"Who is it?"
"Peters o' th' Double Y."
"Ah! I 've heard o' him."
"An' you an' me an' a lot more 'll hear too d—d much o' him if we don't run him out. He 's a heap too good for Twin River."
"How 'll you rope him?"
"I got a bait—best kind. They allus fall for a woman." Dave's sneering tones, as he broke open the pack, sorely taxed his companion's self-control. "What'll we play?" he continued. "Better make it 'stud.' Th' gamer a man is th' quicker he goes broke at stud an' Peters is game enough."
Tex dropped back into position and took his hands from his pockets. "I shine at stud," he remarked softly, taking the deck Dave offered him. The joker was sent spinning across the room to glance from the nose of Fanny who sat sprawlingly asleep, nodding to an empty table; the Cornishman, swearing strange oaths, had gone off some time previously; two of the others were renewing the oft-defeated attempt to dice Ike to the extent of a free drink; the rest of the inmates were attending strictly to business and if an occasional oblique glance was aimed at Tex and Dave it did not show the curiosity which may have directed it.
"He must n't win," murmured Tex. The cards rustled in the shuffle. Dave grunted. "An' you must n't win?" Tex inquired.
"I 'm a-goin' to do all I know how to win," warned Dave.
"Oh, that o' course," sanctioned Tex. "Shift this table. I likes to see th' door," he explained.