The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-01-21

no" many cards | had drawn | repheC
caFelessly, just as | would if sitting i,
lhe game in Jacks place in BLASTED
butte Too late to ask now! AT thi.
Cornelia, in tones that would have
frozen the torried zone, replied thai
she had always supposed that gentle.
men were accustomed to answer a
'adys civil question, no matter whe-
Their they were jerked up in Del Nortt
or Damascus! Say, that was cold
stab 30, wasn't 1t?
CorneIia Calls Him.
"A glance around the table showed
every face against me, even to BERTHE
OF the shirt stud headpiece. l felt like
a man who's been caught juggling in
church, and FASTENED to shore up nv
lettering reputation by declaring that
my reply was merely crude, ill-tim-
ed western pleasantly, and that | had
drawn three cards. Whereupon Cor
nelia thawed out sufficiently to call
me. remarking as she skooped in the
] pot, after beating my kings up with
three treys, that she had thought |
had drawn only one card, and had not
intended to call me.
/ Il shuffled my diminished chips in
silence. There wasn't anything to say
that is, nothing that would have at
forded me any relief without paralyz-
ing that crowd.
"A couple of hands later, Cornelia
dealt. Everybody stayed and drew
cards. In the consequent stir, she fail
/ ed to announce how many cards she
drew herself. Then there came up
some lively play. Maude, of the near
artless smile, filched a big bunch of
blues from Berries stack and set them
in the pot and I hoisted her heavy on
an ace-high straight | had caught to.
Then Cornelia's sister called and Ber-
tie did likewise That infatuated
youth had trailed in, I'm sure, just for
the bliss of being in the same pot with
Maude. When it came up to Cornelia
that lady frowned, got a twist on her
blue stack and gave us jolt that
Jared the pendants on the cut glass
chandeliers. 1t shook all out but me,
but | stuck fast with that little
straight. I then asked Cornela how
many cards she had dealt to herself,
explaining that, as she had not an
nounced it, had the right to inquire.
Ought to Have Watched.
But that sour dame merely pursed
up her Wrinkled lips and declared thai
she wouldn't tell; that I ought to have
watched Hear that, Bo? That
ought to have watched! The gorge
began to swell in my neck and was
about forgetting that l wasn't in
Jakes place, when Comics sister
magnanimously prevailed on her to
disgorge the information.
"'Well' she said hesitatingly, 4
drew three cards.
"'Then I'll tilt that leviathan wager
Of yours | replies airily, and went
back at her strong. She responded by
tapping my pile and showing down
flush, remarking gleefully. as she
raked in the chips.
"'There! l bluffed you that time
didn't draw any cards. l had them
all the timen
Say, what do you think Of that for
draw poker Bo?
"Well, there was nothing to Say
again--that is, nothing uncriminal-
but as I fshed out my last $40, ]
surely did some sulphurous thinking.
Here, in less than ten minutes play
half my money was gone-and there
was still two hours to play.
Ten Dollars Among Buccaneers.
1.-THE problem that now faced me
was how to make that so float me
along through those buccaneers until
midnight, the quitting time. I've en-
gineered some desperate deals in my
time. but they all seemed chid's play
compared to the financial stress 1 was
under in that drawing room poker
game, with those harpies circl'ng
round and swooping down on me and
my devoted stack You can bet ]
frightened up my game like ! was play
ing in a Nevada hotel with a gang Of
San Francisco drummers.
ut took those pirates just about
thirteen seconds to realize that | had
made lightning change from an easy
mark to the sordid tightwad and that
wasn't going to squander chips in
being polite to ladies. Whereupon,
with truly feminine intuition, they ALL
| by tact consent, flew off and lit on
BERTHE. ! heaved a sigh when | found
they had left me nearly So. would
have been eternally disgraced had !
gone broke in that game
"The sailing, however, seemed com
paratively plain now for the problem
had become marvelously simpltied
having resolved itself into a glaringly
bold effort to skin BERTHE; an opera
tion in which 7 determined to assist
provided didn't lose any of my owr
hide in the process. Berthe who was
rich. seemed positively to revcl in the
Iattention bestowed upon him and Joy
ously exuded greenbacks into every
not. I guess that was an old story tC
him.
Call on Pair of Mines,
"Along about quarter past IL
III