The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-08-03


when | heard faint but unmistakabls
message In Morse:
dash, dot-dash-dash, dot dot.
dash, dot-dash-dash, dot dot
Two two.
TT flashed through my mind that
the heat had begun to affect me, but
was always ready to play lunches, SO
l bet my ten. The Chinaman dropped.
saw his hand, and all he held was
pair of deuces. Thinks to myself.
The heat devils must have been on
the Job that time, sure. Ill listen for
en- again.
4 held good hands the next round
or two and raked in some fair pots.
But | could see that the Cinnamon
were laying for me- Apparently they
had the aggregate capital OF all their
COMPANIONS, and | could see that was
likely to be cleaned out in the end
But, as a man once said, The next
greatest pleasure to winning money at
cards is to lose it, and so | stuck
was down TO my original $50 when |
drew three queens on the deal, but did
not improve them on the draw. Still,
they looked good. Again had my
Chinese friend as my sole opponent 1t
was his bet, and he pushed forward
$50 was lingering my gold pieces
when l heard the muftled message In
Morse again:
dot-dashdot, dot dot, dot-dot-dash,
dot dot-dot, dot-dot-dot dot-dot,
dot-dash-dot-dash
Four six.
That means to keep out, said to
myself The bunch was q good one.
laid down. 1t was my deal, and l
looked at the cards. Four skies.
81 was about $3.50 to the good when
a jack pot came along. l opened it
with pair OF jacks and drew third.
bet them as II ! had half a dozen,
and the second chink dropped out
leaving my old Chinese friend He
raised me the size of my pile, and ]
was studying what to do when heard
the muffled code again:
dash, dot-dash-dash. dot dot. dot
dot, dash-dot, dot.
Two one.
Il showed over the ten and called.
Two aces!
Then began to play the cards very
close to my chest and to wait for the
code message whenever q crisis arose.
1t always came and was always right.
The Cinnamon were excited They
went out and returned with more gold.
Along about three In the morning
had about $4,000 dollars stacked up in
front OF me- The boss Chinaman
seemed to have been delegated by the
others to carry on the game, and he
and were the only players. 1t was a
duel between the white and the yellow
hope. We did not play real poker.
We were too excited. | bluffed and
the Chinaman bluffed; but | did 1t a
bit better, and kept on winning. The
last bag OF gold was on the table be-
fore the Chinaman. | had forgotten
about the Morse messages
He dealt. had a pair Of kings.
bet about $4,000 or some such trifle
before the draw took three cards
and got three Jacks. The Chinaman
took three also, and bet half a dozen
stacks OF double eagles. | went back
and raised him. He came back at me
with two or three pounds of gold coin,
and as skinned my cards heard
the Morse again:
dash, dot-dot-dot-dot, dot dot-dot.
dot, dot, dot dot, dash-dot, dot
Three one.
THE instant the sound caught my
ear | showed the size of his pile on
the table-we were playing table.
stakes The Chinaman met me, and
IL WIS SHOW -uOWu, ne ndu LuIet
aces against my jack full, When the
chinks saw this they gave a yell and
wanted to massacre me, but Murphy
and l drew our guns and stood them
off. We got over to the box car safely
Pete acting as rear guard, growing
savagely, and showing his teeth all
the way
I'VE sat down and Pete jumped VI
on the telegraph table. He sat on his
launches with an open-mouthed grin
and his stubby tail pounded against
the boards 1t was still outside, and
my ears caught the muffled Morse
again. 1t was Pete tapping with his
tail:
dash, dot-dot-dot-dot, dot, dot-dot
dot-dot, dot-dot dot, dot-dash,
dash-dot, DASH dash-dot-dot-dot,
dot, dot-dash, dash, dot.dot-dash,
/ dotdot-dot,
They can't beat US. he said.