The daily Alaskan., 1905-06-13
THE OUTCOME
 OF A GAME
IorlgnaLl


 fore his marriage and continued to be ehums after his marriage, although l confess I was greatly disappointed that Grace Horton married him instead oi me. That his marriage did not break of our intimacy was due entirely to Otis, who was ignorant of my attach ment for the woman he married, and could not turn away his invitations to be frequent visitor to his house. Day by day I grew irritated against him.
 Otis had one weakncSs--a passion for gambling; not that he visited the regu' lar gambling houses, for he did not but he played at home, He would gath CT a party of friends nearly every night and the play was always very high This his wife did not know. She was aware that he played for money, but supposed the amounts were triding. Otis gradually collected all sorts of i'm plements for gambling,
 One Saturday afternoon in June as was about to leave my office for half holiday Otis dropped in and told me that he had bought roulette table. Would I % with blm and see the ball splng He insisted. yielded.
 On reaching his house we went Co what he called the smoking room, di' vested ourselves of our coats and vests, lighted cigars and sat down at the rou' lette table. TherC Is something f0sci' hating in watching the little ball spin rapidly around for awhile then begin to coquette with the different pockets rolling toward one, striking point and nearly being knocked Into another poised for moment on the edge of a third, never settling into Its choice till the excitement of the watchers has reached fever heat. Otis was banker, He won all the money had about me; then I began to give him due bills About | o'clock l added these amounts and found that was bankrupt.
 It was plain to me that Otis had grown frightened at my large bets, He had a wife and a child, and fl in- stead of the bank having broken me I had broken the bank 1t would have been terrible. The fires of hell were burning within me. This man had de- prived me of the woman upon whom l had set my heart, and now he had talk en every dollar I possessed As drowning man will catch at a straw ran my hands through my pockets and felt coin the size of a half dollar. drew 1t from its place and in doing so dropped it. and it rolled unlcre lounge. I arose to get 1t.
 ''Never mind" said Otis. "Wh0t was ny
 Fifty cents. believe"
 "Very well; its safe. Make your bet"
 I bet on the number giving the high est returns. The ball spun around, dallied here and there, then dropped Into my number. From this on l had an astonishing run of luck til I had won back SlOO of my losses. l played on. the luck continuing with me. Din ner was announced. but we paid no at' tention to it. At II o'clock l had re- gained all l had lost besides a consid- erable sum from Otis He figured his losses and In a trembling voice an nounced that they were S6,0OO, or near ly S1,OOO more than he could possibly pay. had broken the bank.
 The revenge I had coveted now that 1t was attained suddenly turned bitter, After the first exciting moment Of realization that I had saved what l possessed, won all Otis had and placed him in the position was in when found the half dollar a revulSion came over me. He was my friend and had never injured me. l had loved the girl who was his wife, and his child was devoted to me Nevertheless l had ruined him and ruined his wife and child.
 "OtiS." I said, 'when I had lost an this afternoon l found a half dollar, with which retrieved everything and broke your bank. It rolled under that lounge. Go and find 1t and see what you can do with 1t. My opinion is that there's rare luck in it."
 He went to the lounge, got down on the floor, found the piece and brought 1t to the table. noticed a curious eN. pression on his face and turned my eyes from 1t to the coin. It had rather the look of german silver than the true white metal