LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1241, 27 February 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A CALIFORNIAN CWURING TRICK. [A ll the Year Round. ] Continued. ‘You bet,’ wa-* the yet briefer answer. And with the fourth puff from the newly lighted pipe, the cards were in tho new c oner’s hands, and he had already ‘ordered up ’ a knave of diamonds, with as ca’m an imfiffeeuce as though there were naught but ‘ right bowers ’in the pack His partner’s eyes sparkled. Ho. did not seem to have the slightest apprehension as to the result, though ho himself, as eldest hand, had already • passed ’ the dangerous card, the absorption of which into the adversary’s hand would ensure him at least one certain trick out of the three which would suffice to ‘euchre’ them. The almost imperceptible pause, as of doubt, which he had himself made before administering the negative rap to the table, though enough to signify alike to his partner and to the opponent on his left hand a certain power of supp 'rt, which must reeds to some extent encourage the one and intimidate the other, had not been pronounced enough for any danger of misleading. There was no fear. The new comrade hnd cards as well as skill,and that sadly-diminished bttle ‘pile’ at his elbow would now begin to swell again. Which it did. Play and cards combined carried all before them, and before long one of his opponents—a player for the ‘pot,’ not for the game - had had enough of it, and had surrendered his place, leaving a considerable portion of his previous winnings behind him, Brownheard laughed jovially as he went. ‘ Clean skinned ?’ he inquired, glancing up at the departing player, as he applied himself to the cutting of a fresh supply of cavendish. The s ceder shook his head, and acknowledged, a 'rifle gruffly, that he bad ‘a bit o’ hide left.’ *Wal,’ replied Brownheard, ‘the air’s cold outside. Take a bit o’ ’intment just to make th’ ha’r sprout ’ And as he spoke he gathered up a .goodly handful of gold pieces from the heap beside him, and held them out for his late opponent’s acceptance. The man laughed, shook his head, gave the other a mighty ■'■lap on the shoulder, and answered less gruffly than before, though still with quife as much earnest as jest in hia tone—- ‘ Beckon we ll meet again ’fore long, old boss, and then by thunder I’ll raise your ha’r, ef it. aren’t glued on.’ * Buliy for you ! ’ rejoined the other, tranquilly. ‘ Guess there’s more down Blnenose Gully yonder ;’ and the game being now reformed, ijook up his cards and continued the play. I watched him a little while longer, and then went away to dinner. After dinner I wont to the Jenny Lind Theatre, and on my | way home I looked in at the El Dorado ag -in. Brownheard was still there, and playing away as gaily and as brilliantly as ever, hut somehow' luck seemed to have eha ged, and he had evidently he n losing considerably. The general aspect of affairs, too, had some how altered. Brownbe ini’s partner was go >e, and in his place was a -i oth< r digger • on the burst.’ very much of the same type. Bub their two opponents were of an altogether different description. The one on his left hand belonged to the stovep pe fraternity—a narrow-faced, sallow-complexioned man with thin lips, a slightly-hooked nose, hay-coloured hair and goatee, and a pair of been green-gray eyes, sunk deep under the brows, and set close together. His partner was chiefly noticeable tor the extreme newness of Lis clothes, whi h somehow, though of orthodox cutenough—red shirt, cord trousers, big boots, j Panama, and all complete seemed hardly to sit naturally upon him. His hands too, deft enough with ihe cards, showed no signs of recent toil. A new arival, perhaps, freshly rigged out, and getting rid of supertlm us “ lumber ” before starting on his first trip up-country. If that, however, had been his object, he had failed in carrying it out. A goodly n ha'-e cf the huge pile I had left before dinner at hrowuhearo’s side had now drifted across the comer of the table, and lay under the sleeve of the bright red shirt. Brown beard, however, seemed to trouble himself remarkably little about it. Good cards or bad, luck or no luck, let the golden tide tiovv or ebb as it. pleased, he played on with just as much coolness, and, as it seemed, with just as much zest and enjoyment, too, under the one condition as under the other. We were not particularly stoical in 1 allfornia in those days. When the game went well with us we laughed aloud and slapped our heavy palm upon the table till the gold pieces danced again. When luck went against us wo cursed it freely, in no undertone, and banged the table with our clenched fist, as though to punish it for betraying us. We had many' virtues, no doubt, but reticence was not among them. I make no doubt hut that, had Brownheard been so nfinded, he would have given expression to his satisfaction or bis annoyance with as primitive a disregard of convention as any red- hirt there. But it was very plain that here, for once at all events, was a man who played ‘for the play.’ The gold pieces, whose movements to and fro marked its fluctuations, were to him so many counters. As he himself had said, there were plenty more in Blnenose Gully, wherever that might be. When these were gone, he would carry his brawny arms hack there again, and dig a fresh supply. It really seemed as though, from the pecuniary point of view, the spectators took more interest in the game Vnan the player himself. Indeed, go keen was the interest evidently by some of them that my attention was involuntarily caught by it. The* X began to realise that the ‘ gallery ’ was as much changed in constitution as the ‘team’of p’ayers. "Where I was standing, indeed, there was much the same little g ffhering of cleaned out players, loafers, expectant cullers-in, and so forth, that was to bo found around any table where anything exceptional in the way of play ""'as going on. But round the player ou Browubeard’s left had congregated a little knot of men who, without any outward sign of recognition, seemed somehow to me to be his friends. One thing at all events was very certain—their position ren- ered it next to imposa.hlo for any one else to overlook his hand.

Perhaps it was this fact that gave me a curiosity to sec it. I don’t think there was then the smallest bus' icion in my mind, th ugh when I came t>> look back upon the p ay, the singular opportuneness with which the stovepipe gentleman continually overtrumped Ihowubeard’s best tricks might vary well have aroused it in a looker-on. I fancy, however, it was merely the instinctive desire to see what is hidden from other people which led me round behind the little group w’hich fenced in the black-coated player’s chair. I happen to stand something over six feet ip, height and could see over the barrier comfortably enough. k To ho continued.')