CHAPTER VIII
I STAKE ON THE QUEEN
Jim had disappeared; until when we had made way to another monte tablethere he was, his hands in his pockets, his cigar half smoked.
More of a crowd was here; the voice of the spieler more insistent, yetlow-pitched and businesslike. He was a study--a square-shouldered, wellset-up, wiry man of olive complexion, finely chiseled features save fornose somewhat cruelly beaked, of short black moustache, dead black longwavy hair, and, placed boldly wide, contrastive hard gray eyes that lentatmosphere of coldness to his face. His hat was pulled down over hisforehead, he held an unlighted cigar between his teeth while hemechanically spoke and shifted the three cards (a diamond flashing from afinger) upon the baize-covered little table.
Money had been wagered. He had just raked in a few notes, adding them tohis pile. His monotone droned on.
"Next, ladies and gentlemen. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. That is mybusiness. The play is yours. You may think I have two chances to yourone; that is not so. You make the choice. Always the queen, always thequeen. You have only to watch the queen, one card. I have to watch threecards. You have your two eyes, I have my two hands. You spot the card onlywhen you think you can. I meet all comers. It is an even gamble."
Jim remarked us as we joined.
"How you comin' now?" he greeted of me.
"We won a dollar," My Lady responded.
"Not I. She did the choosing," I corrected.
"But you would have chosen the same card, you said," she prompted. "Yousaw how easy it was."
"Easy if you know how," Jim asserted. "Think to stake a leetle here? I'vebeen keepin' cases and luck's breaking ag'in the bank to-night, by gosh.Made several turns, myself, already."
"We'll wait a minute till we get his system," she answered.
"Are you watching, ladies and gentlemen?" bade the dealer, in that eventone. "You see the eight of clubs, the eight of spades, the queen ofhearts. The queen is your card. My hand against your eyes, then. You areset? There you are. Pick the queen, some one of you. Put your money on thequeen of hearts. You can turn the card yourself. What? Nobody? Don't bepikers. Let us have a little sport. Stake a dollar. Why, you'd toss adollar down your throat--you'd lay a dollar on a cockroach race--you'd betthat much on a yellow dog if you owned him, just to show your spirit. Andhere I'm offering you a straight proposition."
With a muttered "I'll go you another turn, Mister," Jim stepped closer andplanked down a dollar. The dealer cast a look up at him as with pleasedsurprise.
"You, sir? Very good. You have spirit. Money talks. Here is my dollar.Now, to prove to these other people what a good guesser you are, which isthe queen?"
"Here," Jim said confidently; and sure enough he faced up the queen ofhearts.
"The money's yours. You never earned a dollar quicker, I'll wager,friend," the dealer acknowledged, imperturbable--for he evidently was onewho never evinced the least emotion, whether he won or lost. "Very good.Now----"
From behind him a man--a newcomer to the spot, who looked like anyrespectable Eastern merchant, being well dressed and grave offace--touched him upon the shoulder. He turned ear; while he inclinedfarther they whispered together, and I witnessed an arm steal swiftlyforward at my side, and a thumb and finger slightly bend up the extremecorner of the queen. The hand and arm vanished; when the dealer fronted usagain the queen was apparently just as before. Only we who had seen wouldhave marked the bent corner.
The act had been so clever and so audacious that I fairly held my breath.But the gambler resumed his flow of talk, while he fingered the cards asif totally unaware that they had been tampered with.
"Now, again, ladies and gentlemen. You see how it is done. You back youreyes, and you win. I find that I shall have to close early to-night. Makeyour hay while the sun shines. Who'll be in on this turn? Watch the queenof hearts. I place her here. I coax the three cards a little----" he gavea swift flourish. "There they are."
His audience hesitated, as if fearful of a trick, for the bent corner ofthe queen, raising this end a little, was plain to us who knew. It wasabsurdly plain.
"I'll go you another, Mister," Jim responded. "I'll pick out the queenag'in for a dollar."
The gambler smiled grimly and shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh, pshaw, sir. These are small stakes. You'll never get rich at thatrate and neither shall I."
"I reckon I can set my own limit," Jim grumbled.
"Yes, sir. But let's have action. Who'll join this gentleman in his guess?Who'll back his luck? He's a winner, I admit that."
The gray eyes dwelt upon face and face of our half circle; and still I,too, hesitated, although my dollar was burning a hole in my pocket.
My Lady whispered to me.
"All's fair in love and war. Here--put this on, with yours, for me." Sheslipped a dollar of her own into my hand.
Another man stepped forward. He was, I judged, a teamster. His clothes, offlannel shirt, belted trousers and six-shooter and dusty boots, soindicated. And his beard was shaggy and unkempt, almost covering his faceunderneath his drooping slouch hat.
"I'll stake you a dollar," he said.
"Two from me," I heard myself saying, and I saw my hand depositing them.
"You're all on this gentleman's card, remember?"
We nodded. The bearded man tipped me a wink.
"You, sir, then, turn the queen if you can," the gambler challenged ofJim.
With quick movement Jim flopped the bent-corner card, and the queenherself seemed to wink jovially at us.
The gambler exclaimed.
"By God, gentlemen, but you've skinned me again. I'm clumsy to-night. I'dbetter quit." And he scarcely varied his level tone despite the chucklesof the crowd. "You must let me try once more. But I warn you, I wantaction. I'm willing to meet any sum you stack up against me, if it's largeenough to spell action. Shall we go another round or two before I closeup?" He gathered the three cards. "You see the queen--my unlucky queen ofhearts. Here she is." He stowed the card between thumb and finger. "Hereare the other two." He held them up in his left hand--the eight of clubs,the eight of spades. He transferred them--with his rapid motion he strewedthe three. "Choose the queen. I put the game to you fair and square. Thereare the cards. Maybe you can read their backs. That's your privilege." Hefixed his eyes upon the teamster. "You, sir; where's your money, half ofwhich was mine?" He glanced at Jim. "And you, sir? You'll follow yourluck?" Lastly he surveyed me with a flash of steely bravado. "And you,young gentleman. You came in before. I dare you."
The bent corner was more pronounced than ever, as if aggravated by themanipulations. It could not possibly be mistaken by the knowing. And asudden shame possessed me--a glut of this crafty advantage to which I wasstooping; an advantage gained not through my own wit, either, but throughthe dishonorable trick of another.
"There's your half from me, if you want it," said Jim, slapping down twodollars. "This is my night to howl."
The teamster backed him.
"I'm on the same card," said he.
And not to be outdone--urged, I thought, by a pluck at my sleeve--I boldlyfollowed with my own two dollars, reasoning that I was warranted inpartially recouping, for Benton owed me much.
The gambler laughed shortly. His gaze, cool and impertinent, envelopedour front. He leaned back, defiant.
"Give me a chance, gentlemen. I shall not proceed with the play for thatpicayune sum before me. This is my last deal and I've been loser. It'smake or break. Who else will back that gentleman's luck? I've placed thecards the best I know how. But six or eight dollars is no money to me. Itdoesn't pay for floor space. Is nobody else in? What? Come, come; let'shave some sport. I dare you. This time is my revenge or your good fortune.Play up, gentlemen. Don't be crabbers." He smiled sarcastically; his wordsstung. "This isn't pussy-in-a-corner. It's a game of wits. You wouldn'tbet unless you felt cock-sure of winning. I'll give you one minute,gentlemen, before calling all bets off unless you make the pot worthwhile."
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The threat had effect. Nobody wished to let the marked card get away. Thatwas not human nature. Bets rained in upon the table--bank notes, silverhalf dollars, the rarer dollar coins, and the common greenbacks. He meteach wager, while he sat negligent and half smiled and chewed hisunlighted cigar.
"This is the last round, gentlemen," he reminded. "Are you all in? Don'tleave with regrets. You," he said, direct to me. "Are you in such shortcircumstances that you have no spunk? Why did you come here, sir, if notto win? Why, the stakes you play would not buy refreshment for the lady!"
That was too much. I threw scruples aside. He had badgered me--he wasthere to win if he could; I now was hot with the same design. I extractedmy twenty-dollar note, and deaf to a quickly breathed "Wait the turn" fromMy Lady I planked it down before him. She should know me for a man ofdecision.
"There, sir," said I. "I am betting twenty-two dollars in all, which is mylimit to-night, on the same right-end card as I stand."
I thought that I had him. Forthwith he straightened alertly, spoketartly.
"The game is closed, gentlemen. Remember, you are wagering on the firstturn. There are no splits in monte. Not at this table. Our friend says theright-end card. You, sir," and he addressed Jim. "They are backing you.Which do you say is the queen? Lay your finger on her."
Jim so did, with a finger stubby, and dirty under the nail.
"That is the card, is it? You are agreed?" he queried us, sweeping hiscold gray eyes from face to face. "We'll have no crabbing."
We nodded, intently eying the card, fearful yet, some of us, that it mightbe denied us.
"You, sir, then." And he addressed me. "You are the heaviest better.Suppose you turn the card for yourself and those other gentlemen."
I obediently reached for it. My hand trembled. There were sixty orseventy dollars upon the table, and my own contribution was my last cent.As I fumbled I felt the strain of bodies pressing against mine, and heardthe hiss of feverish breaths, and a foolish laugh or two. Nevertheless thesilence seemed overpowering.
I turned the card--the card with the bent corner, of which I was ascertain as of my own name; I faced it up, confidently, my capital alreadydoubled; and amidst a burst of astonished cries I stared dumbfounded.
It was the eight of clubs! My fingers left it as though it were a snake.It was the eight of clubs! Where I had seen, in fancy, the queen ofhearts, there lay like a changeling the eight of clubs, with corner bentas only token of the transformation.
The crowd elbowed about me. With rapid movement the gambler raked in thebets--a slender hand flashed by me--turned the next card. The queen thatwas, after all.
The gambler darkened, gathering the pasteboards.
"We can't both win, gentlemen," he said, tone passionless. "But I amwilling to give you one more chance, from a new deck."
What the response was I did not know, nor care. My ears drummedconfusedly, and seeing nothing I pushed through into the open, painfullyconscious that I was flat penniless and that instead of having played theknave I had played the fool, for the queen of hearts.
The loss of some twenty dollars might have been a trivial matter to meonce--I had at times cast that sum away as vainly as Washington had cast adollar across the Potomac; but here I had lost my all, whether large orsmall; and not only had I been bilked out of it--I had bilked myself outof it by sinking, in pretended smartness, below the level of a more artfuldodger.
I heard My Lady speaking beside me.
"I'm so sorry." She laid hand upon my sleeve. "You should have beencontent with small sums, or followed my lead. Next time----"
"There'll be no next time," I blurted. "I am cleaned out."
"You don't mean----?"
"I was first robbed at the hotel. Now here."
"No, no!" she opposed. Jim sidled to us. "That was a bungle, Jim."
He ruefully scratched his head.
"A wrong steer for once, I reckon. I warn't slick enough. Too much moneyon the table. But it looked like the card; I never took my eyes off'n it.We'll try ag'in, and switch to another layout. By thunder, I want revengeon this joint and I mean to get it. So do you, don't you, pardner?" heappealed to me.
As with mute, sickly denial I turned away it seemed to me that I sensed ashifting of forms at the monte table--caught the words "You watch here amoment"; and close following, a slim white hand fell heavily upon MyLady's shoulder. It whirled her about, to face the gambler. His smootholive countenance was dark with a venom of rage incarnate that poisonedthe air; his syllables crackled.
"You devil! I heard you, at the table. You meddle with my come-ons, willyou?" And he slapped her with open palm, so that the impact smacked. "Nowget out o' here or I'll kill you."
She flamed red, all in a single rush of blood.
"Oh!" she breathed. Her hand darted for the pocket in her skirt, but Isprang between the two. Forgetful of my revolver, remembering only what Ihad witnessed--a woman struck by a man--with a blow I sent him reelingbackward.
He recovered; every vestige of color had left his face, except for thespot where I had landed; his hat had sprung aside from the shock--his grayeyes, contrasted with his black hair, fastened upon my eyes almostdeliberately and his upper lip lifted over set white teeth. With lightningmovement he thrust the fingers of his right hand into his waistcoatpocket.
I heard a rush of feet, a clamor of voices; and all the while, whichseemed interminable, I was tugging, awkward with deadly peril, at myrevolver. His fingers had whipped free of the pocket, I glimpsed as withsecond sight (for my eyes were held strongly by his) the twin littleblack muzzles of a derringer concealed in his palm; a spasm of fearpinched me; they spurted, with ringing report, but just at the instant aflanneled arm knocked his arm up, the ball had sped ceiling-ward and theteamster of the gaming table stood against him, revolver barrel boringinto his very stomach.
"Stand pat, Mister. I call you."
In a trice all entry of any unpleasant emotion vanished from myantagonist's handsome face, leaving it olive tinted, cameo, inert. Hesteadied a little, and smiled, surveying the teamster's visage, close tohis.
"You have me covered, sir. My hand is in the discard." He composedlytucked the derringer into his waistcoat pocket again. "That gentlemanstruck me; he was about to draw on me, and by rights I might have killedhim. My apologies for this little disturbance."
He bestowed a challenging look upon me, a hard unforgiving look upon thelady; with a bow he turned for his hat, and stepping swiftly went back tohis table.
Now in the reaction I fought desperately against a trembling of the knees;there were congratulations, a hubbub of voices assailing me--and the armof the teamster through mine and his bluff invitation:
"Come and have a drink."
"But you'll return. You must. I want to speak with you."
It was My Lady, pleading earnestly. I still could scarcely utter a word;my brain was in a smother. My new friend moved me away from her. Heanswered for me.
"Not until we've had a little confab, lady. We've got matters ofimportance jest at present."
I saw her bite her lips, as she helplessly flushed; her blue eyes imploredme, but I had no will of my own and I certainly owed a measure of courtesyto this man who had saved my life.