The interest was at fever heat, and the miners wagered freely on the outcome. Over 100 dollars were in fact lying on the table when I addressed the gambler saying:
“I’ll take ten dollars of that if you will let me shuffle the pasteboards.”
“Why, certainly, stranger,” he replied. “It’s all the same to me.”
I placed the bet and shuffled the cards.
“Now, gentlemen,” said the gambler, laying the deck upon the table, “I win if I cut the ace of spades.”
So saying, he whipped out a huge knife, and with a mighty swing he cut the cards clean through.
“Gentlemen,” he yelled as he quickly scooped up the money, “the cash is mine as I cut the ace of spades.”
“Oh, no, you haven’t,” I cried. “I have the ace of spades.”
I had palmed it while shuffling the deck.
“Say, stranger!” was the gambler’s only comment. “I reckon that the feller as said that no man cud beat another at his own game was a gol-durned fool.”