him. "I've got a show for this much," he said, pushing back the side
money. "_And_ a pretty good one. Bet your fool heads off! You've got
to beat a hectic flush to finger this pot!"

The Merchant laid down three sevens, of diamonds, spades and clubs.
"Any one got the seven of hearts?" he wondered. The Judge called.
Steve, squeezing his hand carefully, drew out the seven of hearts,
flashed it at the Merchant, replaced it, and stayed.

The Eminent Person, after due consideration, saw the five hundred and
raised it to a thousand. "To dissuade you all from drawing out on me,"
he explained, stroking his mustache with deliberate care.

The Stockman called without comment. The Judge hesitated, swore
ferociously, and finally called.

Steve squeezed his cards with both hands for a final corroborative
inspection, scratched his head and rolled his eye solemnly around the
festal board.

"Eleven hundred dollars of my good coin in there now, and here I sit
between the devil and the deep, blue sea. One thousand bucks. Much
money. Ugh! One thousand days, each day of twenty-four golden hours
set with twenty near-diamond minutes! Well! I sure hate to give you
fellows this good gold."

"Steve's got one of them things!" surmised the Stockman.

"A fellow _does_ hate to lay down a bobtail straight flush when
there's such a chance for action if he fills," chimed in the Eminent