He entered and noticed that the tables were full. A company of men were playing cards at the farthest end of the saloon, and he made his way toward them. A game of poker always fascinated him, and he hung over the back of a player, watching his cards and noting the manner he threw away a high pair to fill a flush.
"Would ye like to set in?" asked Stormalong, who had come over to get an order for drinks.
"I wouldn't mind setting in for a short time," Smart nodded. "No all-night séance for me, and quit when you want to."
"Gents," began the saloon-keeper, "this is Captain Smart, of the schooner—ah, well, never mind that, hey? Well, Smart was chief officer of the ship just gone out. He's got the dough, and kin play a keard or two, if you give him a chance."
"Set right in here, cap," said a thick-set, sunburnt man whose calling was manifest in his face. "I'm a reefer, an' run a sponger, but I reckon I kin play with yer."
"You make five—just right for luck," was the greeting of another, a thin, eagle-nosed fellow who declared that his name was Smith—Wilson Smith.
A man with a thick growth of beard nodded to him across the board, and a squat, twinkling-eyed little fellow, with the hue of the tobacco factory upon him, held out his hand. "My name's Jacobs—traveller for the Garcias'—glad to meet you."
The cards were dealt round afresh, and Smart took up his hand. For some time nothing occurred to distract the attention of the players from the game, but gradually their talk and the clink of money as they made change attracted the crowd.
Smart was aware of a huge form just behind him, and, glancing up, he looked right into the face of Bahama Bill, the black mate of the wrecking-sloop Sea-Horse. A huge grin was upon the black man's ugly face, and he laid his enormous hand upon Smart's shoulder. "Huh, how yo' is, cap? Thought you'd gone away fo' sho. Stopped to teach 'em how toe play de game, huh? Yah, yah, ya-a-a!"
"Stormalong," broke in Wilson Smith, "I don't want to appear rude, but I draw the colour line sometimes, especially at keards. If the big nigger standing behind us will sit down or move along, it'll facilitate the game some."