Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1922-03-02

man die, though ] was afraid to say
no with 40 much Of my opponents
money in my pockets. My hands
probably trembled little as they
dealt that round. and even this fact
probably caused them to suspect that
I was monkeying with the deck and
to watch me narrowly.
81 dealt, and the man on my left
opened the pot for the size OF 1t, and
all stayed.
"Then picked up my hand and
saw that ! had given myself clean,
pat flush, ace on top! II made me
pretty nervous.
1.-The best thing you can do,
yOung fellow said ! to myself, is
to stay out of this altogether, while
you are all together, or else throw
that straight OF yours face up on the
table, thus proving your squareness
to these cut.throats.'
.''Then I considered some more.
Here I had fine and probably WIN
ming hand that | had come by per-
fectly on the level, and 1t would be
rank cOwardice to throw 1t away,
and mighty poor poker besides.
I'll be damned IL I do such a thing
just to convince these chaps that I'm
not a thief was my final conclu-
sion; and with that ! made 1t twice
the size OF the pot to draw cards.
"They all glowered at me tell you
what. But they betf and raised
each other like the devil, and forced
me to out-raise all Of their raises
every time It came around to me.
The Last Big Raise
Jim Cathcart, whose beady eyes
had been blazing from my first raise
was as bad a looking man as l want
to see when. finally, the man at my
left called my last big raise. Proba-
bly there had been knee rubbing
under the table, for the other cow
bows called me to man. When II
got around to Cathcart he slammed
his bundle of greenbacks into the
pile with an oath.
.Podner.' said he, looking hard
at me with his little red eyes, some
of your work here tonight has been
so cut-an' dried lOOkin' as to excite
n whole lot of doubt about your bein'
on the level; an if yu happen to have
in that fist O. yOur'n this
time that'll top these three aces here
o. mine, then by hell, you havln
dealt this mess yourself, there won't
be no manner o question but that
you're a damned proper crook"
WAS scared? Well the hand just
slid through my fingers face up on
the table, I was so scared! Cathcart
reached over and spread them out
with his left hand.
"'Well, my hell, you air a crook,
amt you?' he snapped, and as he
spoke he whipped out the big gun
on the right side Of his belt. was
blind with terror When l heard
the loud report of a gun 1 gave 1t all
up and figured that this was the way
you feel when you're dead.
Was Time to Go
II opened my eyes slowly. so as
not to be dazzled by the light OF
heaven; and there was Cathcart,
with his right arm hanging limp at
his side, his left arm and the SIX
arms of the three others in the air.
They were staring at the door, ana
I wheeled about to look for myself.
There was the tall, broad shOuldered
long haired man l had seen earlier
that night leaning against the bar.
He was Wild Bill, Abilene's cele-
brated marshal. The shot had
heard was from one of Wild Bits
unerring guns. 1t had pinked Cath
cart in the right shoulder just in the
nick Of time, causing the gun with
which he had intended to shoot me
to fall, undischarged, from his hand.
"'Slope for camp son. Wild Bill
said to me, quietly, still covering the
four men. And, for all l know, ne
might be covering them yet. 90
know, though, that was out of the
room like cat out Of a bag, ana
the way cut for my camp over the
newly laid ties for eight miles was
a warning to grasshoppers.
at was while making this little
Journey, hitting real high place
once in a while, that came to the
that for man who
could not fight shy Of bull-head luck
any better than I could, the game
Of draw poker was altogether too ex-
citing and spirit ruffling for health
and peace of mind. And l haven't
departed from that determination
down to the present time"