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.