Then he said: "It don't make any difference which. I say I will
bet you $25 on the red."
"No bet goes on this layout unless the money is up," I said.
He then straightened himself to over six feet, and said:
"You are a d----d rascal."
"That is the conclusion I have come to about you," I remarked.
Then he made a rush for me, and at it we went. We had a lively
time for a few moments, but I soon got a chance to give him my old
head, and he hollowed enough. He went away and washed himself,
and I did not see any more of him. His fellow officers heard how
he had acted, and as he was a very quarrelsome man, they told me
I served him just right, and they were all glad of it, and I had
a better game after that than before.
I remained at Mobile for some time, then sold out and went back to
good old New Orleans, for it was hard in those days to stay away
any great length of time, and even now I feel more at home there
than any other place in this country.
Sometime after my return to New Orleans I was taken down with the
yellow fever (of which I have spoken in a preceding story). I
remained for a few months, when I took a notion to go North. So
I sold out, and again I was on board one of the packets going up
the old Mississippi. I played all the old games up to St. Louis,
and then I took a Missouri River packet and went to Omaha, still
keeping up my games. I then started out on the Union Pacific
Railroad, and went as far as Julesburg, which was at that time the
terminus. I remained there, playing the contractors and every one
else I could get a hold of, until the road was finished to Cheyenne
City.
I won a great deal of money, but as the good old game of faro
followed in the track of civilization and the railroad, I lost
nearly as fast as I won. I remained in the West for five months,
when the old desire to get back home on the Mississippi took
possession of me, and I could not resist the temptation, so I turned
my face to the east, and in a short time I was in St. Joseph, Mo.,
where I met my old friend Ben Allman, who was running a fine large
billiard hall. I concluded to stop and open a keno room, so I went
to Chicago, bought a very fine outfit, and opened up over Allman's
place. I advertised my business in all the papers, just as a dry
goods merchant would advertise his business. My keno netted me
from $150 to $200 per day, and I set a lunch each night at a cost
of $25. Most men would have been content, but I was not, as I
still longed for the life I had led for so many years on the river.
So I sold out, and was soon in St. Louis ready for a down river
packet. On my way down I won considerable money, and that, together
with the fact that I was on my way back to the place I loved so
well, made me happy.
One night I went on board a boat that was so crowded with passengers
that I could not get a room; so I opened up monte, and as I was
winning money, I did not realize that I was sleepy until they began
to make up cots in the cabin, and most all the passengers had gone
to bed. Then I would have given almost any price for a place to
sleep, but all the cots were engaged, and I was left. Nothing
remained for me but to patronize the bar, which I was doing, when
a man came in to get a drink that had been asleep on one of the
cots. I told him as he had been resting if he would let me have
his cot for the balance of the night I would give him $5. He
accepted my proposition, and I went to bed. I had been lying down
but a few moments, when there was a fuss started near me. I raised
up to see what was the cause, when I saw two Jews that had come
aboard at Baton Rouge, and they were fighting for the possession
of a cot. I got up and told them to stop their fighting and join
me in a drink. They accepted the invitation. While we were drinking
I learned that they had been playing cards at Baton Rouge before
they had got on the boat, and had had a falling out over the game.
I told them I saw a fellow playing a game that beat anything I ever
had seen. They wanted to know what it was, so I showed them the
three cards, and in a short time I had won $200 from them. I forgot
all about being sleepy while I was working up the Jew boys, and by
the time I had won their money the steward was clearing the cabin
to set the tables for breakfast. I had lost the sleep for which
I had paid $5, but I did not mind it much, as I had won $200.