“I’ll sit the hand out if you’ll let me bet the ‘finger,’ ” said he.
“Certainly,” replied the dealer.
When a man requests this privilege it means that he will call the amount of his wager without producing the visible stakes, and the dealer may accept or refuse according to his judgment of the bettor’s responsibility. It is safe, for no man shirks a gambling debt in the North, and thousands may go with a nod of the head though never a cent be on the board.
There were still a few cards in the box, and the dealer turned them, paying the three men who played. Glenister took no part, but sat bulked over his end of the table glowering from beneath his shock of hair.
Cherry was deathly tired. The strain of the last hour had been so intense that she could barely sit in her seat, yet she was determined to finish the hand. As Bronco paused before the last turn, many of the by-standers made bets. They were the “case-players” who risked money only on the final pair, thus avoiding the chance of two cards of like denomination coming together, in which event (“splits” it is called) the dealer takes half the money. The stakes were laid at last and the deal about to start when Glenister spoke. “Wait! What’s this place worth, Bronco?”
“What do you mean?”
“You own this outfit?” He waved his hand about the room. “Well, what does it stand you?”
The gambler hesitated an instant while the crowd pricked up its ears, and the girl turned wondering, troubled eyes upon the miner. What would he do now?
“Counting bank rolls, fixtures, and all, about a hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Why?”
“I’ll pick the ace to lose, my one-half interest in the Midas against your whole damned lay-out!”