"'I ain't meanin' nothin' ag'inst Burns's su'gestion,' says Texas
Thompson, 'but in my opinion this camp ain't ripe for keepin' books
as yet. Things like that has to be come to by degrees. I've knowed a
heap of trouble arise from keepin' books, an' as long as this yere's
a peaceful camp let's keep it that a-way.'

"'That settles it,' says Burns, 'thar's enough said, an' I don't
keep no books.'

"'You-alls present knows me,' says Cherokee Hall, who, as I says
previous, is turnin' faro in the Red Light, 'an' most of you has met
me frequent in a business way. Thar's my game goin' every night
reg'lar. Thar's nothin' tin-horn about it. It ain't no skin game
neither. Any gent with doubts can step over an' test my box, which
he'll find all comfortable on the layout awaitin' his convenience.
It ain't been usual for me to blow my own bazoo to any extent, an' I
only does it now as bein' preliminary to the statement that my game
ain't no deadfall, an' is one as a respectable an' virchus female
person could set in on with perfect safetytood to her reputation.
This yere lady in question needs light, reg'lar employment, an' I
lets it fly that if she wants in on any sech deal I'll go her a blue
stack a week to hold down the chair as look-out for my game.'

"'Cherokee's offer is all right,' says Enright; 'it's good talk from
a squar' man. Women, however, is partic'lar, an' like hosses they
shies at things thar ain't no danger in. You sees how that is; a
woman don't reason nothin', she feels an' mighty likely this young
person is loaded to the gyards with sech notions ag'in gamblin' as
would send her flyin' at the bare mention. The fact is, I thinks of
somethin' sim'lar, but has to give it up. I figgers, first dash out