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Show BUB CARTERET PLAYS TWO . , GUNS IN THE POKER GAME Old Man Greenlaw Leads Up to Card Session by Recalling- Something He Had Read in the Bible. J By DAVID A. CURTIS. I "Some 'res in the Oood RooU," n:iid j old man Or con law, with a reniinici'ut gleam in his eyo, ''it says what upper-; upper-; chunity is a wild tut.-.:;. It' a man cod-lies of him he want to git on an' ride im-mcjit, im-mcjit, but if lie wait;; Co to git a Middle Mid-dle an' bridle onto him tint hoss'll git away. ' ' 1 di? remember whether t w 11s one o' the prophets or one o' the patriots dime said it, but time don't make no p'tie'lar ditV'renee. Thcy'.s a heap o' sense into it , tin whoever 'tw an, he knowed en 'sid 'able 'bout busses. IViu's 's wise a 'tis, it mought n been Solomon Solo-mon said it, on 'y fo' hun knowin' 11m' 'bout women 'n ho did about out do' spo 'ts. 1 reckon mebbo it was him, anyway, seein ' he done wrote proverbs 0 'noernii, ' nigh 'bout overvthiu' they was, whether he knowed about 'em or not. iSonio on 'em is wuth remoin-b remoin-b in '. "I al 'nvs e 'unidered thi uu ths one o the best o' tiie lot. bein's pntctir'l as 'tis, an one 'f every hody M ought f o ' to eyarrv out into hi? daily lii'e. " ''Oh, 'I don't know,'' snid Mr. Owen Pepper. 'Th' ain't many what's in the habit o' cotchtn' wild hnsscs ev 'ry day. 'Pears like th ' ain 't uo gre't value to it on 'v when he does, an ' I wouldn 'i call that his daily lite." Becomes Sarcastic. ''Mebbe not," said tho old man, with sari-astic emphasis; ' I reckon yo ' all wouldn't have the guts to call iiothin' even if yo' belt the winnin ' band, but this yer proverb holds good with wild1 asses .same 's it docs wit h a hoss, an ' they wouldn't nobody have no trouble tindiu' a wild a;s it yo ' all was anywhere any-where '3 'round. ' ' He reached for his bungf'tarter while he was speaking, and Mr. Pepper stepped out. After he had gone tho old" man sat a while, evident ly thinking. After a time h-1 said: "I wouldn't have Pepper know it for c "nsid 'ble, but th?y was some sense iu .what he done said. Opporch unities don't come to a man evvry day no mo' 'n wild horses does. Punt is fo' to bo p 'pared fo' 'em when they does come, an' not go f iddlin ' 'round. j ''.Tedge Carteret was one 't was al "ays ready, an ' he done his best to' to train up his on 'y son for to toiler in his feetsteps, but no. 'Peared like Bub Carteret was al'ays eomin ' round u 'ter the other boys had don' eat the water-million water-million they'd stole an' not nnver git-tin' git-tin' none on it, bavin' the fatal gift 0' percastigation, as the .iedge called it. " Th ' old man done wo ' out a hull gross o' hick'ry saplin 's tryin' to cure him of it, but t'wnnt no use. 'Peared like he didn't seem to have no idea o' never bein ' on time fo ' notbin ' an ' biraeby his pa got clean d'scouraged an' took to ariuk. Thrashes Religiously. Just nachully I seen a heap of him a 'ter that, me keepiu ' bar to the tavern them days, an' he got to he'd tell me his troubles, like a man will when tbev woo 't nobody but the bar-keep bar-keep listen to him no mo', him gitten' garalous. 'He save, 'I reckon it's mo' his ma's fault 'n 'tis his'n, bein's he wa'11't bo'ned fo' nigh buot a week ater 'twas 'xpeeted, an 1 just ua.diully they could n 't nobody blame him to ' that, 'but 'pears like he ain't never gwine to cotch up with that thar lost time. Hi's al 'ays anywhere r 'm a hour to a week behind, 'an J I reckon when his opportunity comes he won't wake up till a 'ter "it's done went by.' " 'Yo' all hain't edicated him proper.' prop-er.' I savs, an' he fair 'xplodes. il 'f lick him every day, religious, he savs. 'Thev can't nobody do no mo'n that.' "But T says, 'Lickin's is good fo' a bov, o' co 'so, but they's mor'n that goes to a edii-ation. Pears like yo all is done give hirn jots and tittles, as tin-. Good. Book says, but is neglected mo' 'mpo'tant matters. Thing tdo,1 I savs. 'is to learn him to play poKer. Th' "ain't nothin ' ek'l to draw poker fo' to d'velop his character an' learn him them traits what'l make a man outen him if he's got it into him.' "But he savs, 'I s done tried to learn him that, 0' co 'so. but pears like he goes to sleen every time it comes his turn to deal. Plays a to! 'able good game, too, on 'y fo not fixin' his mind onto it like hVd ought. J reckon meb-be meb-be he ain't got no mind to fix.' Requires Intellect. " 'Couldn't plav no good game if he didn't had no mind,' 1 says. 'Takes intelleck f 0 ' to play poker, but they sho' is sonepin' p cooliar 'bout him gwjno to sleep thataway into a game. 'Pears like they'd ought -ro' to be some way o' takin ' 'dvantage of it. 'Most any kyind 0' p 'cooliarity what a man has c'n .be did somepin' with if it's turued to account proer. ' "He kyino 0' laughs at that, an7 he ravs, 'Ttiey sbo' is a way o' takiu' 'dvantage of it, an' I does it cvery t:rae. When he gocj to sleep I takes a few chips offen his stack 'thouten him knowin' nothin' boul it. .1 reckon he wouldn't hardlv reelizo it if I was to take the hull stack.' 'But I says, 'That ain't xactlywhat I means.' O' co 'se anybody what's on-scmp'lous on-scmp'lous enough c 'u get away with a man's chips if he goes to sleep into the game, but that ft in 't good poker an' 'tain 't no wav fo' to 'ucourago Bub to study the game. If yo' all reelly wants to make a player outen him yo'll have to git him nit'rerel some way.' "But he says, ' L '3 done did the best I know, an' still he don't 'pear to take no int'rest. I reckon I'll have to give it up.' An' he takes a couple 0' mo drinks an' goes home, leavin' me with c'nsid'ablo of a problem to think about. "Bub Carteret wa'n't nothin' to me, nor me to him. but they can't nobody what's d'sirons o' the gon '1 welfare 0' maukyind, like I am. remain iitdiff 'rent when he sees a fellow bein ' rose up wrong. Here was a boy just buddin ' into manhood 'thouten haviu' the in-stinks in-stinks of a man distilled into him, an' his pa not knowin' how to do it, an' 1 ain't one to sit by idle an' see it did wrong, 'thouten makin' a effort to see how it c 'd be did proper. So 1 ponders onto it, keerful, an' bimcby I gits a idee. Poker Is Valuable. ' ' Xex ' time I seen Bub Carteret T says to him what him an' me 'd better have a litt le talk together, bein ' 's I reckoned mebbe 1 mouglit he 'p him along ont 0 tho broad an ' narrer path o' life c 'ntidcrabie if he was to listen To nie a spell. "Ho didn't 'pear to be much int 'rest ed first oil, but ho says what he ain't got nuthin' else to do jest then, an' he reckoned ho mought 's well listen to im1 as to do it if 1 M loan him a chaw of tubm-ker. "I done gi-o it to him, bein' 'h to-baccn to-baccn don't cost a man nfdliin' if lie's keepiu' bar fo ' snniebodv else, so wo set down sociable :ui ' 1 begins at, him. "1 says, 'Yo' all 'pears to be old onoujih now f o ' In take mo' interest in things 'n what yo ' due;.. liawin to-liMcker's to-liMcker's all right 's tur 's it. goop, but tliey 's 1110 ' inijiortant. things to bo 'nsiilered. '" "Take draw poker, now. Th ' ain't unl hin ' mo ' val'iiblc to a man what 'xpei'ts to be rirh an 1 respectablH into lus old ace 'n a good v.orkin' knowledge knowl-edge o' the game, 'nstead o' whih yo ' nil goes to sleep when yo ' pa tries to learn it to vo '. That ain't no w;iv.' "But ho' says, ' Uh, shm-ks! Th ' old man can't, leurn me nothin' 'bout poker. J c'n skin him alie now. but 'tin 't l wuth while. 1 done had 11 key made fi' myMdf3 si toll ago what 'II onlock the box where lie keeps his money, an' 1 don't have to win nothin' offen him 1 in 1 0 t lie game. "'When I'm playin ' with anybody else it's diff'rent, but I ain't never had the ehnnst f u to set into a big game !yet. When I do, 1 reckon inebeo I'll I stay awake. But t Jon t believe in j wastui ' no effo 'ts. ' ! Merely a Habit. I " Well, I seen f 'm that, what they j was mo; into him n his pa reckoned j they was, but 1 says, 'If that's so vo ' 1 didn't ought t'o ' to let yo' pa git that discouraged what he is' 'bout yo ' future, fu-ture, lie wouldn't be lickin'yo' ail the time like he does.' "But he sa, oh. t-imcks! That's notbin' but a "habit he's done got into. Tain't uo ways agreeable, but 1 's ainun' fo' to git stjuar' with him 'si soon s I'm dead sho 1 c'n get tlie best of him, I 'm pnict icin ' on one 0 ' the ! niggers reg lar, but I ain't got so J c'n: 1 lick him 's good 's J want to. When the j time comes T aim to lick the Muffin's outen the old man an' learn him some-pin'.' some-pin'.' ''-So I says. o' all 'pear? to have some good idees o' own self, but I j doji 't understand what yo objec ' is in ; gwine to eleep into a game 0' poker. 'Pears like that 's too triflin '. They 1 j didn't nobody ought fo' tn treat nothin' 's feeble "s that, what's 's impo'tant poker. ' "But he says, 'Oh, shucks! I only p 'tends to go to sleep to ' to foul the old man. 'Pears like he gits some ! pleasure f'm stealin ' my chips. '11 I ! st let him 'moose hisself. Don't hurt I me none bein's 's I get that key, but it keeps me aggervated agin the time-when I aims to git squar". I'm jest keepiu' it in mind.' " o I say?, 'Mebbe thev is mo into thftt bW o' yo'n nor anyhody'd tbink. If a man was to p'tend to go to sleep into a reel game mebbe he c 'd git a j chanst fo ' tn git away with somopin . handsome afo ' the others knowed he ; was reellv awake. ' J Drinks Industriously. "But he says. 'Oh, shucks. Don't yo' full s 'pose what I 's done thought "o' that? They's mo'n one way o' gittin ' 1 the best o ' them what 's tryin ' to do I yo '. I ain't never had no reel oppor- chuuitv yet, but wheu it comes, dawd 1 help the man 't thiuks I'm reely asleeu! I m ainiin1 to swat him somepin ' mun- btrous. ' "1 seer, thrv wasn't no good o' mc tryin' to learn Bub Carteret nothin' when he done said that. His idee was frome crude. 0 ' co 'se. but it showed what they was the makin "s of a player into him, n.ivhul, so I don ' laid back an' watchtd him grow up. "Must a been nigh 'bout a year a 'ter that what tlr uld .ledge- come into" the tavern one day oil beat up. He'd been j drink tn ' 'uduti ions all that time, an ' ! he want 110 si eh man 's he had been, bu1; he was right pow'ful, even at that, an' I seen what Bub must a did a heap o' praetisio' on that nigger fo' to make 'a good a job of it "s he sbo' had. "The Jedge he took three or fo' drinks afo' he c 'd speak, he was that did up, but bimeby he says:. " 'Greenlaw. I reckon Bub is mo' ot ii man right now 'n 1 ever reckoned he was, liable to be. lie done give me the biggest lickin' 1 ever had this mawniu'. Somepin' must a woke him up.' " So I says to him, 'He's done been awake all the time,' an' I told him what Bub M done said to me. He listened attentive, an' they come a heavenly .-mile onto his battered old face what showed he had mo p -'rental pride into his offspring 'u I'd gave him credit f 0 '. Laid Down and Died. "'Now,' he savs 'I c'n die happy. .'My son is actually got some brains.' An ' ho laid down in the corner an ' died." "Wasn't that kyind o" sudden?" asked Jake Wiuterbottom. "Not c'nsid'rin th' amount 0' liquor he'd ririnked, -'twan't." said old man Greenlaw, but that ain't tho p'int o' the story. P'int is what Bub Carteret 'd done got his opporchunity at last. O' eo'se he was .ledge Carteret now his pa was daid, an' he sbo ' did maintain main-tain the fambh" dignity handsome. "They wa'n ft a hellova lot left in the old man's strong box when he done cashed in, 'long 0 ' Bub bavin ' had a key 's long 's he had, but they was enough f 0 ' to give him a start into a big game, an' "t wa'n't mo' 'u a week later what he done got a bo d one 0 ' the river boats, lookiu 1 fo' that oppor-,. chunity what he didu 't never had up to that time. 1 done heerd about it later on, an' 'cording to what was said I've al'ays been sorry I wa'n't thar. " 'Pears he done got roped in fo' n sxicker, same 's he'd reckoned on, an' showed enough of a- wad fo5 to 'make the- p-'fessiouals covechous, so they was two ou 'em set in with him with all the money they c'd raise. Then Bub, not bavin' no gre't of a hand, bet 'em both to a standstill. So they was mo' 'n a million dollars iu the pot. "Then he done went to sleep, an' jest as they was reachin ' fo' the pot he made a gun play. Them that seen it said they never see two guns handled so well at the same time." |