第80章

"I'm r'ared back on my hocks organizin' to combat the fal'cies of Cherokee, when Enright pulls up a cha'r.By the clouds on his face, both me an' Cherokee sees thar's somethin' on the old chief's mind a lot, wherefore we lays aside our own dispootes--which after all, has no real meanin', an' is what Colonel William Greene Sterett calls 'ac'demic'--an' turns to Enright to discover whatever is up.Black Jack feels thar's news in the air an' promotes the nose-paint without s'licitation.Enright freights his glass an' then says:

"'You-all hears of the noomerous stage robberies? Well, Wolfville lose ag'in.I, myse'f, this trip am put in the hole partic'lar.If Ionderstands the drift of my own private affairs, thar's over forty thousand dollars of mine on the stage, bein' what balance is doo me from that last bunch of cattle.It's mighty likely though she's in drafts that a-way: an' I jest dispatches one of my best riders with a lead hoss to scatter over to Tucson an' wire informations east, to freeze onto that money ontil further tidin's; said drafts, if sech thar be, havin' got into the hands of these yere diligent hold-ups aforesaid.'

"'Forty thousand dollars!' remarks Cherokee.'Which that is a jolt for shore!'

"'It shorely shows the oncertainties of things,' says Enright, ag'in referrin' to his glass.'I'm in the very act of congratulatin'

myse'f, mental, that this yere is the best season I ever sees, when a party rides in from the first stage station towards Tucson, with the tale.It's shore a paradox; it's a case where the more I win, the more I lose.However, I'm on the trail of Jack Moore; a conference with Jack is what I needs right now.I'll be back by next drink time;' an' with that Enright goes surgin' off to locate Jack.

"Cherokee an' me, as might be expected, turns our powers of conversation loose with this new last eepisode of the trail.

"'An' I'm struck speshul,' says Cherokee, 'about what Enright observes at the finish, that it's a instance where the more he wins, the more he loses; an' how this, his best season, is goin' to be his worst.I has experiences sim'lar myse'f onct.Which the cases is plumb parallel!

"'This time when my own individooal game strikes somethin' an'

glances off, is 'way back.I gets off a boat on the upper river at a camp called Rock Island.You never is thar? I don't aim to encourage you-all ondooly, still your failure to see Rock Island needn't prey on you as the rooin of your c'reer.I goes ashore as I relates, an'

the first gent I encounters is old Peg-laig Jones.This yere Peg-laig is a madman to spec'late at kyards, an' the instant he sees me, he pulls me one side, plenty breathless with a plan he's evolved.

"Son," says this yere Peg-lalg, "how much money has you?""'I tells him I ain't over strong; somethin' like two hundred dollars, mebby.

"'"That's enough," says Peg-lalg."Son, give it to me.I'll put three hundred with it, an' that'll make a roll of five hundred dollars.With a careful man like me to deal, she shorely oughter be enough.""'"Whatever does these yere fiscal bluffs of yours portend?" I asks.

"'"They portends as follows," says Peg-laig."This yere Rock Island outfit is plumb locoed to play faro-bank.I've got a deck of kyards an' a deal box in my pocket.Son, we'll lay over a day a' break the village.""'Thar's no use tryin' to head off old Peg-laid.He's the most invet'rate sport that a-way, an' faro bank is his leadin' weakness.

They even tells onct how this Peg-laig is in a small camp in Iowa an' is buckin' a crooked game.A pard sees him an' takes Peg-laig to task.

"'"Can't you-all see them sharps is skinnin' you?" says this friend, an' his tones is loaded with disgust."Ain't you wise enough to know this game ain't on the squar', an' them outlaws has a end-squeeze box an' is dealin' two kyards at a clatter an' puttin' back right onder your ignorant nose? Which you conducts yourse'f like you was born last week!""'"Of course, I knows the game is crooked," says Peg-laig, plenty doleful, "an' I regrets it as much as you.But whatever can I do?""'"Do!" says his friend; "do! You-all can quit goin' ag'inst it, can't you?""'"But you don't onderstand," says Peg-laig, eager an' warm."It's all plumb easy for you to stand thar an' say I don't have to go ag'inst it.It may change your notion a whole lot when I informs you that this yere is the only game in town," an' with that this reedic'lous Peg-laig hurries back to his seat.

"'As I asserts former, it's no use me tryin' to make old Peg-laig stop when once he's started with them schemes of his, so I turns over my two hundred dollars, an' leans back to see whatever Peg-laig's goin' to a'complish next.As he says, he's got a box an' a deck to deal with.So he fakes a layout with a suite of jimcrow kyards he buys, local, an' a oil-cloth table-cover, an' thar he is organized to begin.For chips, he goes over to a store an' buys twenty stacks of big wooden button molds, same as they sews the cloth onto for overcoat buttons.When Peg-laig is ready, you should have beheld the enthoosiasm of them Rock Island folks.They goes ag'inst that brace of Peg-laig's like a avalanche.

"'Peg-laig deals for mighty likely it's an hour.Jest as he puts it up, he's a careful dealer, an' the result is we win all the big bets an' most all the little ones, an' I'm sort o' estimatin' in my mind that we're ahead about four hundred simoleons.Of a-sudden, Peg-laig stops dealin', up-ends his box and turns to me with a look which shows he's plumb dismayed.P'intin' at the check-rack, Peg-laig says:

"'"Son, look thar!"

"'Nacherally, I looks, an' I at once realizes the roots of that consternation of Peg-laig's.It's this: While thar's more of them button molds in front of Peg-laig's right elbow than we embarks with orig'nal, thar's still twenty-two hundred dollars' worth in the hands of the Rock Island pop'lace waitin' to be cashed.However do they do it? They goes stampedin' over to this yere storekeep an'