“Just naturally I was lookin’ for some of ’em to drop out after that kind o’ play, but every one of ’em stayed. There wa’n’t no more raisin’ done. I reckon they all thought four hundred an’ forty dollars apiece was enough to put up before the draw, which sure it was in a game o’ that size.
“When it come to the draw there was another surprise. Every man at the table stood pat. Well, just naturally it were pretty thin ice to dance on, an’ nobody seemed to know for a minute or two just how to bet, havin’ nothin’ to guide him but his own hand and the fact that there was four pat hands out against it.
“Fairfax, o’ course, knowed just what to do. He put up a white chip. There was no doubt about his havin’ a chance to play later, an’ he were easy. Pearsall studied a bit, but finally he decided to wait, too, havin’ declared hisself before the draw, so he chipped along. Bassett wasn’t raisin’, neither, for he knowed Pearsall’s play pretty well, an’ havin’ only a small flush he didn’t feel strong, so he chipped along.
“That brought it up to Overton again, an’ he, thinkin’, I reckon, that it was up to him to help Fairfax along whether his own hand was good or not, put up a hundred dollars. It were a queer bet, but I sized it up for the beginnin’ of a seesaw in case Fairfax should want one. That might not ha’ been what was in his mind, but I reckon ’twa’n’t far out o’ the way.
“Winterbottom seen the raise. He were lookin’ for more developments, an’ he wa’n’t ready to play his hand very strong till he found out what was doin’. It were extra cautious play all round, with the advantage lyin’ between Fairfax an’ Pearsall, but mostly on Pearsall’s side.
“Fairfax put up two hundred an’ I seen he were ready for a seesaw. I don’t know what might ha’ happened if there’d been more money on the table, but Pearsall saw his opportunity an’ grabbed it. He counted his chips an’ findin’ six hundred in front of him, threw it all in the pot.
“Bassett throwed down his flush like a man, an’ Overton called for a show for his pile, which wa’n’t quite big enough for a call. That put it up to Winterbottom, an’ he skinned his hand over again, thinkin’ mighty hard. He had a full hand an’ money enough to raise. An’ more than that, he’d dealt the cards hisself, so he wa’n’t worried none on that account, but finally he just made good. He said to me afterward, ‘I would ha’ raised,’ he says, ‘but I reckoned Fairfax was goin’ to raise again, an’ the others was all in, so I gave him the chance.’
“But Fairfax was as rattled as the rest of ’em was, an’ he only called. Then it come out that there was two flushes an’ two fulls in the game, not reckonin’ the flush that Bassett had throwed down. Winterbottom’s flush beat Overton’s, bein’ ace high, an’ Pearsall’s ace full o’ course beat Fairfax’s jack full.
“It were a body blow for fair. Fairfax an’ Overton seen they’d overplayed their hands, an’ they was sore enough to make a beef about it, on’y they knowed it were too late. There wa’n’t nothin’ to say, ’thouten they’d kicked on Jake’s dealin’, an’ they couldn’t do that after they’d played the hand an’ lost. The on’y thing they c’d do was to quit or put up again. They wa’n’t quittin’, so they put up another thousand apiece an’ played along. Bassett had chips left an’ Pearsall was on velvet.
“There wa’n’t no heavy play again right away, but luck run to the Vicksburg fellers for awhile, so’s’t they picked up a few hundred in the next half-hour, mostly on pots they raked in without a call. Our boys was playin’ as careful as they was an’ was layin’ for a chanst at ’em.