An' I never knows him to have a peso he
don't gamble for. Nothin' common, though; I sees him one night when
he sets ca'mly into some four-handed poker, five thousand dollars
table stake, an' he's sanguine an' hopeful about landin' on his feet
as a Cimmaron sheep. Of course times is plenty flush in them days,
an' five thousand don't seem no sech mammoth sum. Trade is eager an'
values high; aces-up frequent callin' for five hundred dollars
before the draw. Still we ain't none of us makin' cigarettes of no
sech roll as five thousand. The days ain't quite so halcyon as all
that neither.
"But what I likes speshul in Cherokee Hall is his jedgement. He's
every time right. He ain't talkin' much, an' he ain't needin' advice
neither, more'n a steer needs a saddle-blanket. But when he
concloodes to do things, you can gamble he's got it plenty right.
"One time this Cherokee an' Texas Thompson is comin' in from Tucson
on the stage. Besides Cherokee an' Texas, along comes a female,
close-herdin' of two young-ones; which them infants might have been
t'rant'lers an' every one a heap happier. Sorter as range-boss of
the whole out. fit is a lean gent in a black coat. Well, they hops
in, an' Cherokee gives 'em the two back seats on account of the
female an' the yearlin's.
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