I was coming up once on the steamer _Fairchild_, of Louisville,
and had won considerable money. There was on board a United States
detective. He was asleep at the time the games were going on, and
when he came to his breakfast the next morning, there was a great
deal of kicking going on about the money and diamonds that the
gamblers had won the night before. Some of the passengers at the
table knew the detective, and when they got through breakfast they
all got with him, and they told him finally they would give him
half they had lost if he would get it back. So he saw a big opening,
and concluded to make a big bluff to get the money. He came to me
as I was standing by the office, and said, "Are you the man who
won all the money and diamonds last night?" I told him I was the
man. He said, "You must give it back--every cent." That made me
laugh, and I think it made him mad, for he pulled back his coat
and showed me his badge. Well, I thought he was as good a sucker
as any of the rest, or he would not make such a break as that; and
when he spoke of my swindling them, I said to him, "Now, sir, I
will show you just how I beat those fellows;" and I pulled out
three cards, and said, "If you will walk over to the table, I will
show you; then if you think there is any swindle about it, I will
refund every dollar." He said, "All right." I commenced to play
them over, and had him guessing lively, when up stepped the capper
and took a look at the cards, and said, "I will bet you $500 I can
turn the king." He put up the $500, and did not turn the card; so
he and the detective began to whisper to each other, the capper
telling him about a spot that was on the right card. Then he made
a proposition to go me $500 more. I put up the money to cover his,
and he turned the right card, took his money and walked away from
the game. Then the detective said, "I will bet you $50 myself."
I put up. He laid up $50 and turned the right card. One of the
bystanders spoke up and said, "He is only baiting you along till
he gets a big bet." I replied, "You are about right." He said,
"I will bet you $50 once more." So I put up the amount, and he
turned the winning card again. So up stepped the capper and said,
"I will bet you $1,000 that I can turn it." "That is just the kind
of a bet I like to get." I put up $1,000, and he put up his. Just
as he was going to turn, he got the detective by the collar and
got his advice. So the detective told him which one it was. "Are
you sure?" said the capper. "No, not sure when he gets a big bet
like that; but I think so." You see, he had been told I was only
baiting for a big bet. Well, the result was, the capper won the
bet, and that made the detective swell up like a toad. He would
not listen to any of the outsiders' talk any more, but offered to
bet $200. I said, "If that is all the money you have, you had
better keep it." That made him mad, and he pulled out his long
pocket-book and said, "I have got as much money as you." "Perhaps,"
said I, "you might cripple yourself if you lost much money." "No,"
said he; "I am no child. When I bet on a fair game like this, I
expect to either win or lose." He counted out the money, and I
saw he had the $100 he won from me and a little more left. I told
him I would bet him $1,100 that he could not turn the king; so he
put up. Just as he was about to turn the card, I looked at him
and said, "I will let you back out, and give you $100 to take down
your money and not turn." "No, no," said he; "not I." "Well," I
said, "let her go;" and over she went, but he lost this time.
He drew a long breath and sat down in a chair, and he looked like
a sick kitten. Then he got up and went to his room, and finally
came out. I thought there would be the d---l to pay. He called
me to one side, and said, "Did you think I was betting in earnest?"
"Oh, no," said I, "you were only betting in fun; but I was just
keeping in earnest." "Well," said he, "you are not going to keep
my money?" "Oh, yes." "I don't care what you do with those other
fellows' money, but I want mine," said he, "and I must have it."
"Well, you can not have a cent of it." I backed against the bar,
and told him he must be crazy if he thought I would give him a cent
back, as I never gave a sucker back his money. He then made a
motion to his hip; but I had old Betsy Jane in my coat pocket with
my hand on it, and my partner was there to assist in holding the
fort. He saw his bluff was no good, and he began to give me taffy;
saying he had just got that money as a reward for catching a man,
and that he had worked six months to get it, and that he had a
large family. I told him to go out among the passengers and tell
them that he had lost his money at a fair game, and then come to
my room and "knock at the back door, and they will not see you come
in." Well, he got among them all over the boat, and told them it
was a fair game, and he had not a word to say. He came to my room
and told me what he had done. I counted out $500 and gave it to
him, and told him that if he had not worked so hard for it he never
would have got a cent back. So he went off contented, and there
was no more squealing on the boat.