It all
comes from them jacks up on eights.'
"With this, Cherokee tells Nell 'good-by,' an' squar's himse'f. He
begins to talk, an' Nell makes a quiet little break for the corral.
"But no hoss is ever needed. Cherokee don't talk a minute when Old
Gentry comes buckin' offen his chair in a 'pleptic fit. A 'pleptic
fit is permiscus an' tryin', an' when Old Gentry gets through an'
comes to himse'f, he's camped jest this side of the dead line. He
can only whisper.
"'Come yere,' says he, motionin' to Cherokee. 'Thar's a stack of
blues where I sets 'em on the ten open, which you ain't turned for
none yet: Take all I has besides an' put with it. If it lose, it's
yours; if it win, give it to the little girl.'
"This is all Old Gentry says, an' he cashes in the very next second
on the list.
"Enright goes through'em, an' thar's over two thousand dollars in
his war-bags; an', obeyin' them last behests, we-alls goes over to
the Red Light an' puts it on the ten along of the stack of blues.
It's over the limit, but Cherokee proceeds with the deal, an' when
it comes I'm blessed if the ten ain't loser an' Cherokee gets it
all.
"'But I won't win none ag'in a dead man; says Cherokee.
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