Omaha daily bee., 1922-04-09

''Ill take his check. II he guarantees IT,
You know how stand with Mccluskey.'
Afterwards. II he makes disturbance anu
tells how he thought It was planted
"He won't make any great disturbance
here" Neise promised. "As to telling, he'll be
drunk. won't he? Laugh at him. l don't think
there'll be any scene. though amt ngurlng
he'll blab that he's been made monkey Oh
You'll keep out OF his way afterwards, natchui-
ly. but II you and him ever should meet up and
he should corner YOU alone, you tell him threw
'em out different from what said was going
to- or that you misunderstood the lay, or, II he
is drunk enough tonight so you think maybe
you can get away with 1t, that you told MIN 10
play king ace, and you never was more shocked
in your life than when you saw him lay the bet
down different from what you had said
Kincaid rolled himself cgaret But
don't guess you'll ever see him in our place
again." he concluded.
IT believe you are right. father" June
agreed Which ought to have set Nelse to
thinking Not a dozen times in her life had
she called him anything but daddy.
So at about midnight. just before it was
time for Shutter to take his half f-hour OH tor
lunch, June, who had talked long and earnestly
with him in a booth at the side Of the dance
hall, toled Gurney to the faro table, laughingly
told the case keeper to 90 and smoke cigarette
or two and took charge Of the case rack
A good many drinks had been served to the
curtained booth during their conversation, and
Il was plain to be seen that Gurney was more
than ordinarily jingled. He got seat at the
high card end of the table. and bought his Gus
tomary $50 worth of chips. Thus he was di-
rectly to the left Of June, who sat between MIN
and the dealer. He looked at her more than ne
did the layout, and put his little bets down nap
hazard and without judgment, ignoring the rec
ord of case cards and taking reckless chances
on splits"
It calls for concentrated attention to the
business in hand for case keeper to make
accurate record of all the cards as they leave
the deal box, and June looked up at him only
occasionally, but when she did he got the oene.
At Of one Of her dazzling smiles ana iausneo
fatuousy in return. He lost his $50 before the
deal was finished and bought another $50 stack.
During the following deal he bought again. Sell
DOM heretofore, had he ever been willing to
lose more than 800 at one sitting.
Now, as to just when the deck was fixed for
the slaughter am not clear, because Shutter
wasn't. He implied that, Of course, 1t was done
after Kincaid took charge, and I am inciineo
to think it was. At any rate, the sleight OF hand
which placed king, an ace. and q trey at tne
bottom Of the box, notwithstanding the ostenta-
tious shuf1ing and cutting, came at some time
during the comparative confusion attendant up
Oh the change OF dealers
When q deal came to its end soon after IL
o'clock Shutter pushed back his green eye
shade, half turned in his chair toward where
Nelse sat in the high lookout seat, ana re-
marked 'Time to feed, capn" Kincald glanced
in the direction Of the clock, nodded. ana
climbed down to slide into the place Shutter
vacated being careful as they always We're, not
to disturb with his knee the pistol that hung
suspended under the table edge, its butt HANDY
for q sudden clutch.
"1ts sure slow night" he commented good
naturedly as he settled himself and looked ABOUT
the table, while the players prepared TO put
down their initial bets. Here 1t Is tomorrow
and nobody loses much. Come get the old man!
Why don't somebody sting the house good!
''Gimme 50 more" said Gurney, stiff Tipped
"Going to take you up on that. No chance TO
sting the house with only IS"
This won thin, impersonal smile from
some OF the players, s65 not being an amount
with which bank Of the caliber ana capacny
Of Kincaid's would be likely to suffer. The table
fell into tense quietness characteristic OF faro
and the deal proceeded.
Shutter did not get any lunch, but swallowed
q hasty drink and came back into the room,
where he remained over by the door, The quiet
group at the faro game was picked up Sharply
by the wide-shaded hanging lamp overhead.
In that illumination, striking down across his
wavy hair Cole Gurney looked more like BUCK
than ever.
had to interrupt Shutter at this point. with
all the chance it necessitated of throwing MIN
off his stride with the real dranatcs Of the yarn
presumably impending, but he had not pre'l-
ously mentioned any person of the name OF
Buck.
Hadn't he? He sure thought he had. He
had noticed the resemblance first time Cole
Gurney ever came into Kincaid's Just about
the same size. Same kind Of hair ana eyes.
Same Jolly sort Of reckless laugh. About the
same age, he was, Buck the last time Shutter.
saw him, when he left homo up there in Ken
lucky to come to Texas. A powerful lot Shut
ter had always thought of Buck. Kind OF wild,
too, the boy was. Mother used to worry q
right smart about him. Younger brother? OF
course. Sure Thought he said so.
June looked up from her case keeping pres-
emily and announced:
Last turn"
She ran her eye down the undisturbed but.