"It was now my turn to think the whole three of 'em looney.
"'Is there so much smoke in here,' said I, 'that you three people can't perceive that I've got a king-high straight?'
"'Straight?' said the man with the three eights. 'Straight be damned! You've got one king up on nothing. How old are you, anyhow—seven? Straight? Listen to him!' And the three of 'em gave the hoarse hoot in chorus. I asked 'em to get around me and pinch me, because I wanted to find out if I was dreaming or not, but they were too busy leaning back in their chairs and roaring like so many wild asses of the woods to pay any attention to me. That's what I got for not inquiring beforehand into the kind of draw I stacked up against in Portland.
"The next poker knock I got was down in Santa Barbara. I got into a game of draw with three hotel clerks, all good fellows, but all addicted to the nursery poker they play out there, and again I forgot to nail 'em up against the wall and make 'em exude information about the kind of game they purposed playing. We got along all right for an hour or so, and at the end of the time I was comfortably well ahead of the game. It kind o' tickled me, too, when I caught the joker on the draw three or four times and beat 'em out on their own game— which is a silly game, and about as brainy as bean-bag, all the same. I also kept away from my inclination to draw to straights, and, having made this much progress, I really didn't think I was in for any more rude and costly surprises in the game. That's where I did the leap-year figuring.
"I gave myself a neat mess of clubs—four of them—with the ace for a capstone. I have always been lucky in bobbing to flushes, and this looked good. Two of the other fellows drew two cards each, and the other man asked for one. I gave myself another club, and tried to look gloomy and depressed. An ace-high flush has always been good enough for me on this side of the continent, and I bet it for all it was worth. The three hotel clerks evidently thought they were pretty well fixed, too, and, although there was nothing frantic about the betting, it was nice and smooth and even, and the pot grew in a way that suited me down to the ground. When it got so large on five-dollar raises as we thought it ought to be there was a general suggestion for a call and a show-down. Two of my fellow players had threes, small ones, and the other two pairs that we wouldn't stay with very long back in this neck of the woods. Well, I flashed my ace-high flush of clubs on them, and was just about to say something about easy money when the man with the best threes scooped in the pot.
"'Must have left your specs at home, my boy,' said I, thinking he was only fooling. 'Pass that pile over.'
"'For why?' said he.
"Then I looked him over and saw that he was serious.
"'For why?' I repeated. 'Well, the instructors at whose feet I sat to learn what is learnable about the game of draw poker always taught me to believe that a flush is better than threes.'
"'Yes,' said he, 'but didn't you draw a card?'