Show i I FOUR T DEATH c Gan Gambler bler W WJ e and Threw Down i Hand J d nV WashingtOn n Post Tho game ganie in the lobbyists in th began to lag about 2 and the participants smoked their cigars and told storIes st ries of jackpots won wona a and lost and of hands laid down In poker oker games for ono one reason and an ai another other when shen the holder ratted failed to see seethe the raise mise There were deH and nd do de debatable points as to the tho reasons why I some Romo had gone gotie Into the diScard the explanation ot o the cause of others do de upon the final analysis of the rs ot o the pla players ers pitted against each other The congressman from the west told of a game which he had once seen een In Sil Silver er City and which he stated had always remained with ith him an un unsolved solved problem lIe He asked the opinion or of the other men of the party as to whether or not LeGrove had hadon hadon on that occasion shown the tho white feather He said Raid in telling the stor story that viewed from any standpoint it ws a most unusual tame of that was played nt at the saloon that night Not twice In a lifetime Would ouId four aC aces s be delt to n a player a se sec second ond time tImo In a 3 sit ln and when on this they came time timeto to Blondy up n his own deal the evidence or of stacked cards carda showed strong strom But Dut viewed d from the it might be asked If any man would have hoo the audacity to sit Sn in thIS where ch cheating at atc c justified an any rash net act and de Ce sh show w such ot of crooked work For manY hours the story ran the four men had sat around tile the green clothed table in the small back ba k room silent save aYo thE occasional bursts of son from the cowboy or a suppressed oath from the Flora 0 sang pop songs songs in a cracked voice and displayed rather shapely calves to the cosmopolitan public descend 1 from her platform with the professor who played h her r accompaniments and mingled with the loung loungers rs where she he increased her tise by encouraging them to buy drinks and gave man many n a rough fron his only Ottly opportunity for Ic c male association The medley medle of sound no member ot of the at the pok r game gam but the cowboy who while ex cx expending pending the savings of n a year ear on the range had rot not yet become immune to the thrIlls of n a narrower sphere ot of vision Warren who worked his own claim up the tho gulch played poker as as a aman aman man would play the love of the game and scientifically Pedro the by fair means or 01 foul pla played d passionately for the money which after a winning ho he as I abjectly laid In th the lap of Flora He was alert and watchful ot of every advantage tage of f tile game and there thero were tales afloat about the camp in which less hardened characters were saId to have jackpots rather than face the Ule fur fury and incur the hatred of the back room Not so o LeGrave He played always in questionable company for in that company was ever the element of dan Can danger Canger ger was as breath to his nos nostrils nostrils Youthful slender r and acu late lie ho to toyed ed WIth a deck of cards as asa n a nl musician would handle his instrument end he played upon the tho passions assions ot of these rough Inen US ns Would play With ith fire fascinated by bo the game but buthen buthen hen the flame leaped up U londy LeGrave calm and debonair was be beforehand forehand with his 38 caliber the smallest and the tho deadliest in the tho camp Twice had the halfbreed beH hit by the phenomenal hands held by the youthful and silent gum gam havIng n a fun full house and n a second time a flush against the repeated hand On the tho last occasion Flora had cOme into the tho room and looked over tile the shoulder of the tho gringo and with a hearty bully for you ou Kid had seemed to rejoice at the tho losses of Pedro Tile The miner had passed the hoa heavy V bets and the tho cowboy had lOst but slightly r Then after another hours play pla Le LeGrave Grave Gravo again dealt and Pedro betting n t few tew chips was as called by him and the others passed nut ut Pedro drew one I Icard card Indicating that he might fill a flush or possibly have fours Blondy I Idrew drew two cars Indicating that his hand was probably threes and might fill 1111 to fours to the sorrow of the halfbreed Pedro bet a as heavily as the prece precedent dent of the game would j justify and ana wn vas promptly silently raised double that mount by the Americano He saw the bet and raised a correspond corresponding ing amount which L LeGrave met and nd deftly sizing his chips to the m measure asure of Pedros stacks which meant all the worldlY possessions and consequently the favors of Flora pu pushed hed the tho chips into the pOt pOL The ho halfbreed remembered the two h hands already held and the tho strong pr prObability of them having been unfairly dealt He recognized tile the stake upon the table his whole possession n and lie he remembered tile j jeers ers of Flora and her apparent delight nt at the tho win winning winning ning of the Americano Tile The rage of the and the jealous burned be beneath beneath neath hIs swarthy skin With the panther glare ot of tile the savage In his e eye e ho ha shoved hIs last chip into the tho pot and called hits his rival As he did so he drew Crow his gUtterIng glittering gold and sll sil front from its liol hol ster and laid it beside his chips Eel you ou rotta gotta four acres me keel you hissed the halfbreed with the rage ot of the tho wrongs of a ahole hole allele evening With his hand upon the und and t gnashing in a L passion he hc watched his adversary and spread ad four upon the tue table Blondy n never vcr looked uP from hIs cards but in the manner mannor of the pro professional es donal skinned his hand by turning just the bare edge o of each card Into the theline line lino or of vision After a deliberate con consideratiOn of th the cards carda ho he d with st ly gray a moment straight Into the coal black on s of Pedro and smiled If 10 hotel hold the hand band and howe It Ito stood face faco to face faco with a 0 grapple with the tho halfbreed and the tho odds stOOl stood s strong rong against hIm for tor forthe i the tho Mexican clutched the handle of his hisgun hisgun gun and glared at his adversary as woUld 0 wild beast driven to his last stand If the gambl r held tile the WIn WInning fling ning hand h he mu t n needs eds b be quick in inaction action he It lit ma may have aces which had d fallen to him t through fough an t Ho He may V o the cards una dealt th thOrn m t him Illegitimate 1 he ma may have hac held practically n h ng and have hae been merely bluffing th halfbreed It If this latter was tile the ease he need not show his hand under the rules of the game and aud to have shown it after the threat Would have been half apologetic It wo old ld hare hae made it appear that it vas necessary for tor to do sO to prove to his that lie was riOt not laying down Ills his for f ICal al of his adversary Yot Yo wIn ho said and threw w his hand lute tile the discard T Ti from tile the west st the tho men sitting in the game for tor to the he hand I Gr o oh h l I h lobbyIst said mid lie he held the tito l di but It was goOd goodsen o oI I and made him refuse to stake his life Ufe upon it The southerner that ho he had nothing or he would have hac fought It out and that h ho was a 0 gentleman or he Would havo hav tile the hand Ono man thought that his ma may have haye R gone ne neb b back Ck on him bun and the straw vote ote left the theman wan man from the west as far n a con COl elusion as b before ore |