"'Certainly,' said Gately, and then Jink and his bunch began to get action on the spindle. It all went their way at first. Gately didn't actually hand them any money out, but he let 'em make 'conditional' wins until they had their whole $2600 on the layout. Another correct twist of the arrow would enable Jink to double the money; on the other hand, if the arrow didn't hit the right number, Jink and his bunch only stood to lose, as Gately explained, $600 of their 'conditional' winnings.
"Now, the situation was one calculated to rattle almost any man. Gately didn't intend that Jink or his twelve stalkers with the long-irons should get away with any of that money, and it shows that he was a man of nerve in making up his mind to that idea. He intended to get the $2600 after a long series of plays, and then take a chance on the Jink McAtee gang roaring and opening up on him. That's what he intended to do. But he was a bit rattled and stampeded over the intense way the gang had of looking upon the plays, and that's how he happened to make a mistake. He gave his button too short a squeeze, and blamed if the arrow didn't stop at precisely the number that stood to win Jink and his gang $2600 of the house's money, in addition to pulling down the $2600 they had in!
"Gately saw his mistake almost as soon as he had made it, but a booster named Gilpin, who was watching the play, was the quicker thinker of the two. He jumped off a stool upon which he had been standing looking over the heads of Jink's crowd, and yelled out:
"'Stand clear, there! Don't shoot!'
"It was a ruse. Nobody had any idea of shooting. Jink and his gang were simply flooded with joy over their winning. But when they heard Gilpin's warning, they all jumped back, and that was Gately's chance to redeem his bad break. He snatched up the $5200—the rule of the spindle game is that the dealer must show the same amount of money the sucker has got in play, and Gately had $2600 of the house's money spread out—and back he jumped through the door, which led out into an alley. Jink and his crowd were stupefied. They stood stock still. Gately had gone with their money and the house's money, and they didn't think of taking after him. They figured it that the house would make good, perhaps. Anyhow, by the time they came to, Gately had mazed it through the wilderness of shacks of which Guthrie was already composed, and Bill Reeves had appeared on the scene.
"I had been with Bill in the main layout in the next room, and we heard the shout of Gilpin. That's what took us in there. Jink made his talk, which was a pretty hot and threatening one, and he was backed up in it pretty forcibly by all the rest of his gang.
"'Well, Gately jumped, that's all,' said Reeves. 'What am I going to do about it?'
"'Hand over $5200, quick,' said McAtee and some others of his bunch.
"'I haven't got anything like that much money in the place,' said Reeves. 'But I'll give you a check for it on the bank down the way.'
"They demurred over the check proposition for awhile, but they finally took Bill Reeves's check for $5200. While they were demurring, Bill Reeves had a chance to scribble a note to the cashier of the bank, telling him not to cash the check when it would be presented—to make some excuse about not having just that amount of money on hand, or something of that sort. Now, I didn't want to be in that place at all just then, but there was no way of my getting out. I had come into the room with Bill Reeves, and I knew that if I tried to mosey away I'd be called back; that they figured me to have some sort of connection with the layout, which I didn't.