The Washington herald., 1922-02-05

seen him before when he wasn't % sodden
with boozs that he squelched when he moved.
and Pony handed EN- over . lean. leathery
young athlete, with nothing wrong with him
but an awful way Of cursing whenever Pony
was mentioned. Were they grateful? They
were % grateful that when Pony wanted to
get rid o. some copper stock he'd managed
to dig up they took It on his hands before
he'd finished suggesting 1t.
STILL" Mr.. Smith continued. talking Of
biaclcmail. I'd like to tell you about queer
thing I was in with Pony Ysse-"
Lets have some drinks, then" stipulated
the young man who locked like . curata
Mr.. Smith accepted the condition and the
drinks were duly served. When the waiter
had departed he resumed.
~ The game began one day when was
havin' my lunch n the Rochester down the
street here. was alone an was just about
done and ready to pay my bill an 90 when
in strolls Pony an another man that only
know BY sight. Pony was like he always is.
CHEEKY, masterful. and certain Of himself; but
the feller with him. . tall, dropping sort Of
chap. was iookin' sort Of N and worried
won't tell you his name, COS he's still %
Pony's List; an by the looks Of him thought
for the nnsment that Pony must have been
mflkin' him too hard. Pony mods to me and
half stops. Don't 60 away for = minute.
Jtm,' he says: I might want you
The other one gave me . sort Of thought
ful. gloomy look and Pony led him on. whis-
pering to him a. they went They took q
table At the other end Of the room. and after
talkin' together for few minutes they gave
their order to the waiter and Pony looked up
and becksned me over.
sit down. Jim.' he said to me. This is
Jim Smith he told the other feller. Jim.
I want you to listen to . story that Lord
so-and-so has been tellin' me and see what
you think about 1t. Some Of # doesn't sound
right to me-
-'rm listening said.
The lord heayed dreamy kind Of sigh.
He'd got . great thin beak Of . nose and no
more chin than a bird. He looked about as
strong a. . piece Of paper and as wise a.
sheep. And yet somehow he looked like .
lord. ss II he'd got more right than another
man and air was only made because he liked
to breathe II.
-'Are you = crook?' he said to me.
YES I answered him. What's the
crooked thing you want done that you can't
do yourself?'
He lifted UP his eyebrows and stared at
me as If was a curiosity. Pony. sitting be.
side him. laughed.
'Jims all right. he said. He knows all
about rough work Go ahead and tell him.
So presently his lordship began to tell his
symptoms to the doctor. The first part Of
EN- seemed natural enough for sheep faced
village idiot IKE him. About three weeks
before. bein' out for the evening lookin' for
new worlds to conquer. he'd run into four
nice fellows he'd never seen before CHEEKY,
pleasant. sporting sort of chaps. three Of 'sp
English and one an American. They'd had
certain amount o. drinks at the usual kind O.
places. and at last they'd gone of to the
Americans fiat to rest around a card table
after the fatigues of the evening.
This American was a middle sized man, it
seemed. actin an taikin' in the usual way:
but what made him noticeable and queer
looking was his having rather longish black
hair, cut French fashion, a black mustache,
and pointed black beard. And in his nat was
slathsrs Of drink and the materials for poker.
1t was over the poker. 1t seemed. that
things began to 60 wrong. His long. lean
lordship got the idea at last that he wasn't
getting square deal. just a. If it would ha'
needed any funny business to milk a poor
fool like him. At any rate. he began to
watch things pretty close as far a. the
liquors he'd taken would let him.
And III swear he was telling me. that
the dealing ~as crooked. That American
had the cards. and distinctly saw him flick
a card from the bottom Of the pack. picked
up my cards and threw them into the middle
Of the table.
-'- Wen have that iesi again." said
-'They all stared at me a. II they were