mississippi river packets
There was not one in the party who did
not know how dan gerously near an ex-
plosion they were, and there was not one
who did not know that enough had been
said already to provoke fight If Hump
John elected to fight.
Apparently he did not desire 1t, but no
one made the mistake OF supposing that
1t was because he was afraid. Stories of
his coolness and daring had been brought
from up the river in'times past, and though
no one had ever seen him In any difficulty
in Cairo, his courage was not doubted.
Only his prowess WAS, for casual CLAN ce
impressed the observer with the notion
that he was physically weak.
He looked around now. not angrily, but
as one who debates question with him.
self. Then with gr7lnt OF discomfort he
| said:
Very we'll. II you gentlemen want
conversational game you needn t be sur
prised If l make few remarks myself
when the time comes for en-
IAN right, said Fat Brown cheerfu[y.
Il thought we'd get you woke up after
| while.
But Hump John made no reply to this.
| He had been silent throughout the game,
as was his custom, until he had made his
| remark about the malcontents cashing in.
| listening imperturbably TO the complaints
thaxy t,nala a nDiit their llck and only SDeak- .
| ing when they began to talk about his in a
way that might have led more hasty
man to pull gun.
He had been riffiing the cards while the
talk that followed his remark went on,
| for IL was his deal and the deck was in his
| hands. Now he passed them on TO Shorty
to cut. Fat Brown put up his ante and the
| deal went on.
They were playing table stakes and the
larger bets were made in money, so that
more chips were not really needed, but
Handy and Big George showed over some
| bills to Hump John for exchange, and the
game went on smoothly enough. White
chips were half q dollar apiece, reds &2
and blues ten, and as the ante was two
| whites there were few bets made OF less
than $40 after the draw.
That kind OF game easily runs into big
| money, 80 that there was nothing surpris-
| ing about any ones 1osses. The exas-
perating thing was that Hump John was
| tne only Wlnnef, anu ~ was III Lib o"h
| game.
They had seen nothing wrong in his play
thus far, but this had not been because OF
any lack OF vigilance on their part. He
| who plays poker anywhere along the Mis-
sissippi River, especially II he plays with
strangers or with professional gamblers,
learns very soon to scru.inize the game
| closely
| These FIVE were all veteran players,
we'll able to hold their own in most games
and apt to win heavily against ordinary
players. Any one OF them could have
turned few neat tricks in the game had
he chosen, or had he dared TO do 1t. but
Hump John and Jim Handy were the only
ones the others suspected.
Handy might have been suspected OF
being in collusion with Hump John had II
not been known that there was bad blood
between them He had stacked up against
Hump Johns game twice before and had
gone back up the river, busted and wTathy,
swearing vengeance and threatening all
sorts of things IL ever he should catch his
adversary In any crooked play.
No one had ever done that, however,
and Hump John had only laughed at him
telling him oontemptuously that he must
be the worst kind Of tinhorn gambler tn
put up that kind OF talk, just because he
lost. This time he had come back with a