"I'll bet fifty dollars," sez checkered trousers, "that we beat you all hollow."
"I'll bet you don't," sez I, a rilin up.
"Plank the money," sez he, a slappin the cards agin, "plank the chink."
I took your old wallet from the leetle pocket in my under vest, and unrolled the bills that I'd put there arter sellin out the sloop load—"I spose you think I haint got it," sez I, a shakin the harnful of bills that was left. "Hurra for old Connecticut!" The other chaps they shell'd out, and a hull heap of bills lay on the table. Miss Sneers she went away a minute, and then bent over me agin, with another glass of that white cider in her hand—she held the glass to my lips, and wouldn't take it away till I'd drunk the hull.
That was prime cider, and I was a beginnin to feel dry agin, so I drunk another glass; and at it we went, shovel and tongs. As true as you live, they raly did beat that game; and when they saw how wrothy I was, they offered tu bet a hundred dollars on my luck the next time. I don't know who beat arter that; for somehow I seemed tu be sort o' dreamin; the candles seemed tu be a darncin round us, and it seemed as if the cards were leetle teenty folks, all alive and a grinnin at us as we handled em. I took out the old wallet every few minutes—I du seem to remember that—and arter it was empty, Miss Sneer's brother, sez he, "Never mind, my boy, we'll take your autograph."
"I don't keep any such new-fangled varmints," sez I.
"Oh, on'y jest write your name here," sez he, a handin over a strip of paper.
"Jest so," sez I, a takin the pen he held out; "jest so, but good gauly, du hold the paper still. I can't ketch up with it if it moves about the table this way."
"It's your hand," sez he.