San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-08

probably meet Madam Doublechin. She
is TO be found either behind the cash
register in the Mexacana Cafe or back
of her desk at the Inn which is next
door.
Time was. when little Dolores sang
canciones de amor at the Purple Pr
geon. and Mike MorwycA sat in cor
ner of the Palace spinning the web of
the Devils Spider, and Johnny Powell
ran the dice-game at Brayfield's.
Now little Dolores is gone; so are
the Spider and Johnny Powell.
"Dice have their laws" says st.
Ambrose, (which the courts of justice
cannot undo" Johnny knew these
laws-and it was his business TO see
that no one broke them-at least not
at his table. According to his own
lights, Johnny was on the "up and
up" Never in all his life had he
cheated a man or wronged a woman,
and from his own viewpoint he was
not q gambler. Those who stood in
front of his layout did the gambling.
Johnny merely reaped the mathemati-
cal percentage of the Ivory God; in
return for this he ran the game, per-
forming mental miracles as he paid
off-and preserving law and order
with a smile and an automatic. Some
day, IL he lived, Johnny would 60
down to the West Coast. hang a ham
mock under a mango tree on his own
ranchita, and never touch dice again.
The blue eyes that looked out of
Johnny's pale face were very tired,
though he had seen but "a summers.
Sometimes, when the take-in had
been particularly large, Johnny dined
at the Purple Pigeon. Here the en-
tertainment was first-class. For ex-
ample: there was Billy Nichols, who
would make the saxophone laugh or
weep in nine languages; La Belle Hell
enc, the whirlwind dancer who was
Billy's wife: and there was. also, SEN
orita Dolores Romero, ''The Border
Nightingale" who was a rare little
moth indeed.
When the lights were lowered
trifle and Dolores sang "The Doves
Lullaby" Johnny Powell used to take
two Jumps of sugar, mark them dream
lily with his pencil, and roll them on
the tablecloth. But they had not yet
come ND the right way, and so he held
his peace until they should. Mean
while some one else used to lean in
the doorway, listening to Dolores, and
pursuing his thick lips thoughtfully.
1t is impossible to describe Mike
NORWICH.
NORWICH owned the Palace, fact
which everyone understood; but he
was also the real proprietor of the
Purple Pigeon, and this was something
that Johnny Powell didn't know and
little Dolores had found out to her sor-
row.
'Bueno!" Up from his oil lands on
the West Coast came Don Tostado to
earn the sobriQuet of "Senor Sap" be-
cause Of the ease with which he was
plucked.
The senior was short and fat and
80. His conquests of the heart at
Mexacana were far too easy. He
yearned for a senorita who would in
spire all his talents. N $ it was that
he first heard of, and then beheld, the
Border Nightingale singing in the Pur-
pie Pigeon. One pudgy hand went
to his bosom, and his eyes rolled.
"Ah, Dios," he cried. "At last have
] found the one dream of my life.
Hitler, leetle one-you shall at the
same table sit with Don Tostado, and
we will talk-no? Gomez"
When one is an entertainer, certain
things are incumbent. Dutifully, Sc
norita Romero smiled upon her host,
and fed the little mans vanity, striv-
ing all the willie to play the game as
squarely and skillfully as though she
were Johnny Powell behind his layout
at Brayfields; for she too sought only
a legitimate percentage. But alas, this
was a more difficult game.
~Look you, leetle one" said the
senior, "did l say that / have own
tree t'ousand acre of oil, and am the
amigo of the Jefe Politieo? Buenol
In one, two, tree day l leave, and 1
take you wiz me-most assuredly."
.Oh, but / could not" laughed Do
lores. ALREADY / have a querido-"
"Bah! You have a sweetheart, and
yet you wear no ring. What he geev
YOU, eh?"
"Mi querido is not rich" acknowl-
edged Senorita Romero. 80 do not
ask for diamonds. But always he
bring me a ribbon for my hair, and
with his own fingers does he tie the
bow. How he loves me, and how
ver-ee jealous, he is. You are kind,
senior; but truly-he may even now be
watching, and he is mos quick with
the pistola. You must excuse me-"