While sitting in the hall of the steamer _Petonia_, I noticed a
fellow who kept looking at me so closely that I at last said to
him, "Do you live on the river, sir?" He replied, "Are you speaking
to me?" "Well, yes; I asked you if you lived on the river." He
answered me very gruffly, "No sir." I let him alone, for I thought
I had seen him before, and it might be I had beat him out of some
money; so I got up and walked down the cabin. After I left, he
asked the barkeeper who I was, and he told him I was a planter,
and the son of one of the wealthiest planters on the coast. The
fellow said: "Darn me if he don't look just like a fellow that
beat me out of $5,000 some years ago." "I guess you are mistaken;
although all planters gamble more or less," said the barkeeper.
"Well, let's take a drink; but I was sure he was the same man."
Just as they finished their drink, I walked up and called for some
wine. The fellow spoke up and said, "Have a drink with me." I
said, "No, you join me, as I see you have finished yours." He
accepted, and I ordered a bottle of wine. We sat down to drink
the wine, when he said, "You must excuse me for the manner in which
I spoke to you a while ago, as I took you for a man that beat me
out of $5,000 on one of these boats, some years ago, at a game they
called monte." "Well, now," I said; "it must have been the same
fellow that beat me, for that's what they called it, monte; but I
did not care very much, as I was spending the old gent's money at
that time." He replied: "But I did mind it, for I had just sold
my place, and was going to put the money into business; but on
account of that d----d rascal, I have had to work hard ever since;
and I have sworn to kill him the first time I met him." "I do not
blame you for feeling as you do, for you could not afford to lose
the money; but I did not care, as the old gent had plenty more that
I could get whenever I asked for it; and as he sometimes lost pretty
heavy himself, he would say to me, 'Son, if you bet you will win
or lose; but if you lose, take it cool; for if you could not afford
to lose, you had no business to bet.'" "You're right! I did not
have any business to bet; but I thought I had a sure thing of
winning. I would have killed that fellow the next morning; but
when I began looking for him, I found he had got off the boat, and
I have never seen him since." I laughed and said, "If you had won
the money, you would not have felt like shooting the fellow, would
you?" "Oh, no."
I found out the fellow had about $60; but he was just as much a
sucker as he was when he lost the $5,000, and I made up my mind to
win his money, and then tell him that I was the same man that beat
him before. I excused myself, and told my partner all about the
fellow, and that I wanted to win his money.
After supper I opened up monte, and caught a good many suckers.
My old producer was watching the game and me too. We had about
finished up, when my partner said to my old friend, "I would like
to make a bet, but I am unlucky; will you bet this $50 for me?"
He took the $50, put it up, and won. Then he put up $50 for himself,
and lost. My partner wanted to know how he had made such a mistake,
when he swelled up like a porpoise, and said: "I believe that is
the same fellow that beat me out of my money before." He walked
away, and my partner followed him. They were standing at the bar
when I came up, and I invited all hands to join me in a drink.
Everybody accepted the invitation, except my Arkansas killer. I
made up my mind that we would have a fight, so I thought I would
not put it off any longer. I turned to him and said, "Come and
take a cigar with me, for I see you are not drinking." He replied,
"I pick my company." Then I said, "You are in better company just
now than you ever were in your life, except the time, some years
ago, when you were in my company and lost $5,000." He said, "You
are a d----d rascal." I then called him a liar and a coward. He
attempted to draw, when my partner caught his arm and gave him one
in the face, which was not a very heavy one, for he did not appear
to mind it. I had old "Betsy Jane" out and had him covered; then
I said, "Lay away your old pop, and we will go down on deck and
have it out. You are a much larger man than I am, but I will take
a licking from you, if you are man enough to give it to me." We
gave our guns to the barkeeper and started down. I heard some bets
$50 to $25 on the big Arkansas man, so I gave a friend of mine a
roll and told him to take all the odds.
When we got down on deck, the mate made a ring with some barrels,
and said: "No man but the fighters shall get inside the ring."
The big fellow stripped down to his undershirt, and looked like a
young Samson; then the bets ran up $100 to $25. I pulled off my
coat and vest, and stepped inside the ring. We shook hands, and
time was called, the mate acting as referee. He made a lunge; I
dropped my head, and he hit it a terrible blow. Then he got one
in below the belt, and I thought for an instant I would lose my
supper and the fight; but I rallied, and got a good one in on the
side of his neck, which doubled him up like a jackknife; then I
ran in, caught him, and let drive with my head. I struck him
between the eyes, and he fell over as if he had been shot. I took
a seat on one of the barrels, folded my arms, and waited for time
to be called. The mate said: "That will do; this man can't fight
any more." They took him up stairs, and had the barber fix him
up. I was not much the worse for having been in a fight. My friend
handed me all my money, and over $400 besides, that he had taken
in on the result. I treated all hands, and sent some wine, also
the $50 I had won, back to my Arkansas friend. He told the mate
and some of the passengers that he had been in a great many fights,
but that was the first time he was ever whipped. He said he "whipped
himself when he hit my head; but when I gave him that butt, he
thought he had been struck with a bar of iron." He told them they
did not fight that way out where he lived, and he did not think it
was fair. The mate told him everything was fair in a rough-and-
tumble fight. I felt sorry for the big fellow when I saw his face,
for his nose was broken all up. He forgot all about that he was
going to shoot the man that beat him out of his $5,000, for you
see I returned the money that I won from him when I had him caught
again.