the sun had set and all the golden twilight was hazy with the dust suspended in swirl and strata over the ugly roofs. in the canvas-faced main street the throng and noise had increased rather than diminished at the approach of dusk. although clatter of dishes mingled with the cadence, the people acted as if they had no thought of eating; and while aware of certain pangs myself, i felt a diffidence in proposing supper as yet.
my two companions hesitated a moment, spying up and down, which gave me opportunity to view the scene anew. surely such an hotch-potch never before populated an american town: men flannel shirted, high booted, shaggy haired and bearded, stumping along weighted with excess of belts and formidable revolvers balanced, not infrequently, by sheathed butcher-knives—men whom i took to be teamsters, miners, railroad graders, and the like; other men white skinned, clean shaven except perhaps for moustaches and goatees, in white silk shirts or ruffled bosoms, broadcloth trousers and trim footgear, unarmed, to all appearance, but evidently respected; men of eastern garb like myself—tourists, maybe, or merchants; a squad of surveyors in picturesque neckerchiefs, and revolver girted; trainmen, grimy engineers and firemen; clerks, as i opined, dapper and bustling, clad in the latest fashion, with diamonds in flashy ties and heavy gold watch chains across their fancy waistcoats; soldiers; men whom i took to be mexicans, by their velvet jackets, slashed pantaloons and filagreed hats; darkly weathered, leathery faced, long-haired personages, no doubt scouts and trappers, in fringed buckskins and beaded moccasins; blanket wrapped indians; and women.
of the women a number were unmistakable as to vocation, being lavishly painted, strident, and bold, and significantly dressed. i saw several in amazing costumes of tightly fitting black like ballet girls, low necked, short skirted, around the smooth waists snake-skin belts supporting handsome little pistols and dainty poignards. contrasted there were women of other class and, i did not doubt, of better repute; some in gowns and bonnets that would do them credit anywhere in new york, and some, of course, more commonly attired in calico and gingham as proper to the humbler station of laundresses, cooks, and so forth.
the uproar was a jargon of shouts, hails, music, hammering, barking, scuff of feet, trample of horses and oxen, rumble of creaking wagons and concord stages.
“well, suh,” spoke the colonel, pulling his hat over his eyes, “shall we stroll a piece?”
“might better,” assented bill. “the gentleman may find something of interest right in the open. how are you on the goose, sir?” he demanded of me.
“the goose?” i uttered.
“yes. keno.”
“i am a stranger to the goose,” said i.
he grunted.
“it gives a quick turn for a small stake. so do the three-card and rondo.”
of passageway there was not much choice between the middle of the street and the borders. seemed to me as we weaved along through groups of idlers and among busily stepping people that every other shop was a saloon, with door widely open and bar and gambling tables well attended. the odor of liquor saturated the acrid dust. yet the genuine shops, even of the rudest construction, were piled from the front to the rear with commodities of all kinds, and goods were yet heaped upon the ground in front and behind as if the merchants had no time for unpacking. the incessant hammering, i ascertained, came from amateur carpenters, including mere boys, here and there engaged as if life depended upon their efforts, in erecting more buildings from knocked-down sections like cardboard puzzles and from lumber already cut and numbered.
my guides nodded right and left with “hello, frank,” “how are you, dan?” “evening, charley,” and so on. occasionally the colonel swept off his hat, with elaborate deference, to a woman, but i looked in vain for my lady in black. i did not see her—nor did i see her peer, despite the fact that now and then i observed a face and figure of apparent attractiveness.
above the staccato of conversation and exclamation there arose the appeals of the barkers for the gambling resorts.
“this way. shall we see what he’s got?” the colonel invited. forthwith veering aside he crossed the street in obedience to a summons of whoops and shouts that set the very dust to vibrating.
a crowd had gathered before a youth—a perspiring, red-faced youth with a billy-cock hat shoved back upon his bullet head—a youth in galluses and soiled shirt and belled pantaloons, who, standing upon a box for elevation, was exhorting at the top of his lungs.
“whoo-oop! this way, this way! everybody this way! come on, you rondo-coolo sports! give us a bet! a bet! rondo coolo-oh! rondo coolo-oh! here’s your easy money! down with your soap! let her roll! rondo coolo-oh!”
“it’s a great game, suh,” the colonel flung back over his shoulder.
we pushed forward, to the front. the center for the crowd was a table not unlike a small billiard table or, saving the absence of pins, a tivoli table such as enjoyed by children. but across one end there were 76several holes, into which balls, ten or a dozen, resembling miniature billiard balls, might roll.
the balls had been banked, in customary pyramid shape for a break as in pool, at the opposite end; and just as we arrived they had been propelled all forward, scattering, by a short cue rapidly swept across their base.
“rondo coolo, suh,” the colonel was explaining, “as you see, is an improvement on the old rondo, foh red-blooded people. you may place your bets in various ways, on the general run, or the odd or the even; and as the bank relies, suh, only on percentage, the popular game is strictly square. there is no chance foh a brace in rondo coolo. shall we take a turn, foh luck?”
the crowd was craning and eyeing the gyrating balls expectantly. a part of the balls entered the pockets; the remainder came to rest.
“rondo,” announced the man with the short cue, amidst excited ejaculations from winners and losers. and according to a system which i failed to grasp, except that it comprised the number of balls pocketed, he deftly distributed from one collection of checks and coins to another, quickly absorbed by greedy hands.
“she rolls again. make your bets, ladies and gents,” he intoned. “it’s rondo coolo—simple rondo coolo.” and he reassembled the balls.
“i prefer not to play, sir,” i responded to the heavily 77breathing colonel. “i am new here and i cannot afford to lose until i am better established.”
“never yet seen a man who couldn’t afford to win, though,” bill growled. “easy pickin’, too. but come on, then. we’ll give you a straight steer some’rs else.”
so we left the crowd—containing indeed women as well as men—to their insensate fervor over a childish game under the stimulation of the raucous, sweating barker. of gambling devices, in the open of the street, there was no end. my conductors appeared to have the passion, for our course led from one method of hazard to another—roulette, chuck-a-luck where the patrons cast dice for prizes of money and valuables arrayed upon numbered squares of an oilcloth covered board, keno where numbered balls were decanted one at a time from a bottle-shaped leather receptacle called, i learned, the “goose,” and the players kept tab by filling in little cards as in domestic lotto; and finally we stopped at the simplest apparatus of all.
“the spiel game for me, gentlemen,” said the colonel. “here it is. yes, suh, there’s nothing like monte, where any man is privileged to match his eyes against fingers. nobody but a blind man can lose at monte, by george!”
“and this spieler’s on the level,” bill pronounced, sotto voce. “i vote we hook him for a gudgeon, and get the price of a meal. our friend will join us in the turn. he can see for himself that he can’t lose. he’s got sharp eyes.”
the bystanders here were stationed before a man sitting at a low tripod table; and all that he had was the small table—a plain cheap table with folding legs—and three playing cards. business was a trifle slack. i thought that his voice crisped aggressively as we elbowed through, while he sat idly skimming the three cards over the table, with a flick of his hand.
“two jacks, and the ace, gentlemen. there they are. i have faced them up. now i gather them slowly—you can’t miss them. observe closely. the jack on top, between thumb and forefinger. the ace next—ace in the middle. the other jack bottommost.” he turned his hand, with the three cards in a tier, so that all might see. “the ace is the winning card. you are to locate the ace. observe closely again. it’s my hand against your eyes. i am going to throw. who will spot the ace? watch, everybody. ready! go!” the backs of the cards were up. with a swift movement he released the three, spreading them in a neat row, face down, upon the table. he carelessly shifted them hither and thither—and his fingers were marvelously nimble, lightly touching. “twenty dollars against your twenty that you can’t pick out the ace, first try. i’ll let the cards lie. i shan’t disturb them. there they are. if you’ve watched the ace fall, you win. if you haven’t, you lose unless you guess right.”
“just do that trick again, will you, for the benefit of my friend here?” bade the colonel.
the “spieler”—a thin-lipped, cadaverous individual, his soft hat cavalierly aslant, his black hair combed flatly in a curve down upon his damp forehead, a pair of sloe eyes, and a flannel shirt open upon his bony chest—glanced alert. he smiled.
“hello, sir. i’m agreeable. yes, sir. but as they lie, will you make a guess? no? or you, sir?” and he addressed bill. “no? then you, sir?” he appealed to me. “no? but i’m a mind-reader. i can tell by your eyes. they’re upon the right-end card. aha! correct.” he had turned up the card and shown the ace. “you should have bet. you would have beaten me, sir. you’ve got the eyes. i think you’ve seen this game before. no? ah, but you have, or else you’re born lucky. now i’ll try again. for the benefit of these three gentlemen i will try again. kindly reserve your bets, friends all, and you shall have your chance. this game never stops. i am always after revenge. watch the ace. i pick up the cards. ace first—blessed ace; and the jacks. watch close. there you are.” he briefly exposed the faces of the cards. “keep your eyes upon the ace. ready—go!”
he spread the cards. as he had released he had tilted them slightly, and i clearly saw the ace land. the cards fell in the same order as arranged. to that i would have sworn.
“five dollars now that any one card is not the ace,” he challenged. “i shall not touch them. a small bet—just enough to make it interesting. five dollars from you, sir?” he looked at me direct. i shook my head; i was sternly resolved not to be over tempted. “what? no? you will wait another turn? very well. how about you, sir?” to the colonel.
“i’ll go halvers with you, colonel,” bill proposed.
“i’m on,” agreed the colonel. “there’s the soap. and foh the honor of the grand old empire state we will let our friend pick the ace foh us. i have faith in those eyes of his, suhs.”
“but that is scarcely fair, sir, when i am risking nothing,” i protested.
“go ahead, suh; go ahead,” he urged. “it is just a sporting proposition foh general entertainment.”
“and i’ll bet you a dollar on the side that you don’t spot the ace,” the dealer baited. “come now. make it interesting for yourself.”
“i’ll not bet, but since you insist, there’s the ace.” and i turned up the right-end card.
“by the eternal, he’s done it! he has an eye like an eagle’s,” praised the dealer, with evident chagrin. “i lose. once again, now. everybody in, this time.” he gathered the cards. “i’ll play against you all, this gentleman included. and if i lose, why, that’s life, gentleman. some of us win, some of us lose. watch the ace and have your money ready. you can follow this gentleman’s tip. i’m afraid he’s smarter than me, but i’m game.”
he was too insistent. somehow, i did not like him, anyway, and i was beginning to be suspicious of my company. their minds trended entirely toward gambling; to remain with them meant nothing farther than the gaming tables, and i was hungry.
“you’ll have to excuse me, gentleman,” i pleaded. “another time, but not now. i wish to eat and to bathe, and i have an engagement following.”
“gad, suh!” the colonel fixed me with his fishy eyes. “foh god’s sake don’t break your winning streak with eatin’ and washin’. fortune is a fickle jade, suh; she’s hostile when slapped in the face.”
bill glowered at me, but i was firm.
“if you will give me the pleasure of taking supper with me at some good place——” i suggested, as they pursued me into the street.
“we can’t talk this over while we’re dry,” the colonel objected. “that is a human impossibility. let us libate, suhs, in order to tackle our provender in proper spirit.”
“and no lemonade goes this time, either,” bill declared. “that brand of a drink is insultin’ to good victuals.”
we were standing, for the moment, verging upon argument much to my distaste, when on a sudden who should come tripping along but my lady of the blue 82eyes—yes, the very flesh and action of her, her face shielded from the dust by a little sunshade.
she saw me, recognized me in startled fashion, and with a swift glance at my two companions bowed. my hat was off in a twinkling, with my best manner; the colonel barely had time to imitate ere, leaving me a quick smile, she was gone on.
he and bill stared after; then at me.
“gad, suh! you know the lady?” the colonel ejaculated.
“i have the honor. we were passengers upon the same train.”
“clean through, you mean?” queried bill.
“yes. we happened to get on together, at omaha.”
“i congratulate you, suh,” affirmed the colonel. “we were not aware, suh, that you had an acquaintance of that nature in this city.”
again congratulation over my fortune! it mounted to my head, but i preserved decorum.
“a casual acquaintance. we were merely travelers by the same route at the same time. and now if you will recommend a good eating place, and be my guests at supper, after that, as i have said, i must be excused. by the way, while i think of it,” i carelessly added, “can you direct me how to get to the big tent?”
“the big tent? if i am not intruding, suh, does your engagement comprise the big tent?”
“yes. but i failed to get the address.”
the colonel swelled; his fishy eyes hardened upon me as with righteous indignation.
“suh, you are too damned innocent. you come here, suh, imposing as a stranger, suh, and throwing yourself on our goodness, suh, to entertain you; and you conceal your irons in the fiah under your hat, suh. do we look green, suh? what is your vocation, suh? i believe, by gad, suh, that you are a common capper foh some infernal skinning game, or that you are a professional. suh, i call your hand.”
i was about to retort hotly that i had not requested their chaperonage, and that my affair with my lady and the big tent, howsoever they might take it, was my own; when mr. brady, who likewise had been glaring at me, growled morosely.
“she’s waitin’ for you. you can square with us later, and if there’s something doin’ on the table we want a show.”
the black-clad figure had lingered beyond; ostensibly gazing into a window but now and again darting a glance in our direction. i accepted the glances as a token of inclination on her part; without saying another word to my ruffled body-guards i approached her.
she received me with a quick turn of head as if not expecting, but with a ready smile.
“well, sir?”
“madam,” i uttered foolishly, “good-evening.”
“you have left your friends?”
“very willingly. whether they are really my friends i rather question. they have seen fit to escort me about, is all.”
“and i have rescued you?” she smiled again. “believe me, sir, you would be better off alone. i know the gentlemen. they have been paid for their trouble, have they not?”
“they have won a little at gambling, but in that i had no hand,” i replied. “so far they have asked nothing more.”
“certainly not. and you put up no stakes?”
“not a penny, madam. why should i?”
“to make it interesting, as they doubtless said. the colonel, as all the town knows, is a notorious capper and steerer, and the fellow brady is no better, no worse. had you stayed with them and suffered them to persuade you into betting, you would soon have been fleeced as clean as a shaved pig. the little gains they are permitted to make, to draw you on, is their pay. their losses if any would have been restored to them, but not yours to you.”
“strange to say, they have just accused me of being a ‘capper,’” i answered, nettled as i began to comprehend.
“from what cause, sir?”“they seemed to think that i am smarter than to my actual credit, for one thing.” i, of course, could not involve her in the subject, and indeed could not understand why she should have been held responsible, anyway. “and probably they were peeved because i insisted upon eating supper and then following my own bent.”
“you were about to leave them?” her face brightened. “that is good. they were disappointed in finding you no gudgeon to be hooked by such raw methods. and you’ve not had supper yet? promise me that you will take up with no more strangers or, i assure you, you may wake in the morning with your pockets turned inside out and your memory at fault. this is benton.”
“yes, this is benton, is it?” i rejoined; and perhaps bitterly.
“benton, wyoming territory; of three thousand people in two weeks; in another month, who knows how many? and the majority of us live on one another. the country furnishes nothing else. still, you will find it not much different from what i told you.”
“i have found it high and dry, certainly,” said i.
“where are you stopping?”
“at the queen—with a bath for every room. i am now awaiting the turn of my room, at the end of another hour.”
“oh!” she laughed heartily. “you are fortunate, sir. the queen may not be considered the best in all ways, but they say the towels for the baths are more than napkin size. meanwhile, let me advise 87you. outfit while you wait, and become of the country. you look too much the pilgrim—there is eastern dust showing through our benton dust, and that spells of other ’dust’ in your pockets. get another hat, a flannel shirt, some coarser trousers, a pair of boots, don a gun and a swagger, say little, make few impromptu friends, win and lose without a smile or frown, if you play (but upon playing i will advise you later), pass as a surveyor, as a railroad clerk, as a mormon—anything they choose to apply to you; and i shall hope to see you to-night.”
“you shall,” i assured, abashed by her raillery. “and if you will kindly tell me——”
“the meals at the belle marie café are as good as any. you can see the sign from here. so adios, sir, and remember.” with no mention of the big tent she flashed a smile at me and mingled with the other pedestrians crossing the street on diagonal course. as i had not been invited to accompany her i stood, gratefully digesting her remarks. when i turned for a final word with my two guides, they had vanished.
this i interpreted as a confession of jealous fear that i had been, in slang phrasing, “put wise.” and sooth to say, i saw them again no more.
