Awkwardly she dealt from the pack, and waited with parted lips while the two men reached for their cards. Crill left his cards face down on the table, and warily bent up the corners to examine the pips. Dexter raked his hand towards him, gazed openly at the spots, and nodded.
"I have them," he remarked, and dropped two cards in front of him. "Draw three, please."
"One!" muttered Crill. "Throw 'em face up."
The overweighted silence was broken only by the soft, silky sound of cards slipping off the pack. A three of spades, a ten of clubs and a queen of hearts fell to the corporal's allotment, and with a quiet movement he turned over a pair of queens. "Threes," he announced.
Crill stared at a nine of spades that Alison had dropped in front of him, and sucked in his lips with an audible sound. "Just missed a flush," he said, and laughed disagreeably. "They're all pink but that one. First blood for you."
"Pay me," said Dexter.
"You get yours, all right," returned the outlaw between set teeth. He stirred heavily on his stool, opened his coat, and unbuckled a sagging chamois belt, which he deposited with a thump on the table. He unbuttoned one of the belt pockets and brought out a fistful of twenty-dollar gold pieces. Twenty-five of these were counted out in a stack and ungraciously shoved at the officer. "There!" he growled. "Let's see how long you hang on to 'em!"
Alison's flexible fingers again shuffled the deck, and with more self-possession now, she again distributed the cards. This time Crill announced openers, and after discarding and filling his hand, he sat back with an expression of smug contentment. "Three bullets!" he declared, and his huge hand started across the table towards the pile of gold he had just lost.
"One moment," interrupted the corporal pleasantly, as he exhibited his hand. "The queens are standing by me for some reason. There are three of them again, and a pair of deuces to back them up."
Crill's pink complexion turned a mottled red, and he snorted angrily through his nostrils; but there was no gainsaying the evidence of defeat. In ominous silence he reached into his belt and counted up another glinting pile of double eagles. "Go to it!" he said morosely.