Desert Dust
O REND
d outside twilight had deepened into dusk, the air was almost frosty,
rches or flambeaus, ruddily embossing the heads of the players and onlookers, flared like votive braziers above the open-air gambling games; there were even smoked-chimney lamps, and candles, set on pedestals, signalizing other centers. The walls of the tent store-buildings glowed spectral fro
the more distant puffing and shrieking of the locomotives at the railroad yards, the hammering where men and boys worked by torchlight, and now and then a revolver shot, there had been ad
shuttlecock of chances, that I, a youth with twenty-one dollars and a half at disposal, all his clothes on his back, a man's weapon at his belt, and an appointment
rior, undoubtedly, to other resorts that I may have noted. I was well equipped to test it out, for I had little to lose, even time was of no moment, and I possessed a fri
mance of that hurly-burly of pleasure and business combined here two thousand miles west of New York, always expectant of my goal I was attracted by music again, just ahead, from an orc
entered, unchallenged for any admission fee. Once across the threshold, I halted, taken
ndeliers from the rafters. The floor, of planed boards, already teemed with men and women and children-along one side there was an ornate bar glittering with cut glass and s
e were games of chance, every description, surrounded by groups looking on or playing. Through the atmosphere blue with the smoke women, many of them lavishly costumed as if for a ball, strolled risking or responding to gallantries. The garb of the men themselves ran the scale: from the comme il faut of slender s
er. I remarked that not a few of the wom
dice, the slap of cards and currency, the announcements of the dealers, the clap-trap of barkers and mont
h of exterior, eclipsed the best of the Bowery and might b
Black, at first sight-not being certain of her, that is, for there were a number of black dresses-I moved on in. It might be that she wa
gaming tables, I felt a cuff upon the s
s. How are tric
r, if not Bill Brady himself (for the voice was not Colonel Sunderson's unctuo
e the worse for wear save a slightly sw
d. "No 107 hard feelin's here. I'm no In
he shoulder. "Hardly knowed you in that new rig. Now y
eting from a man whom I had knocked down, tipsy drunk, only
eetle, I reckon?" And
rarely
then. Hell, this is Benton, where everything goes and nobody the worse for it. You bet yuh! Trail along with me. Let'
egged off. "I have an en
e and who? Didn't she tell me to keep my eyes skinned for you, and t
did
Benton. Trail to the trough along with me, pardner, and name your
sayed; but he would have none of it. He
as gotto drink. Name your pizen-make it champagne
the bar, where the line of men a
lf-appointed pilot blared. "None o' your agency
ours, sir," I
le and glasses to us. Jim rather unsteadily
ered. "May you never see
lth," I r
y way down my unwonted throat; the one draught infused me with a swagger a
a man," quoth Jim. "Shall
all be on me. Let's l
"Take a stroll. I'll steer yo
ent where even the dancers cavorted with lighted
hich we selected at twenty-five cents each. With my own "seegar" cocked up between my lips,
ch a distinction) presided over by remarkably quiet, white-faced, nimble-fingered, steady-eyed gentry in irreproachable garb running much to white shirts, black pantaloons, velvet waistcoats, and polished b
patrons, when we indeed met My Lady. She detached herself, as if cognizant of our approach, from a little group of fou
re, then?"
tting to remove hat and cigar, while ag
madam, in th
oment. About her there was a tingling element of the friendl
ly. "There he was, lookin' as lonesome as a two-bit piece on a poker table in a
outfit, I se
Am I c
ce. You'll do," she nodded. "Hav
turned her gaze so glowingly as to embarrass her. Yet she was not displeased; and in that
uld play. Yo
" I let my hand rest casua
rily. There wer
d for all to see. I meant, you have funds?
sation of boundless wealth. The affair at the hotel did not bother me, now. Here in the Big Tent prosperity reigned. Money, money, money was passing back and forth,
m the listeners. "When you play, follow the lead of Jim. He'll not lose, and I intend tha
ur chaperonage I am ready to take any risk
suggestively, "you won't lose, with me looking out for you. Jim bears you no ill
e on the train I ask no
strangers do not always fare well." In this she spoke the truth. "As a resident I cla
ots," said I. "Therefore I'd really p
ng mercy on my poor
ment?" I hazarded. "A lemon
Jim would say, 'fortified.' And I shall need all my wits
to dilate with the distinction accorded me: felt it in the glances, the deference and the ready make-way which attended upon our progress. 113 Frankly to sa
pped bravely-my twenty-one dollars in pocket, my six-shooter at belt, a red 'kerchief at
he made no mention of any husband, which might have been odd in the East but did not impress me as e
" she proposed. "Are you acqu
said I. "But I am green
ing down a dollar here and there-we all do it. That is part of our amusement, in Benton." She halted. "You are g
114 "And if under your direction, so much the q
uck-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 i
ngs," I repli
more than nineteen-sat behind his three-legged little table, green covered, and idly shi
here were not more than three or four onlookers, non
most innocent pair of long-lashed brown eye
lo,
, with wh
o you
seemed to know
it to-ni
or money in this camp an
aily retorted. "We'll buck your game, Bob.
ad read me from hat to boots. He had shrewd
he answered. "The greenies stand as go
for a dollar?"
start action." He twisted his mouth with ready
er reticule, but
ket. "Allow me. I will furnish the
d she. "That is up to yo
st," I protested. "W
lady brings luck, but I shall not always do your playing
y own score, in due time," I
ob? We've a dollar
while facing
in order; methodically, even listlessly moved them to and fro, yet with light, sure, well-nigh bewil
ghed, b
der you aren't broke. You're no
I myself knew whic
there's my dollar.
urs. Will you
t on this throw
he middle card, exposing the ace spot, as I ha
," she
ed, ind
I'll throw you a turn for a dollar, two dollars, five dollars-anything to combine business an
to accept, but
. You'll get your revenge later. Good
, had money in their hands, to stake. So we strolled on; and I was consciou
id, extending t
ecl
of my tuition. If you
so dec
ou will at least take
her try, madam
she. "Bob's just a lazy boy. His game is a piker game.