The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-08-30

tainly not manifested. Only a languid
| interest appeared to be felt, and Pear
| call went so far as to say that he reck-
| Oned he'd had enough o. buCkin agin
| straight Pushes If the gent was liable
| to hold another on EN-, he, Pearsall, d
| ruther not play He suffered himself
J to be persuaded. however. and after
| considerable discussion the same fivo
| players who had engaged in the pre-
| vlous contest gathered around the
| table In the back room.
| Whether or not ii was because OF the
| fact that Mr.. Hawley was notably less
| In bulk than the most of the men
| whom the other players were accus-
| toned to see, they were unprepared to
see him play as good a game as he pro-
Gee dcd to do. on the face OF II. no rea-
son appeared why n short man should
not play poker as well as a long one.
| but they did not seem to expect II, and
were distinctly aggrieved when he won
several pots In succession. Moreover,
they appeared to be considerably
wrought up about It.
The fact that he had on the pre-
vious occasion, already referred to,
/ taken a stable wad away from them
might not unnaturaly have been eN-
| pected To prepare them for the recur-
/ renee OF "A similar event, but the past
| performance had been regarded as an
| instance of almost supernatural luck
and no evidence whatever OF judgment
| or skill on his part. Rather the con-
| trary. His having drawn two cards
to a three flush was considered sufii-
| cient Justification for Mr.. Peppers
characterization Of him. His success
In filling the hand was something OF
the nature Of IA miracle. And his hav-
ing rcapcd a profit from such an alb
surd play was one of the ineXpliCable
mysteries which are only to be believed
when they are actually seen.
Therefore 1t surprised and irlied them
greatly TO find that he really possessed
judgment and good poker sense. The
previous play had occurred almost at
the beginning OF the sitting, before they
had had an opportunity to size him up.
and his performance on this occasion
was an indubitable reversal Of form.
II could not be said that he inspired
any great respect by his display IT
really mastery ability as a player.
Somehow his size seemed to preclude
the possibility OF respecting him But
they were certainly exasperatcd. !.
seemed incongruous for so small a per-
son to win so much money.
Yet he continued to win. As mat
ter Of course there were many pots
which he lost. Not even the luckiest
player can hope TO win every time. But
! his winnings were greater than his
losses. once or twice. when he took
his cards in the draw they had the
thought that he might be trying again
to MI a flush and played against him
boldly only to see him show down three
big ones. Evidently repetition OF thai
folly was no; To be counted on.
And he was wary. Time after time
Rlalsdcll dealt him tempting aggrega-
tions of cards which he regarded w''h
sagacious suspicion, refusing TO back
them. Again and again crosscut was
attempted against him without success.
Sometimes he would retire gracefully II
prec!pltatcly. and sometimes he would
trail along to the showdown, but every
time he followed the latter courS" II
was justified 10y the event, so that IL
began to look as If he had uncanny
powers Of perception. and his antaEo-
nists were goaded almost to madness NO
such redoubtable foe had ever APP
neared in the game before. with the
single exception Of the one eyed man.
Old man Grceniaw followed his usual
custom of retiring from the card room
after he had placed the implements or
the game on the table and having noth-
ing better to do had taken fresh cigar
from his pocket and after lighting IL
had seated himself in his favorltc chair
by the window and put his feet on the
sill. prepared to wait a reasonable time
for the conclusion Of the game. There
was no doub, in his mind concerning
the result of II. The thought that so
very little a man should succeed in
keeping his wad against the combined
onslaught of the four champion players
who had undertaken to impoverish him
did not occur to the seasoned veteran
who had profited 10y so many Of their
triumphs. P,acidly confident. he held
himself in readiness to assuage the dis
comfiture of the small stranger with
eleemosynary libations after the game
or even To provide him with passage
money for his trip homeward il that
should be required.
But the time of his waiting became
unreasonable and the conclusion of the
game came not. Misgivings came grad
ually and the condition Of anxiety in
which he found himself as the barroom
clock licked steadily on grew into
something akin to alarm. Either the
little man was extremely pertinacious
and provided with unbelievable funds,
or there was some difficulty in getting
his money away from him. In either
case 1t would be well TO see how things
were going and he arose and went to
the back room.
From the force of habit he picked
up his bung starter on the way, but
almost Immediately he put it down
There could he no necessity for II, even
If "A rough house should ensue.
Unarmed he entered on the scene Of
conflict. What he saw aroused him to
frenzy, In front Of the little man lay
huge stacks of chips and pile of bills
almost as high, while the table in front
of tho other players was scantiy en-
bellished with the mere fragments and
heggarly remains of once goodly piles.
Rage and desperation were pictured on
! four faces, while one and that the
smallest one at the table, shone brill
iantly with content. Something had to
be done, and that right quickly.
| Even as he looked the climax came.
a