Show r seibo elwood ao d 0 of af sa s1 sleepy ee HIP 4 saty cat ca by FRANK H SPEARMAN WWII by charles scribners beers sms STORY FROM THE START john selwood gentleman gambler and manager of a stage line 11 ne at sleepy cat cornea comes upon a bittler whose wagon has mired 1 in a creek he helps ret get the out fit clear utter after picking up a girls shoo ahoe and being attracted by the supposed owner thereof in fy I 1 the settlers wagon moses idt icken a youth li Is robbed of 0 1600 00 OO in n a sleepy cat gambling don den selwood forces the th swin adlers bartoo bartoe and atkins to return the money fyler opens k i dry goods store with ble big haynes running a mock auction selwood learns learn the girl whose shoe he picked up Is 13 christie daughter seloid makes Chri christias christies sties acquaintance and warns fyler birler that atkins Is a crook starbuck head of the crooked gamblers Bamble re attracted tries to ingratiate himself with christie the gills mind li poisoned d fyler it Is beat beaten n and robbed christie eking so doctor carpy meets selwood woo nod informs him that atkins his has thrown har father out of his store claiming to own it fyler to Is not badly hurt bur t with his two companions selwood drives atkins and haynes from ayiers store christie who has an aver aversion averion ion for gamblers gambler turns against balwood when she bhe learns learna he Is in a gambler CHAPTER IX continued 10 the young gambler meant to trim him and all that had gone before was only preliminary to what was BOW in hand band from the moment selwood had sat into the play the night before be had done little more than to study ropers lio pers game roper liked the two handed game selwood meant that he be should meant that ills his confidence should be firmly established the general continued to win until within half an hour of breakfast when a bad streak cost him heavily overconfidence over confidence led him tor for just a little while title too far afield that mysterious agency of chance poker luck momentarily deserted him in a fit of pique the general tried to discipline it to drag it rudely back to ills his aid with tile the mortifying result that in half a dozen hands bands lie ile lost every dollar lie he lind had made in the early morning hours selwood was showing ills his teeth nor was the strategy lie he made use of altogether in the monotonous turn of the cards and the nerve wearing bet against the unseen ue lie reasoned that before general roper would inie his winnings he must first lose his roper amper this the six disastrous hands C tad a d cost him hut but now the general like a prudent soldier retreated tie ne drew into ills his shell silent and crabbe 1 and selwood saw that something wai wa necessary to encourage him lie ordered breakfast and while it was being prepared the general won some consolation pots the meal was brought brou glit to the door by the housekeeper margaret alyde pale silent emotionless the better part of the pot of strong coffee was nas conceded by selwood who took only a cupful to roper the general lighted a fresh cigar from the big box tilted back in ills his flimsy chair find looked lis hla opponent carefully oer selwood calm calin under the inspection only toyed thou thoughtfully gh trully nalle bile general roper smoked with the cards on the table before him when roper was ready to resume he himself drew a seated sealed pack of new cards fr from m his pocket lets have a fresh deck young man he said indifferently or with an air of indifference as he produced them jt it seems as if ft I 1 cant remember your name it ought not to be hard for you to remember was all ail that selwood retorted but the remark was unnoticed es as selwood meant it to be when roper brought out ills his own cards ael wood without comment took the cards they had been playing with all night threw them in a corner and opened ropers pack the play went on within an hour selwood had his game where he thought he could manage it when roper played for safety selwood Sel wool vas vi ns patient when the general dashed at him headlong selwood 4 stopped topped the charge and exacted lis ills pound of flesh hy by ten that morning roper realized he had found a man lils his superior in nerve and ills his equal in strategy and his linger anger was the anger of that master of fence who realizes that his skill tins has ben been matched and his rapier out pointed but the general lacked the caution to profit by his discernment lagged egged on by that arch enemy of us all vanity an he pressed his enemy selwood recognized the symptoms as the beginning of the end ropers was stimulated designedly by minor successes and his hopes were repeatedly dashed by staggering losses ue lie was gently levoyed into boldness and brutally punished for his temerity ills discomfiture was studied I 1 and ills his feelings trodden underfoot in no other way could his big pride have been so humiliated and ills hla pretentious tent ious lous nume c racy abashed lie ile rose from tile the noon although althou gb selwood offered ilTer ed to play longer if lie Y wished dished exhausted physically his ryes eyes on fire his big voice shrunken to a n ramping iri ne li a beaten man it was not the ino ley lost tho bhough I 1 lie had altea cleaned out but ha had been mastered at hla his own game and he knew it get ray my 1 I 0 US ua together and see what I 1 owe you lie ile said brusquely as he pushed his chair back bach look here he added insolently selwood in leisurely fashion was costing casting up his alg accounts where did you learn to play poker Se selwood lood did not take the trouble to look up among the thieves and cutthroats cut throats tit river he answered with no lack of curtness curt nesa and a complete indifference to the result of his words why he fie asked in turn and with no less of insolence dont you like my game ne your business demanded roper the general loid cast aside the mask of suavity worn for so many hours selwood met ills his rudeness with ith rudeness playing poker he retorted indifferent to results what I 1 exclaimed roper Und kindling ling do you mean to say youre a professional gain gambler bler that sounds like it it you insult me sirl exclaimed d roper with nn an anth you insulted me when you refused to play with my cards you called for your own oan you and I 1 cleaned you out with your own roper flew into a passion do you play with fill marked cards he thundered selwood was impassive nobody would need marked cards to play with you general lie he returned 1 I play with marked cards when I 1 play esith thieves they famish them Went wentworth roared roper come in hotel herel the two men appeared at the door together what do you mean lie he demanded with a string of expletives by running in a professional gambler on me tor for a tl emens game of poker carpy looked blank but the look was mostly assumed ilas has lie he cleaned you general he asked with medical innocence wentworth blurted out roper you told me lie was your superintendent alere here dash it lie he Is returned wentworth testily last time you were up liere here you cleaned out dave tracy you so blamed particular then whom you played poker with roper stamped about in a tantrum le been played on taken in by a common card sharp ive been robbed Sel selwood tood who had been sitting as an unconcerned listener shipped the cards with ith which they had been playing sharply down on the table ile he rose instantly and confronted roper 1 I call a man of your years a liar general hut but you cant crawl away after a game with me with any such word as robbed why you blamed old martl martinet net shouted carpy angrily hold on doc hold your hors horses esl 1 interposed wentworth hastily the general 13 my guest were vere gentlemen here carpy could not tie be suppressed every man on the mountain divide he thundered at roper would ca call 11 you a liar if you called john selwood a crook selwood put up his hand ile he was white with w alth auger anger ill do the hafkin doctor lie he said the men watching him made no further attempt to interfere ter fere roper sullen suilen glared at him this nian man selwood pointed to roper calls me a card sharp lie he lias has good reason to a better reason than he knows I 1 ile he was looking as lie spoke at wentworth and carpy and directed its his words to them 1 I want to tell you gentlemen who that man mail Is his inger finger pointed remorselessly at roper and I 1 want ant to tell you who I 1 am that wan bian sent my fattier father to ills his death at the hands of indians that roan man tried to send my mother and me to the bame death that man put a stain on my ivy mothers name ile he bent me out into the world without it a name it that mans word is good he be shot the words out like bullets my illy fattier father never married my mother I 1 Dani nation I 1 shouted carpy enraged why dont you kill him selwood went steadily steu dily on ill 11 tell iou i you ou that too I 1 came out on the dl divide ten ears ago I 1 was fifteen years old I 1 went to this mun man up at the fort told him who nho I 1 was he cursed me the only man on the whole trail that sl ionel me ine honest kindness was the old man who lies w down there here in the tent dave tracy dave tracy was as 0 9 gambler lie he could teach me no trade but his own on lie he neer tried to make a gambler of me 1 I made one of myself I 1 liked it I 1 drifted into it I 1 expect to die in it I 1 dunt excuse it I 1 dont whine about it I 1 know the cards they know in me false friends like all friend you nhen you win in against you when you lose but I 1 dont forget what mint that roun mun lias has done to roe and mine line you ask me carpy why I 1 don t MR kill him its because ills his son I 1 leut aleut henry roper was my illy father fa therl an instant of slI silence ence terrible to sustain followed the astonishing words roper apoplectic with emotion started and clutched at his shirt collar before any one could reach him be fell ell heavily to the floor wentworth and carpy with much lifting and tugging carried roper to the bed in carlys room and while the doctor administered restoratives restora tives selwood assured that no fatal issue threatened went doan stairs wentworth joined him presently with the news nes that roper hoper had recovered consciousness selous ness and had been given a seda live carpy carp y came down within halt half an hour and accompanied by wentworth went at Se lwoods request to his room there selwood sot down before n supply of champagne ibold 1 I told you the tiare bare fact of 0 tills this mans relation to me he began addressing dresSi Dg the two men bill you ore arp entitled to more siv father was client henry glenry kobier ro per my mother was annie sellwood Sel nood she was the daughter of a post trader at old eld fort pierce young roper fell in love with my mother ills fattier father then colonel roper commanding officer there was violently angry lie he listen to their getting married lie he thought a post tr adera daughter good enough for the roper mood blood but that young couple their one object in life was to get married it would be a poor kind hind of a ma man n gentlemen that speak well of ills his own mother who mio would nl jell gently nith IN ath her weaknesses aebli nesses and draw a veil it if need were over her mistakes but gentlemen I 1 want to say im not coiled called onto on to apologize opo loIze in on any way for my little dead bother mother she 0 was a whip of a girl eighteen years old ile he was twenty one she weighed ninety pounds when glenry roper married her only ninety pounds but everl ounce of that ninety A 1 I sent my father to his death at the hands of indians pounds was true womanhood as you will say when you hear me and she knew what was due to herself and I 1 can say no DO word against my dead father lie he knew what was due to tile the woman ho he loved and respected it sh she was the better educated ile he was tile the older and I 1 know nothing of elther either of them but what hat Is to their heir honor and mine there were few chances at the old fort in those days to get married and it there Is one thin tiling for which my father should be it was that lie was afraid of ills his on fattier father and let him blin bully him but in spite of the bullying lie he give up tile the girl and to break up the attachment this old man upstairs up stairs arranged to have ills his son transferred to fort calhoun before the transfer order came and while the young couple aare groi growing ing desperate over their situation a 0 party of crows started on tile the karpath warpath war arpa path tb colonel roper ordered a troop of cavalry out after the crows it happened just when there was an outbreak of smallpox at the lie fori for it was but many of the men ere down the captain iho ho would have ordinarily commanded tile lie cype expedition was down donn sly my fattier father was assigned to the job of punishing the crows but he had to wait tor for men colonel roper like an old blunderbuss sputtered around trying to hurry things up but a week slipped away before they could get a handful liand ful of men ready father of course was likewise impatient to be off and greatly elated and before lie got aaa something else happened father had ell orderly a halfbreed indian aho ho was to act as guide ile he had bad been brou brought glit up among the sioux and his name was vita john frying pun pan frying taa t I aa learned from friendly indians that a black robe iniss ioner was ni alth on an escort of lito the alie slid and that hat ae the parly was camped at what was called old mission twenty miles down the river sly father went nent to my mother with the new nen s lie ile asked her to go with him to the black robe and be married when lie came back lie he would tell his father havia leuv u it out with anith him and all would fth be well they would be married any 1 nd way and there would he no more r vaa as trouble r I 1 led it nil all sounded rood good to my mother I 1 the little crow expedition was to he L 3 a holiday affair soon over military ec honors brave young husband and all put that tant cov the te she consented frying pan tile or derly arranged things an old ser op p geant devoted to rather father rode out or r with him one afternoon after antelope the e mother rode out later inter alone frien frang met pan ian met her and they rode do down met ln the aher together and met father frying pan lind and tile the old sergeant ons acre taken along alone for witnesses they made the camp and found the ahat blacic robe my mother belonged longed he to toach ads his faith ile he made necessary inquiries rich c told them he would marry them eur and asked asaei them to come back the fols fol ased s lowing lay day for the ceremony they lots begged to be married at once liy by night had fallen it was raining all to beat hell bell rut but that wild night ln enose oso that little indian camp and in that to 10 downpour flown pour before the gray haired be i padre with frying pon pan tile the sergeant 0 ora r 9 ond and the lighting the scenes scene 1 in with pitch patch pine alne torches my fathera of married my mother lind ilo 1 they got back bach to the fort next day the orders to start There pela were only halt ns as many men tit nt adf as of should lime been sent against the of meanest leanest indians ever bred in the sted my aly fattier avas vas no he protested the old man was Iron lind lie he listened to nothing ile he walteri walt edere here a few lays days and sent him out with reer fewer men than he would have had a week en earlier rIler any old scout in the mountains can tell you the story of that fight henry roper followed the crows a week and surprised them at daylight up past the lava beds in craw lans stone wash sly fattier father attacked colonel ropers scouts who abo bere ere vf nf good had reported that the war party numbered fifty but a |