stroke, fell on the large room. All men present, as if by some
magnetic current, had become aware of this crisis. In my
ignorance, and the total stoppage of my thoughts, I stood
stock-still, and noticed various people crouching, or shifting
their positions.

"Sit quiet," said the dealer, scornfully to the man near me.
"Can't you see he don't want to push trouble? He has handed
Trampas the choice to back down or draw his steel."

Then, with equal suddenness and ease, the room came out of its
strangeness. Voices and cards, the click of chips, the puff of
tobacco, glasses lifted to drink,--this level of smooth
relaxation hinted no more plainly of what lay beneath than does
the surface tell the depth of the sea.

For Trampas had made his choice. And that choice was not to "draw
his steel." If it was knowledge that he sought, he had found it,
and no mistake! We heard no further reference to what he had been
pleased to style "amatures." In no company would the black-headed
man who had visited Arizona be rated a novice at the cool art of
self-preservation.

One doubt remained: what kind of a man was Trampas? A public
back-down is an unfinished thing,--for some natures at least. I
looked at his face, and thought it sullen, but tricky rather than
courageous.

Something had been added to my knowledge also. Once again I had
heard applied to the Virginian that epithet which Steve so freely