"'Joss man fetchee!' says he.
"'Certainly!' says I. 'That's what he ought to do; don't get excited.' I did my wonderin' about the joss man in private. 'Sit down, Charlie.'
"So Charlie, he sot down and watched me rifflin' the cards.
"'Playee poker?' says he.
"'As a relaxiation, Charles,' says I. 'Poker is a business for gentlemen of means—gottee nomonee!'
"'Me stakee you,' says he. 'Likee poker.'
"So Jim and some of the other boys come over, and Charlie and me begun to draw cards. After we dubbed through a few deals, gettin' on to each other's play, I see Charlie stow away a pair of aces. Now, ordinarly, I'd complained, but, under the circumstances, it didn't appear to me to be the decent thing to do, so I motioned to Jim, and he slid me a pack with the same sort of backs.
"After that you never in all your borned days see such hands on a poker table. Why, a king-full wasn't worth raisin' back on. A set of fours was the least a man could have confidence in, and only if it was on his own deal, at that.
"Howsomever, havin' a hull pack at my disposal, whilest Charlie could only use his hold-outs, I worked him down to tin cans of vegetables, the busted coffee-pot, and the pants.
"He, bein' as game as any white man, jack-potted the lot. It was just draw cards and show down for the money. Darned if he didn't get the best of me.' How I come to pick out the queen of diamonds to match a straight club flush is one of them things that won't be revealed till Judgment Day. There wasn't nobuddy more surprised than me. This brought us down to even Stevens, and I felt irritated, so I come back at him with one play for the bunch. He agreed, and I dealt him four aces, pat. I was going to draw to fill my straight color. I snaked out the three I had on my knee, and was just goin' to insert 'em where they'd do the most good, when Pete's v'ice says: 'Well, Zeke!'