egg, but the gambling fever in us being rabid, raffling or playing
cards for it seemed to be the proper caper. Raffling had few
advocates.

"It reflects on any man's raising," said Quince Forrest,
contemptuously, "to suggest the idea of raffling, when we've got cards
and all night to play for that egg. The very idea of raffling for it!
I'd like to see myself pulling straws or drawing numbers from a hat,
like some giggling girl at a church fair. Poker is a science; the
highest court in Texas has said so, and I want some little show for my
interest in that speckled egg. What have I spent twenty years learning
the game for, will some of you tell me? Why, it lets me out if you
raffle it." The argument remained unanswered, and the play for it gave
interest to that night.

As soon as supper was over and the first guard had taken the herd, the
poker game opened, each man being given ten beans for chips. We had
only one deck of cards, so one game was all that could be run at a
time, but there were six players, and when one was frozen out another
sat in and took his place. As wood was plentiful, we had a good fire,
and this with the aid of the cook's lantern gave an abundance of
light. We unrolled a bed to serve as a table, sat down on it Indian
fashion, and as fast as one seat was vacated there was a man ready to
fill it, for we were impatient for our turns in the game. The talk
turned on an accident which had happened that afternoon. While we were
crossing the North Fork of the Canadian, Bob Blades attempted to ride
out of the river below the crossing, when his horse bogged down. He
instantly dismounted, and his horse after floundering around scrambled
out and up the bank, but with a broken leg. Our foreman had ridden up
and ordered the horse unsaddled and shot, to put him out of his