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Show DOC STEBBINS DRAWS TWICE TO THE SAME POKER HAND Mr. Gwaltney Declares Again That He Never Quarreled With Anybody, but Old Man Greenlaw Is Reflective. Ey DAVID A. CURTIS. BK.YTS nil how quar 'liomo some is," said old man Greenlaw reflectively. re-flectively. There uas tiiat in the air in Arkansas City which scorned to indicate little, or nothing, in t.-.e way of violence, I so still was it and so redolent of coming spring. The early flood had not arrived, ar-rived, lint already there were signs of the In-ealtiiiK up of -winter, and the residents resi-dents of the place were preparing themselves them-selves for the annual period of total cessation from nil activity during which they would find nothing whatever to do, excepting to'wait for the flood to pass, uncertain as to whether it would carry t hem with it or not. The futility of undertaking any precautionary pre-cautionary measures against the rogu-larlv rogu-larlv recurring peril was deeply impressed im-pressed on them l.y long experience and they were waiting for it to come as stolidly stol-idly as they would thereafter wait for it to pass. Meantime they were enjoying enjoy-ing the weather. It was about all there was to enjoy, and they made the most of it. The old man sat outside the door or his little saloon, together with his four friends, watching the river as it flowed by, as if with the expectation that it would presently all go. Suddenly the old man spoke. "Beats all how qunr'lsome some is, he Baid. "I reckon Buck Gwaltnoy was nigh 'bout, mo' thataway 'n anybody they was in the hull south. ,! 'Penred like he couldn't never find no peace 'thouten he was stirrin' up strife with somebody ''bout somepin'. Didn't make no difference who 'twas nor what 'twas, he'd stir. An' the mo' he'd stir the mo' vilent he'd git, so a'ter a time it come to pass, as the Good Book says, what they couldn't nobody git along peaceable with him 'thouten c'ntinyal iightin '. Refrained From Fight. "I wouldn't never fight with him my own self, knowin' they wa'n't no use fightin' 'long o' him never know-in' know-in' when he was licked, but I useter kvind o' 'jov hearin ' him sputter, so I'd set an'' listen to him talk till he'd git plumb frantic, mo not sayin' noth-in noth-in ' what he c'd 'bject to' an' him tryin' to git me to quar'l. "He kep' a country store, them days, what they wouldn't hardly nobody never go into no mo', long o' his 'cooliarities, an' him an' me was set-tin' set-tin' in front of it one day 'ngaged in conversation same us usual, me sayin' nothin' an' him tryin' to start a argy-ment, argy-ment, when they was a yap come along on a mule an' pulled up front o' the do'. I reckoned what he was gwine to git off an' mebbe buy somepin', an' I reckon mebbe Gwaltney reckoned the same thing, fo' he looked up kyind o' 'xpeetin' Tike, but no. ''The yap. he just set thar on his mule an' as't how fur 'twas to Little Rock. He was civil enough about it, too, an' 'twouldn't 'a' been no trouble to Gwaltney fo' to told him, bein 'b 'twan't mo'n about two mile. I c'd 'a' told him my own self, but o' co'se 'twa'n't my place fo' to say nothin', bein's the store b 'longed to Gwaltney, so I set an' waited fo' him to give the yap his info 'matron, never thinkin' fo' a minute but what he'd do it same's anybody would, but he didn't. 'Nstead o' that he just set an' glared fo' a spell. Was Some Interesting. "Then he grabbed a bale Btick what he had la.yin' handy by, an' give one jump offe'n his chair, an' fetched the yap a swat 'longside o' the haid, what knocked him plumb of fen his mule." "How come he swatted him?" asked Sam Pearsall, seemingly astonished. "I dunno, said the old man, doubtfully, doubt-fully, "not 'thouten it was 'long o' not hav'in' no knife handy: Mebbe he mought 'a' used that, if he had." "What 'd the vap do?" asked Jim Blaisdell, smiling 'a little. He seemed to think the story rather amusing. "He got back on his mule an' rid along to'ds Little Rock," said the old man. "That Gwaltney person 'pears to 'a been some Interestin'," said Joe Bassett. "I'd kyind o' like to know'd him. I reckon me aii' him o'd 'a' had some right good times. Thev 's c'nsid'able 'njoyment to he took argyin' with a man what don't known when he's licked." "I never know'd nobody what pot no gret pleasure outen bein 'qualnted with Gwaltney." said the old man, "on'y me. an' I wouldn't 'a' took much if I hadn't 'a' bad an Idee what mebbe I c'd make a profit outen It. "He c'd 'a' did a right smart trade into that store o-. hlsn if he hadn't 'a' been 's quar'lsome as he was, but the way he run It he run it down shameful, an' I reckoned if I c'd buy It I c'd make somepin handsome outen it. eo I set in tellin' him what a hell-roarln' good busl-I busl-I ness mought be did into It." "That thar 'pears to been a monstrous po' wav fo' to git to buy it reas'nable." observed Jake Winterbottom critically. "Would 'a' been with anybody but him." said the old man, grinning with satisfaction at his own astuteness, "but I know'd the mo' I said in the way o' prai.sin" the place the mo' he'd grumble 'bout It, an' I kep' on till bimeby he 'lowed they wa'n't no value to it at all. "So I savg to him, 'Well, anyways, I wouldn't sell it If I was yo' all,' tin' he pays he'd sell quick enough if anybody was fool enougi to buy it, an' I begin talkln' 'bout how much he'd ought to git if he was to sell. "I done tol'able good at that, too, fo the mo' I done told him 'twas wuth the less he reckoned it. till he'd went nigh 'bout as furs I reckoned he was liable to, an' I says I'll go an' git the monev an' come right back. "I eavs it suddlnt an' I done went away afo' givin" him time to argy, but when I rome back he done swo' he hadn't never said nothin' o' the kyind, an' he ordered or-dered me of fen the premises fo' disturbin of him. I came n!gh makin' a good thing outen it, but thev couldn't nobody do no business with him satlsfact'ry, long o' him bein' that quar'lsome. "Same way 'bout piayln' poker. When he set In 'peared like he never done nothin' but quar'l f'm the time he bought chips till the game busied up. They couldn't nobody nor nothin" satisfy him. "Thev was one time I seen him start a quar'l with Jim Hooker long o' Jim throwin' down his hand kyind o' petulant petu-lant like an' tellin' him how the pot was hiun. 'Pears like Gwaltney didn't like ihe wav he done it, but Jim done took it dlff'rent, an' he says, 'Oh, very well, if the pot ain't yo'n, It must be mine, an" lie done reached fo' it. ! "That was a tollable good fight, I .reckon thev 'd both killed one another If some o' the neighbors hadn't pulled 'em apart." "I sh'd sav," observed Jim Blaisdell crlticallv, "what this yer Gwatltney 'd a did a heap better quar'lin' when somebody some-body else win the pot, 'stead o' when he win it his own self." "Oh, lie done that, too," said the old man. "That was how come he met up with his final end to'ds the last. "Him an' Doc Stebbins was playin' a freezeout one night. Doc was a man what didn't gen'ly never say nothin' when he was playin' poker. Just let his cyards an chips do all his talkln', and set an' listened when anybody else said anythin', so the two on 'em got along tol'able well fo' the greater part o' the night, Gwaltney quar'lin' along by hisself an' Doc payln' strick attention to the game. "tt mought a been 'xpected what the Doc 'd just nachully win out under them clrcumstants, but Gwraltney was a tol'able tol'-able good player, spite o' his onfort'nlt habits o' self-indulgence, an' Doc was just a plain ornery dub. Played a good enough game round hum, but he wa'n't qualified fo' to set in at no camp meetin' ffonm nnr linifin' rvAnn inn milch TlrVfr. an' bein' some slower with his weepins "n be mought a been. "Thataway things was kyind o' evened up atw-ixt 'em an' they played along till to'ds daylight afo' either one on 'em got a hellov a lot the best of it, an' by that time they'd both on 'em drinked c'nsid'able c'n-sid'able mo' 'n they reelized, an' Gwaltney Gwalt-ney was git tin' mo' 'xasperatin'er every minute, quar'lin' c'ntinyal like he was 'bout ev'rythin,' an' Doc b'ginn' to feel th' effects o' the wear an' tear on his nerves nigh 'bout 's much 'a lie feeled his liquor. Bought Liberally. "I was feelln' some tuckered my own self, fo' they was playin' In my s'loon in little Rock an' I hadn't had no sleep to speak of fo' a couple o' days, but o' co'se I couldn't eay nothin. bein's they was buyln' Ub'raJ, an' all's I c'd do was to wait fo" e'm to bust up like I seen they was liable to. In a gen'l d'sturbajice. O' co'se I had a bungstarter handy by, an I made up my mind I'd swat Gwaltney Gwalt-ney first, irregyardless o' how the trouble begin, but the way things was I didn't had no 'casion to use it a'ter all. "I was reck'nin' what th' end couldn't be fur off when young Dick Martin done come in c'nsid'able pickled. 'Pears he'd been makin' a night of it some'res else, an' he'd done lose his friends on the way home, an' seein' a light he done drapped in fo' a couple o' mo' drinks. "Seein' 'em playin'. he done as't 'em to jine, reg'lar enough, an' Gwaltney begin be-gin quar'lin' with htm fo' interferin' with the game, but Dick says: " 'That ain't no game. They can't nobody no-body play poker satisfact'ry when it's on'y fo' handed. If yo'uns wants a reg'lar : I game, I c'n set in an' make it five handed, hand-ed, on'y I won't stand fo" no such deck 's yo'uns is playm' with. 'Pears like they is mo'n a hundred cyards into it." "Well, that was too much fo' Gwaltney. Gwalt-ney. 'Peared like he seen so many things to quar'l about what he couldn't s'lect the proper one first, an' he begin frothin' at the mouth, an' Dick begin laghin' at him foolish, like a man will when he's pickled, till 'peared like Gwaltney was nigh 'bout fit to be tied. "Doc seen he was just gwine to jump up an' mix it with Dick, so he says, 'Hold yo' hosses fo' a minute till we plays this hand out. How many cyards do yo'all want?" Fo' it was Doc's deal, an" they was just about to draw. He Drew Effectively. "Well. Gwaltney seen the fo'ce o the argyment, him havin" three aces cold, an' he says. 'Yo' mought give me one,' so Doc gives him one an' takes two fo' hisself. O' co'se that 'd ought fo' to satisfy sat-isfy Gwaltney, but 'peared like he was so nigh bustin' what he couldn't hold hisself in, so he begin quar'lin with Doc fo" draw-in' draw-in' mo' cyards 'n what he did. "Said he was tryin' to take a on fair 'd vantage. Plumb foolish, o' co'se, but he was that nigli crazy what he didn' t 'pear to care wrhat he said, an' all of a suddint Doc went clean up in .the air his own self. "He lays his cyards on the tahle face down, an' says, kyind o like somepin desp'rit. 'I'm gwine to draw 's many 's I dog gone well please. If I feel like it, I'll draw another.' "Then Dick Martin butted in again, afo' Gwaltney c'd say anythin,' an" he says, 'Yo' can't do that. Yo' 's 'done drawed onct, an' yo' can't draw no mo' to that hand.' "Then Doc turned to'ds him an' he Kavn 'Ret vo' a hundred what I c'n draw ag'ln to them cyards.' "They didn't nobody 'pear to rightly onderstand what he had in mind an' Dick puiled out his wad. 'Yo're on,' he says, an' peels off a hundred. "He hands It to me as he spoke an Doc digs in his jeans fo' his hundred an' hands that to me. O co'se 'twa'n't nothin' to me which one on 'em win, so I done took It, but I begin to feel my own hald goln' roYind like I'd been struck foolish. 'Peared like I was run-nin" run-nin" a kyind of a lunatic asylum. "Then Doc drawed again. They wa'n't no mistake about it. an' he o'lentrdi the stakes all right. Mo'n that, Gwaltney never quar'led with nobody else f'm that time on." Apparently thinking that he had finished fin-ished his story, the old man produced a cigar from his vest pocket, but before he could bite tt in two Sam Pearsall said, "What did the Doc draw?" "A gun," said the old man. |
