Omaha daily bee., 1922-04-09
By J. Frank Davis

Then he pushed his STACK onto tha sase 81
the ace. tipping IL In the direction OF the khs,
"Plsying ace. king.' said Nslss. clearly, Tor
the bsnsnt OF all witnesses
"hsts 60 ss they lay, don't theyT de-
manded the hid, all on sdgs ani nervous
"'Risht" agreed Nelse 'Reis always so
as they lay His hnssrs moved toward ths
deal box. Are We all sets'
"A little % bet that player had mads
on the nine 10 win - the nine had lust
come out In the losing pile and Aeiss, with
the big play In his mind, had failed 20 see tho
Lonesome ehip-still lay where Il had been
placed. and Juns's eyes fell upon IT,
"'You overlooked sleeper dad" she said
snd reached across tho layout "a githeF u IN
Her body came between Nalss's eyes and Cur"
nsy's stack OF chips and IN the two seconds
while shs was leaning over gathering In The
little chip. and settling back into her chair,
tho boy reached forward lightning fast ami
moved his stack across 10 the king tipping u
toward the ace, lie threw himself far back
in his chair. his hands off the table
"'IIer. we co. announced Neise, and showed
off the top card. The one beneath Il was tho
king. His eyes darted 10 tho left, hand
already moving In that direction 10 gather
In Gurney's bot. and narrowed into slits as he
realized the change and what II meant
"'Thst bet was ace. king he said. harshly.
alt was.' tho boy said. just as hard ana
cold. Bets 80 ms they iay.'"
Iie was sitting up straight now. his face
white. but his eyes looking square into Kin
csid's I'd seen men sober up quick under
strain. but never as quick or as complete az
he had.
Lets SEQ the next card" he demanded.
Nelso made a movement ns though he would
reach forward and turn the box face down.
signifying that the house refused 10 go on with
tho dcai--then hssltated Deals amt broken
in the middle OF the last turn. And II would
DO tho same as eonfessing that he knew what
tho next card was going TO be- The chances
in a square deal were still even that the next
card would be the trey.
"'You shifted the bet after began the turn
hs said.
az did not said Gurney. Throw on, tho
next card
"'Meaning to call me liar" Nelse MUIR
mured soft voiced and deadly. and his right
hand began to move toward the edge OF the
table where the holster hung At which Cole
came 10 his feet like cat. kicking his chair
back and reaching for gun.
40, don't shoot" cried June to Gurney. and
threw herself across her father. This knocked
his hand to one side before It got to the pistol
under the table, and at the impact his chair
topped backward and his knee came up sharp
against the swinging holster, and heard the
gun slip out Of 1t and go humping to the
floor.
"All during the play. ever since he brought
the pen and ink, this Ricardo Doyle had been
standing right back Of Gurney. Now. when
the boy was reaching back to his hip, the half
breed grabbed his arm. Cole swung a short
left hand punch to his jaw, which landed
glancing and didn't damage Ricardo none. but
II made him let go, and Gurney got to his
pistol, swinging. around to face Kincad again.
Whereupon Ricardo. behind him now. whipped
out knife
$50 there was where, of course, had to get
into il, my boss being unarmed and player
starting trouble, and l got out my gun fast
as knew how and took a shot at Gurney."
Shutter paused, wagging his head regret
fully.
"You shot Gurney!" exclaimed.
II shot at Gurney," Shutter corrected me.
II never more ashamed in my life It
wasn't more'n seven or eight yards, and missed
him."
Again Shutter shook his head, and the note
in his voice was rueful and apologetic:
missed him by plumb foot And the bull
let happens to get Ricardo square in the wrist
of the hand that's holding the knife. So
he's out Of it. And, being flustered at missing
thataway 1 suppose. tumble my gun getting
ready to shoot again, and before can do it
somebody has my shooting arm, and I'm out OF
1t, too. And there is Gurney, with his back up
against the wall to the left Of the bank, swing
ing gun SO 1t covers Nelse, and Nelses assist
ants that are coming a-runnng from one place
and another. and whomever else 1t may con-
cern, and Nelse who has pushed June to one
side, puts his hands up over his head just as
ne might II CODDeES udQ gut tHo OTOp On HS
house.
$50 it's holdup, is it?' he says. All right.
Come get what's in the drawer
"It's no holdup, Mr.. Kincaid,' Cole told him.
These gentlemen are witnesses that didn't
make a move until after you had begun to reach
under the table. I don't want what's In the
drawer unless it belongs to me, and I won't
know whether it belongs to me not until you
throw out another card. All want is to see
whether the ace or the trey Is under that king
$50 Nelse sees, Of course. that the game Is
played out. He's got to turn that card-or go
out of business in San Ntonio He takes his
eyes off Gurney and looks around at the players
and spectators all rigid. waiting developments
"'Gentlemen, he said. You know the rules
If this man moved his bet after / began to
turn the cards his moneys mine. If he didn't
he's got right to have 1t lay where 1t is until
we see what the next card Is. believed he
shifted his chips after touched the box. I
still. believe so-but men have been wrong. Mr..
Apgate.' He spoke to man that had been
looking on, not far from Gurney. Did you see
the play"
said.
"Kincaid nodded agreement with this.
sure admired the mans nerve. He had lost,
and he knew he'd lost, and here he was get
ting himself into position to stand right with
the crowd when the thing was over. as cool as
though the money involved was Mexican
dollar.
"'Not unless both sides ask you to settle it,
he said. That's right of course He looked
about at the crowd again. I'm willing, he told
everybody, to leave this to Mr.. Apgate. He's
q square man; everybody knows it. Whatevers
right is right. If he decides against me the bet
lays and we go on with the turn He shifted
his eyes to Gurney, his thumb the hammer
CT his sx-shooter, alert, standing there against
the wall.
"Gurney knew Apgate. Everybody did.
T1,Ar ocpt% rJl in ha1
better reputation for being absolutely the
level.