We shook hands, an' he went back to the house; but I could easy see that he was troubled. I stayed out with the stars purty late that night. It was clear an' bright an' peaceful when I looked up, but when I tried to look ahead it seemed misty an' dark an' gloomy, so I looked straight up for a long, long time; an' then when they soothed me, as they allus do, I went to bed an' slept like a log.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
A FRIENDLY GAME
About three days after this, a slick lookin' feller came ridin' in about sun-down, an' of course they booked him for supper an' bed; a stranger didn't want to expose himself to a meal at that outfit, less'n he was in the mood to eat. He was a fine easy talker, an' he had indoor hands too, an' one o' these smiles what is made to order; what you might call a candidate's smile—a sort o' lightin' up in honor o' the person bein' addressed. Barbie had a bit of a headache, 'cause her cinch had broke that mornin' while she was havin' a little argument with a bad-actor; an' about eight o'clock she give us the fare-you-well an' fluttered up to bed.
So the four of us—me, Dick, the stranger, an' ol' Jabez—sat there smokin' seegars an' tellin' anecdotes. About nine Piker, which was the name the stranger had handed in, sez, "Do you gentlemen ever indulge in a little friendly game?"
Now Dick had never throwed a card in his life, to my knowin'. The ol' man used to play some, but he was mighty choicy who he played with; while I—well, o' course, I played. Dick didn't say anything at first, but he give the stranger a long an' a curious look, as though he was tryin' to place him. He looked so long that both me an' the ol' man noticed it. "I don't care to play," sez Dick, blowin' a ring o' smoke to the ceilin'.
The ol' man had been trottin' along without a break for a consid'able of a stretch, an' the proposition looked amply sufficient to him, so he sez pleasantly, "Well, now, boys, it wouldn't be a bad way to spend the evenin'. We could make the stakes small an' we could have a right sociable time together."
'Tain't altogether wise to jump hasty at another man's idee of size. I had seen the ol' man sit in a game where steers was the ante an' car-loads the limit; but at that time I thought I knew just a little wee mite more about the game than any other man what played straight, so I sez, "Well, I'll set in a while; but I don't care to lose more'n a hundred dollars"; which was just what I'd saved out for a little vacation I was ruminatin' about.
"Oh, we'll only play a quarter ante an' five dollar limit," sez Jabez. "Come on, boys, clear the table an' let's get started."