Watching Hopper as he moved to pick up the cards dealt to him in the draw, he saw further that Hopper took one of them and one from the discarded pile. It was deftly done, but he was certain this time.
Long Mike stood pat, and when Hopper pushed his whole pile forward, Long Mike called him for all he had in front of him, a hundred and odd dollars. Then he showed a pat straight and Hopper showed four aces.
“Hold on!” shouted Stumpy. “There’s foul play here. That—” and then he paused.
Every man in the room was looking at him, and he was the only one who saw the muzzle of Carruther’s pistol just above the edge of the table. It was pointed directly at him, and the barrel looked to him as large around as a nail-keg.
It was not necessary to explain to him that Carruthers had the drop on him. Moreover, he knew that if he tried to finish his sentence he would be shot before he got the words out. It was small wonder he paused.
Nobody spoke for a moment, Stumpy for the excellent reason just stated, and the others because of their surprise. Then Carruthers said: “Evidently the gentleman never saw four aces held before. Is that what you meant when you spoke of foul play?”
Still all eyes were on Stumpy. No one else had seen the revolver, but he knew that on his answer depended the question whether Carruthers should shoot or not. Drops of sweat came out on his forehead. He drew a long breath.
Then he saw something else, and he answered Carruthers curiously.
“Yes-s-s,” he said, prolonging the word into a curious hiss which he knew that Peter understood.
At the instant that Carruthers, with an evil smile, was relaxing his aim, a small, brown dog landed on his shoulders and fastened his teeth in his throat.