poker hand, more'n they'd mingle with t'rant'lers an' stingin'
lizards. An' some of their moral sports is so onlib'ral! I tells
you, son, I've met up with 'em who's that stingy that if they owned
a lake, they wouldn't give a duck a drink.

"'Gamblin' is immoral that a-way,' says these yere sports.

"An' yet I don't see no sech heinous difference between searchin' a
gent for his roll with steers at forty dollars--the same standin'
you in four--an' layin for him by raisin' the ante for the limit
before the draw. Mighty likely thar's a reason why one's moral an'
the other's black an' bad, but I admits onblushin'ly that the
onearthin' tharof is shore too many for dim-eyed folks like me. They
strikes me a heap sim'lar; only the kyard sharp goes out ag'inst
chances which the steer sharp escapes complete.

"I reckons Cherokee Hall an' me discusses how wrong gamblin' is
hundreds of times on leesure days; we frequent talks of it
immoderate. Cherokee's views an' mine is side an' side, mostly,
although, makin' his livin' turnin' kyards, of course he's more
qualified to speak than me.

"'Which I shore finds nothin' wrong in farobank,' says Cherokee.
'Thar's times, however, when some sport who's locoed by bad luck, or
thinks he's wronged gets diffusive with his gun. At sech epocks this
device has its burdens, I concedes. But I don't perceive no
immorality; none whatever.'

"Yes, now you asks the question, I does inform you a while back of
this Cherokee Hall bein' prone to charity. He never is much of a