Young Wild West at "Forbidden Pass" Part 10

Hop smiled.

"You allee samee watched too muchee," he said.

"You bet I would watch."

The cards were laid on the table by him, and Hop picked them up in an offhanded way.

"Here um nicee lillee tlick," he said, as he ran the cards up his arm in a long string. "Evelybody no do lat, so be."

Then he let them go back again, and in doing so two or three of them dropped to the floor.

Hop was on his knees gathering them up in a twinkling.

Then it was that he slipped a card in the bootleg of Roche again.

But he was not caught doing it, however.

He got the cards that had dropped and did the trick over again, this time not losing any of them when they ran back to his hand.

Then he suddenly showed the jack of hearts again.

"Do you want to try the other trick again?" the man front Silver Bend asked.

"You no givee poor Chinee um showee to play um tlick, so be," answered Hop.

"What kind of a show do you want? There you are with the jack of hearts in your hand. Now I'll bet you that you can't get it into my bootleg again!"

He moved back from the table, so he would be entirely clear from the Chinaman, as he said this.

Hop let all hands have a look at the jack of hearts, and then he allowed it to flip up his sleeve.

He shuffled the pack, laid it on the table and brought his fist down upon it with considerable force.

"Lere um go!" he exclaimed. "Me bettee you hundled dollee you gottee um jack of hearts in you bootleg, so be!"

"What!" cried Roche, as he looked down at his feet. "Do you mean that, you heathen?"

"Me allee samee meanee," was the reply. "Me wantee givee you chancee to gittee square, so be."

The villain had a hundred dollars out in a hurry.

"There you are!" he exclaimed. "Cover that!"

"Me covee allee samee pletty quickee, so be."

Hop did cover it, too; and then, folding his arms, he looked at Roche and remained silent for a moment.

"Search me, somebody," said the latter, looking around. "Here, Sam! He bet that the jack of hearts was in my bootleg again. You look and see."

"All right, Cap," answered the miner.

The leader of the outlaws stretched out his limbs and gave the man a good chance to make the search before the eyes of the lookers-on.

He found the card the first thing, and, with a look of amazement on his face, he held it up.

"There she is, Cap!" he exclaimed, with a shake of his head. "I didn't think it was there; I thought ther Chinee was jest goin' ter let yer git your money back. But there's ther jack of hearts, an' it sartinly was in your boot!"

"Well, by ginger!" cried Roche. "I reckon I'm done with this kind of a game. The heathen Chinee is altogether too much for me."

"Young Wild West told us he could beat anything there was goin'," spoke up John Sedgwick. "He's a sleight-of-hand Chinee, that's what he is."

"Well, I am not a squealer, as you all know," said Roche. "But I do think that some one should have told me that I was betting against a sleight-of-hand performer."

"That wasn't fur us ter do, Cap," replied Sedgwick, shaking his head.

"You knowed that he was clever when yer seen him foolin' with ther cards, an' doin' them other tricks. You lost your money jest because you thought you was smarter than he was. I happen ter know that a man does a very foolish thing when he bets ag'in a man showin' a trick. That's what ther feller doin' it wants, an' he wins every time, too."

CHAPTER VII.

WILD MAKES AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.

Cap Roche nodded his head at what Sedgwick said.

"All right," he said. "I reckon I'm satisfied. I am not broke, just because I lost a couple of hundred dollars."

After that he made himself very agreeable to all hands, and when he got ready to ride back to the cave in the pa.s.s he bade them good night and invited them to call at his store when in Silver Bend.

Young Wild West and his partners waited until the man rode off, and then they hurriedly left the shanty saloon.

Wild set out on a run for the camp.

He had made up his mind all at once to follow Cap Roche through Forbidden Pa.s.s.

He got his horse in a jiffy, and, hastily telling the girls where he was going rode off toward the pa.s.s.

So quickly had the young deadshot acted that Roche had not more than three or four minutes the start of him.

If he went along at an easy gait Wild would be able to overtake him before he got through the pa.s.s.

So quickly had the young deadshot acted that Roche had not more than three or four minutes the start of him.

If he went along at an easy gait Wild would be able to overtake him before he got through the pa.s.s.

Our hero knew that he was undertaking a risky thing, for he was quite sure that there was a band of outlaws located somewhere in the pa.s.s, or very near to it.

But he went on without any hesitation, prepared for anything that might turn up.

The place was totally strange to him, but the boy had confidence in the sorrel stallion he rode.