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Show KlNGS THREE TIMES. w, ny' Unexpected Ex- li,n"i,lth9Vmn800 Brownsville. ,, river was frozen up and .ciiia no longer ply the ii n. the only at,i,r0BCh ' ,,. i fiom the other river si by the stngo sleigh that ' m La Crosse. This crossed ' . a week each way, nnd oc-'",?! oc-'",?! brought some sttangcr to tint Eh why n stranger should "i.,., li arrived on a boat that , er onty carry htm farther b n . '"as a thing llrowns-"Zi llrowns-"Zi not readily understand, i ih r foic with mild surprise Clt s of the placo saw one .,,, lump out of the low box Vothins was said to him when 'ted !' ,vns not Urovsnstlllc's 1'0 g t now comers with cnthu- tiach of the eltliens that hap-! hap-! .. te irar lined up expectantly Lot .im'a har when Mr. Urlt-tier Urlt-tier stamping his feet a few ,nd thrashing Ills nrms ncross ,ft to get his blood In -cula-intercd the barroom nnd walked '..the stove to warm his fingers !r he stood there for n few mln-.a mln-.a luil. presumably, recovered 1 !he .Mil of tho long ride, he U un Hie l-r and called for ihlsKj HI minncr m that mn ho Is Immersed In thought. Sir the moment ho seemed not a,re that thern were others pres- . sroilu ed n bottle and ft glass -f them on the bar. nnd Mr. -Yiwiir J out a drink for a grown tie rtll not know It. or It seemed '.hi did not, but tho ccs of the unity w.re fixed on him. ..Mi esci belonging to some eight tae I prescnlatlvu citizens of rnitlllo were so fixed, nnd for one il mom nt there appeared to be Jo, ; niob-ihlllty that Mr. Dritton i fall lo establish himself on any tVinnt would entitle him to Title insldoiatlon. fiome misterlous way he became of this without anything being i Being us ho wns, the focus of "i dl'tln t gl ires of surprise, ha n a ai that Honicthlng was rranl pausing In the very ait Jting h's glass, lie looked slowly ndV tlun said, heartily enough 3eiii m . gentlemen. Won't you 'tTnould and they did. and It re-el re-el pe Ible for Mr. Ilrltton to make i Impi sslon. Tho mere fait that ns unit uul would not. of Itself, a him hopelessly, but the curious irtir of a man who would come r a fatal breach of cltquotto In rent un nnsclousncss was enough ,l,e a Doubt nnd while tho doubt lined Brow nst lllo was not likely -jkem rturcs. m nixbj the stngc-drltcr, had iliret I his liquor and gone outside imnil i his horses, and. after nn rchan., of glances among some of others In the room, Larry Hen-y Hen-y ilou lied out through tho door w i if t lo sight. iVlng lin way to the stable where by was rubbing bis horses down, toad for ii few minutes looking on. 'intly li s tld loot man Inside. ondcr. Is he a Crois man. I don't know?" xb finished with ono horso and in on tv other befoic ho answered. nhe a 1 ilea on y been around f'r about a k. Come f'm soinewhercs Kast. a pb) enrds n gooil bit In Ilus- i r,h lrfft kind o' sudden nt h t imiih about It, hut they orr I Hid pf u mlx-up In u gamo night, Didn't lmio nothln' to omln' over." i m it 1 of succinctness, being rahsuhrl by Hennessy and re-"'1 re-"'1 (o U- community In n much .rgrd f in, was sufficient to pro-( pro-( Bnv an lllo for the inmpalgn h Mi Juk Ilrltton entered upon hntUi nlng once shaken off the preoe-til preoe-til mil abstracted nlr which he eithdi he m rived In town, he de-pM de-pM li i a Jovial, free-handed man nmi ti tendeneles. though spar-In spar-In li own conception of Sam's or ar 1 was accepted readily enough n id whose ocLtipatlon was lofn nfcssinniil gamblei. mil. it have been supposed, bo. n rtaln prctlous expirlenccs, I B-o tllle would be reluctant to rd Sir Ilrltton nn opiiortunlty to rclso h'i skill, but Drownstllle, In rr Is, wasl Ike tho rest ot nor and Long Mike nnd Me-thy Me-thy ir both resident In the Jure I do hn thlnkln' that Me-thy Me-thy n play mote poker an win K" v than any other mon In i ' I Stumpy when ho camo Into han nn that night nnd found n i i i ngi ess, us ho had, Indeed, tad u peeled would be the case nj tid.o was also In tho game, but M romctlmcB won, having le-'ko le-'ko hcuks of luck, such as Mc-h Mc-h i .ir seemed to get. And the ! I nun wns playing, too, so that leally no reason to suppose I th Irangcr wns the only man thi i hie who understood all the kt of ho game, " y had bought a stack of chips. I Htuinpt, though ho was a il ni nn usually, was soon Inter-'1 Inter-'1 f ugh to ask for a hand. As " no objcillon, ho took the ti t i i i him only J? for n stack, and Ion mo was tabic stakes, thero ' line for him cither In go k 'Illy or to win considerable r tt lust It seemed likely that miRl do the latter, for tho ters 'li lie picked up had threo kings ' ke was dealing and It wns '" age, so Htuinpy had first h ' ting lint down between lion-' lion-' 1 McCarthy. . . , HI ,' he said, throning In his I ' with tho two whites that nr had put up for an ante, !" -tit played also, it was tn t l that ho would, for It was " i him tn stny out as It was "i The one-eyed man inma In, "ii I ed It, nnd Long Mike una - laid down. -Ji Ml i also that," said Stumpy, kin, i t more. II h swore, but even his op-k op-k i as not enough to Induce him K" louble inlso on two nines, nnd 'hi down his curds. The ono-I ono-I m a and Ilrltton both made good, t und they ialled for cards. "ni.i took two, which protest l i mil pair, Tho nno-oyed man ' - and Ilrltton stood iiat. "if Ihriw In n wbltu chip, being '"a nilse, but Iho one-ijcd man fp 1 lie had not bettered his two " Ilrltton id It II niul Htunipy r all Ills 1 forward. A king 1 nud 'h backing, and, when "ten ' ,0 showed them dgwn , hit ., W me another stack," was all " lliltlon said as ho throw down J t (In f " ' y hate been pirt of his pun at Hist, and In any easy the wus not lieaty enough to daunt hemriadUwo,;,!Sm','d"ch'y''lt deai,eiW1,r 5 rlly "n Hennessys dealt ! Jatk!'ot " """" Stumpy agiln ' i"a iaUKht ,hlco knps hSrdlv.iritMP ""' 8" of he P" nowilwi Eclln? ""ystnyers Ilrltton. MlJd"l' !"- eight, and Ixtng flash ldcd t0 sixtJultle on t four .wlil.T,0',,!"'m t'ercd and 8lump showed his kings and took the n.t Lucky cnids," m,i ilrltton, and no other loinimnt wns made .i? .' therc wa" nn Pla al"' another Jackpot was nude It was lot opened ror two deals, but when the cards came to Long Mike In turn Stumpy was fairly a mazed tn find that once more I e had three kings It did not look right, nnd If It had been llrltton's donl he would hute hesitated hes-itated about plating them, but Long Mike was abote suspicion, so he opened the t with cheerful confidence Again Hrlttcn wns among those who r,u.VcJn. McCarthy and Img Mike loth finding enough to Justly a play but the nil took three excepting Mumpj, and he was iiulte easy In his mind when he bet t! Ilrltton was th- only on- to call, and he. slid with n litigh: lie a notion to raise jou, but mat be you'to got them three kings again " "I lute" stld Stumpy, and scooped the pot again They all stared, but Ilrltton was the only one to speak "If I was you," b said In a nasty way, "I wouldn't play them kings so frequent. You might get beut on 'em next " Now there are men to whom a remark re-mark of this Bort may be made without with-out Immediate trouble, but such men are not Irishmen of the pi cull ir nd-ness nd-ness ns to hnlr nnd beard that Stumpy had He flared In an Instant 'Ol'll play thlm cards whlnlter 01 do be geltln' thlm to play," he said with great heat "An' It ony glntlenun l" tn' room tin l-i erosso or anj otner place, has anything to say, Ol'd lolko f heir what It Is" 'Oh, well!" said Ilrltton, "I sild what I had to sa, It don't look well for any man to hold three kings all the time " 'Av It's a question o" looks," said Stumpy, vert coolly, but with etldent wrath, "01 don't lolke th' looks o' thnt nose ton do be c.irrjln round wld youse " Ilrltton looked around, but seeing that no one idso nt the table was likely to side with him In ease of trouble, he contiolled himself with on effort "Talu't ns good lookln' ns I'd like tn hate It," he said, with a forced laugh, "but It's the only one" "An 01 do be thlnkln'." Interrupted Stumpt. "it ud loqk a dom sight better bet-ter at It was longer" "Pcrhnps It would," slid Ilrltton, still reluctant to accept the quarrel, "but" "Hut nothln'," shouted Stumpy, reaching otei and grasping the feature fea-ture ho had mentioned. ' Maybe pullln' 11 n little molght do It good." And ho gate It n mighty twenk. Two things, onlt, were possible nfter that, In Hrnwnsvllle, but unfortunately for Mr Ilrltton hn choc tho wrong one. A stand-up fight with nature's weapons wea-pons would have established him as a person worthy of consideration, ctcn though he had been well Hiked, but he was not In tho habit of lighting In that fashion and ho reaihcd for his gun. It was nn unlucky inotement. Long Mike sat next to him and ns they all toso to their feet In the excitement the big man selr-d him by the wilst and the ncik nnd. shaking 1,1m ns a dog shakes a rat, ho exilalmcd i'o'll pull no gun In Ilrownstllle, se double-Jointed spalpeen, je. An' ye'll iindcrsthnnd mat any giniiemon in this town that wants to play kings can play as many as he lolkcs, an" as often ns ho lolkcs. An1 the lolkcs n" )ez can get back to Li Crosse whin c lolke" And nfter he had shaken ilrltton sufficiently suf-ficiently he threw him Into tho corner of the room. When the stage sleigh wns well out on the frozen rlter surface, next da, Jim Illxby turned to his passenger und said brlcflj ,,,,. "Them fellers In nrownstlllo kind o stands by each other, most generally." Hut the passenger made no reply. Chicago Inlcr-Oiean. |