“Close the door to the closet, Willie,” directed South-paw. “That’s what makes us hear it so plain.”
“I guess you’re right,” said Touch, as he rose and peered into the closet. “The old partition is only boarded up part way. There’s an opening two feet wide at the top.”
Closing the door, he returned to his seat and the game continued. To the delight of Touch, luck favored him from the first, and it was not long before his twenty became forty.
“I know my hoodoo now,” he laughed; “it’s old Groucher. I always lose with him in the game. We wanted a fifth man to play.”
The door of the closet swung open, and old Joe Crowfoot stepped softly into the room.
“You like-um ’nother man to play?” he asked eagerly. “Shangowah, he play poke’ sometime. He sit in now. He take little hand.”
CHAPTER XXVI.
WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK.
They started up in astonishment.
“Mercy!” murmured Gentle Willie.