"'I once knows a sport in Laredo,' says Texas Thompson, to whom
Cherokee is talkin', 'an' is sort o' intimate with him. He's holdin'
to somethin' like your system, too, an' plays it right along.
Whenever luck's ag'in him to a p'int where he's lost half his roll,
he breaks the last half in two an' gives one part to some charity
racket. he tells me himse'f he's been addicted to this scheme so
long it's got to be a appetite, an' that he never fails to win
himse'f outen the hole with what's left. You bet! I believes it; I
sees this hold-up do it.'

"I ain't none shore thar ain't some bottom to them bluffs which
Cherokee an' Texas puts up about Providence stockin' a deck your
way, an' makin' good them gifts. At least, thar's times when it
looks like it a heap. An' what I'll now relate shows it.

"One time Cherokee has it sunk deep in his bosom to he'p a gent
named Ellis to somethin' like a yellow stack, so he can pull his
freight for home. He's come spraddlin' into the West full of hope,
an' allowin' he's goin' to get rich in a day. An' now when he finds
how the West is swift an' hard to beat, he's homesick to death.

"But Ellis ain't got the dinero. Now Cherokee likes him--for Ellis
is a mighty decent form of shorthorn--an' concloodes, all by
himse'f, he'll stand in on Ellis' destinies an' fix 'em up a lot.
Bein' as Ellis is a easy maverick to wound, Cherokee decides it's
better to let him think he wins the stuff, an' not lacerate him by
no gifts direct. Another thing, this yere Ellis tenderfoot is plumb
contrary; he's shore contrary to the notch of bein' cap'ble of
declinin' alms absoloote.