The Saint Paul globe., 1904-06-19


ting early In the evening set the pace.
Garvey himself got caught two or three
times with good hands that were over
topped, SO that he had bought twice;
and as the rest of US had all done the
same there was nearly two thousand on
the table when Tibbets came in.
He seemed to be in no hurry about
joining in the game, but stood for quite
a long time looking on, and, indeed,
there was enough going ON to interest
an outsider, even If he hadn't been
much of player himself. We were
playing the old-fashioned game, before
jackpots had attained the vogue they
have now, and we only made a jack
pot in default of play on the regular
ante; but the ante was 81 call SIS, and
there was seldom a pot that didn't have
at least SIS in it before the draw.
Another thing should be mentioned.
We didn't play straights.
'Well, a game in which there is from
SIS up to hundred Or more in the pot
before the draw is sufficient to interest
anybody, so Tibbets stood looking on,
till the mayor said, chafingly:
Too stiff a game for you, tonight,
hey?"
His tone was perfectly good-na-
tured, and as between friends the
words might have passed for bit Of
harmless jOShing; but every man at
the table knew the relations between
the two, and realized that there was a
sting in the taunt, though no opening
was presented for any bitter retort. l.
for one, however, would have been
pleased to see Tibbets ignore the slur
and remain out of the game.
Still Good -Humored
THAT was just what he would not
do, however. He flushed little. but
answered In the same geod-natured
tone:
"'Oh, I reckon. I'm strong enough to
sit for a little while What are you
buying for starter?' And he pulled
roll of money out of an inside pocket.
The mayor smiled, little malicious
ly as I thought, and said carelessly,
oh, a hundred apiece and went on
dealing.
"Tibbets smiled, and I thought l
could read lot of meaning in his ex-
preston also when he said. "A hundred
wouldn't go far in this game, 1t seems
to me. Suppose you give me five,' and
he peeled off the requisite money from
his roll, and took a seat at the table.
You know how a game freshens up,
sometimes, when newcomer sits in.
Well, that's what happened that night.
''The play had been hard enough be-
fore to satisfy anybody, but from that
time on it was furious. The cards ran
remarkably D1Sn, IL seemed TO me-
II know i never held succession Of
hands equal to those that fell to me,
and yet I was barely able to hold my
own. being beaten much more frequent
| ly than l would win a. pot, though, of
course. when I took irf good one 1t
would make up for a number of losses
s.And the luck ffuctuated. We all
betted our hands with enthusiasm, but
1 DON'T remember that anybody seem
ed to be overplaying his cards. The
| trouble was that ordinarily good hands
were being overtopped al the time.
and everybody was making unexpected
losses.
AT least, thought for a time that
we were all getting soaked In turn,
and that nobody was having any re-
markable run of luck. good or bad.
but presently I noticed that Garvey,
while he was not making any very
noteworthy winnings on single hands.
was getting steadily ahead. He diG
not seem to be losing. as often as the
rest of us We're. and he laid down his
cards oftener.
MY first thought was that this was
| probably an explanation of his steady
| winning. He understood the run of
| the cards better than we did, and was
demonstrating. that he was really a
better player. Afterward changed
my mind, but several things happened
before that did
For one thing the mayor struck a
streak of luck. and Tibbets began to
| lose steadily. Three or four times the
| two stacked up against each other and
each time the mayor won.