Desert Dust Part 15

"The best I could procure." I let my hand rest casually upon my revolver b.u.t.t.

She laughed merrily. There were smiles aside.

"Oh, no; I didn't mean that. You are heeled for all to see. I meant, you have funds? You didn't come here too light, did you?"

"I am prepared for all emergencies, madam, certainly," I averred with proper dignity. Not for the world would I have confessed otherwise. Sooth to say, I had the sensation of boundless wealth. The affair at the hotel did not bother me, now. Here in the Big Tent prosperity reigned. Money, money, money was pa.s.sing back and forth, carelessly shoved out and carelessly pocketed or piled up, while the band played and the people laughed and drank and danced and bragged and staked, and laughed again.

"That is good. Shall we walk a little? And when you play--come here." We stepped apart from the listeners. "When you play, follow the lead of Jim.

He'll not lose, and I intend that you shan't, either. But you must play, for the sport of it. Everybody games, in Benton."

"So I judge, madam," I a.s.sented. "Under your chaperonage I am ready to take any risks, the gaming table being among the least."

"Prettily said, sir," she complimented. "And you won't lose. No," she repeated suggestively, "you won't lose, with me looking out for you. Jim bears you no ill will. He recognizes a man when he meets him, even when the proof is uncomfortable."

"For that little episode on the train I ask no reward, madam," said I.

"Of course not." Her tone waxed impatient. "However, you're a stranger in Benton and strangers do not always fare well." In this she spoke the truth. "As a resident I claim the honors. Let us be old acquaintances.

Shall we walk? Or would you rather dance?"

"I'd cut a sorry figure dancing in boots," said I. "Therefore I'd really prefer to walk, if all the same to you."

"Thank you for having mercy on my poor feet. Walk we will."

"May I get you some refreshment?" I hazarded. "A lemonade--or something stronger?"

"Not for you, sir; not again," she laughed. "You are, as Jim would say, 'fortified.' And I shall need all my wits to keep you from being tolled away by greater attractions."

With that, she accepted my arm. We promenaded, Jim sauntering near. And as she emphatically was the superior of all other women upon the floor I did not fail to dilate with the distinction accorded me: felt it in the glances, the deference and the ready make-way which attended upon our progress. Frankly to say, possibly I strutted--as a young man will when "fortified" within and without and elevated from the station of nondescript stranger to that of favored beau.

Whereas an hour before I had been crushed and beggarly, now I turned out my toes and stepped bravely--my twenty-one dollars in pocket, my six-shooter at belt, a red 'kerchief at throat, the queen of the hall on my arm, and my trunk all unnecessary to my well-being.

Thus in easy fas.h.i.+on we moved amidst eyes and salutations from the various degrees of the company. She made no mention of any husband, which might have been odd in the East but did not impress me as especially odd here in the democratic Far West. The women appeared to have an independence of action.

"Shall we risk a play or two?" she proposed. "Are you acquainted with three-card monte?"

"Indifferently, madam," said I. "But I am green at all gambling devices."

"You shall learn," she encouraged lightly. "In Benton as in Rome, you know. There is no disgrace attached to laying down a dollar here and there--we all do it. That is part of our amus.e.m.e.nt, in Benton." She halted. "You are game, sir? What is life but a series of chances? Are you disposed to win a little and flout the danger of losing?"

"I am in Benton to win," I valiantly a.s.serted. "And if under your direction, so much the quicker. What first, then? The three-card monte?"

"It is the simplest. Faro would be beyond you yet. Rondo coolo is boisterous and confusing--and as for poker, that is a long session of nerves, while chuck-a-luck, though all in the open, is for children and fools. You might throw the dice a thousand times and never cast a lucky combination. Roulette is as bad. The percentage in favor of the bank in a square game is forty per cent. better than stealing. I'll initiate you on monte. Are your eyes quick?"

"For some things," I replied meaningly.

She conducted me to the nearest monte game, where the "spieler"--a smooth-faced lad of not more than nineteen--sat behind his three-legged little table, green covered, and idly s.h.i.+fting the cards about maintained a rather bored flow of conversational incitement to bets.

As happened, he was illy patronized at the moment. There were not more than three or four onlookers, none risking but all waiting apparently upon one another.

At our arrival the youth glanced up with the most innocent pair of long-lashed brown eyes that I ever had seen. A handsome boy he was.

"h.e.l.lo, Bob."

He smiled, with white teeth.

"h.e.l.lo yourself."

My Lady and he seemed to know each other.

"How goes it to-night, Bob?"

"Slow. There's no nerve or money in this camp any more. She's a dead one."

"I'll not have Benton slandered," My Lady gaily retorted. "We'll buck your game, Bob. But you must be easy on us. We're green yet."

Bob shot a quick glance at me--in one look had read me from hat to boots.

He had shrewder eyes than their first languor intimated.

"Pleased to accommodate you, I'm sure," he answered. "The greenies stand as good a show at this board as the profesh."

"Will you play for a dollar?" she challenged.

"I'll play for two bits, to-night. Anything to start action." He twisted his mouth with ready chagrin. "I'm about ripe to bet against myself."

She fumbled at her reticule, but I was beforehand.

"No, no." And I fished into my pocket. "Allow me. I will furnish the funds if you will do the playing."

"I choose the card?" said she. "That is up to you, sir. You are to learn."

"By watching, at first," I protested. "We should be partners."

"Well," she consented, "if you say so. Partners it is. A lady brings luck, but I shall not always do your playing for you, sir. That kind of partners.h.i.+p comes to grief."

"I am hopeful of playing on my own score, in due time," I responded. "As you will see."

"What's the card, Bob? We've a dollar on it, as a starter."

He eyed her, while facing the cards up.

"The ace. You see it--the ace, backed by ten and deuce. Here it is. All ready?" He turned them down, in order; methodically, even listlessly moved them to and fro, yet with light, sure, well-nigh bewildering touch.

Suddenly lifted his hands. "All set. A dollar you don't face up the ace at first try."

She laughed, bantering.

"Oh, Bob! You're too easy. I wonder you aren't broke. You're no monte spieler. Is this your best?"

And I believed that I myself knew which card was the ace.