“Well, it was his age an’ he antes a white chip as the others had been doin’ an’ let his cards lay face down till they’d all come in. Then, still without lookin’ at his cards, he made his ante good an’ shoved up the other three. One o’ the factors sat next an’ he saw. Then Hackett raised it five on the side, Halloway havin’, o’ course, a show for his money. The other two factors, Davis and Allen their names was, they was lookin’ for trouble, so they come in, an’ Farley, settin’ next, h’isted it ten dollars.
“Course, Halloway hadn’t nothin’ to say, an’ Smith, the first factor, he laid down. So did Hackett an’ Davis, but Allen come back with ten more, an’ Farley called it. Then Davis showed an ace high straight an’ Farley a small flush. Halloway waited till they was through, an’ then he turned his cards over. They was a ten full on sixes.
“That sort o’ gave him a footin’ in the game, for he had, o’ course, thirty dollars instead o’ five, an’ while Hackett was ten dollars out, Farley had won thirty dollars. The strangers was flush, anyhow, an’ they wasn’t a mite disturbed.
“It was Halloway’s deal next, an’ when it come his turn to see the ante he threw his cards away without lookin’ at ’em. ‘I’ll bet the next hand,’ he says, ‘same as I did the last, an’ I’d ruther not do it on my own deal.’ So they played that hand without him, an’ Hackett won it, with about forty dollars in the pot.
“Sure enough, in the next deal, Halloway shoved his thirty dollars in the pot without looking at his hand. Just naturally nobody thought he’d win again, so they bet as if he wasn’t in the game. Smith an’ Farley laid down, but Hackett an’ Davis raised back an’ forth till Hackett called for a show for his money. Allen stood one raise, but laid down on the second.
“Then came another surprise. Davis had three queens, Hackett had three kings, an’ Halloway had three aces. He won ninety dollars on that deal, an’ Hackett won something like a hundred an’ fifty.
“When the cards was dealt next time there was a jack-pot, for they was a-playin’ with a buck an’ Hackett had it. They made it a five-dollar jack, an’ Davis an’ Allen an’ Farley passed. That brung it up to Halloway an’ he opened it for twenty-five dollars. Smith an’ Hackett come in, Davis raised it fifty, Allen an’ Farley come in, an’ Halloway shoved up all he had which was forty dollars more. An’ once more they all come in. I don’t remember that I ever see anything just like it afore, but each man of the six drawed one card an’ not one of ’em bettered his hand. Davis was raisin’ on a four straight flush, king high, an’, of course, wanted to play it as hard as he could, but the others was drawin’ to four straights an’ four flushes exceptin’ Halloway, an’ he had aces up.
“Then he was in the game with all four feet, for he’d won more’n seven hundred dollars off’n his V-spot in three deals. We was all struck, but Park on’y grinned an’ says, quiet like, ‘ ’Pears as though I’d struck my gait, don’t it?’ which it sure did.
That warn’t the end of it, though, for on the next deal, Allen having the age, an’ Farley comin’ in, Halloway simply made good with his little two dollars, waitin’, as it appeared, for somebody else to raise. It was good play, too, for when it come Smith’s turn he raised it ten dollars. The others all come in, an’ Halloway raised it twenty-five. This kind o’ staggered ’em, an’ Hackett an’ Farley, knowin’ Halloway as well as they did, laid down, but the strangers all thought he was bluffin’ on the stren’th of his run o’ luck, an’ all three of ’em made good. Allen drew three cards to a pair of aces. Halloway drew one, holdin’ a kicker to three sevens, Smith drew two to three jacks, an’ Davis, who was dealing, drew one to a four flush.
Allen got his third ace. Halloway got his fourth seven. Smith didn’t better, an’ Davis filled his flush, so if ever the Lord was good to a man, He cert’nly was good to Halloway. It was his first bet, Farley havin’ passed out, an’ he put up fifty dollars. Smith came in, figgerin’ that some one else’d raise, which Davis did for fifty dollars more. Allen studied on his three aces for awhile an’ then come in. I don’t know what sort of poker he thought he was playin’, but I reckon he thought Halloway an’ Davis was both bluffin’. Just naturally Halloway come back with a hundred more, an’ Smith an’ Allen laid down, Davis callin’. That made seven hundred and ten dollars in the pot, of which four hundred and seventy-three dollars went to his profit an’ loss account, makin’ his winnin’s up to this time one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight dollars, which was doin’ well for a five-dollar bill in four pots.