“You can’t al’ays tell,” said old man Greenhut. “The Good Book says, ‘Him that hath, keeps, an’ f’m him that hath not, the loose change ofttimes leaks.’ Still, it’s worth lookin’ into. Some o’ you boys had better be up to the hotel when he gets round. Maybe he might have a likin’ f’r draw-poker.”
Accordingly, it happened that when Stumpy came down to the hotel barroom next morning in search of an appetite, he discovered a couple of strangers there who were by no means unsociably disposed. Further, he discovered that they were Jake Winterbottom and Sam Pearsall by name, citizens of Arkansas City, who esteemed it a privilege to make strangers acquainted with the resources of the place in the way of sports and pastimes.
Several of these were mentioned, but it appeared that horse-racing was out of season, and there had been no cock-fights arranged for the day. In fact, the only amusement available, so far as these two could say, was a quiet game of draw which was likely to be started at any hour in Greenhut’s back room.
“Gintlemen, Oi’m wid yez,” said Stumpy. “We do be playin’ dhraw-poker in Brownsville whiles, but it’s more f’r th’ spoort we play nor the money.”
Mr. Winterbottom and Mr. Pearsall heartily agreed that the game ought always to be played for sport rather than for money. In fact, they said, the game was always played in Greenhut’s place for sport. Sometimes, when the players got warmed up, the stakes grew rather large, but usually it was a small game carried on for amusement and the promotion of Greenhut’s bar trade.
“Has he a bar?” demanded Stumpy.
They assured him that he had an excellent bar, and Stumpy demanded that they should all three go forthwith to Greenhut’s. As neither of the others had any objection, they were soon sampling Greenhut’s liquor.
In paying for the drinks Stumpy showed a roll of respectable size containing at least a few fives and tens, so no one showed any reluctance in joining the game which Stumpy himself proposed, and five players presently bought chips in the back room, Bassett and Plunkitt joining the two who had invited the stranger in.
“One o’ th’ most interestin’ stories in the Good Book,” remarked old man Greenhut to the little group that remained with him in the front of the saloon, “is that there yarn about the ravens that fetched food to Joseph when his brethren pitched him in a pit. Nobody knowed where them ravens come from, but they fetched Joseph so much