We found a small table, one of the several to for the dancers, in a corner and unoccupied. The affair upon the floor was past history—if it merited even that distinction. The place had resumed its program of dancing, playing and drinking as though after all a pistol shot was of no great moment in the Big Tent.  
“You had a narrow shave,” my friend remarked as we seated ourselves—I with a sigh of for the opportunity. “If you can’t draw quicker you’d better keep your hands in your pockets. Let’s have a dose of t’rant’lar juice to set you up.” Whereupon he ordered whiskey from a waiter.
 
“But I couldn’t stand by and see him strike a woman,” I defended.
 
“Wall, fists mean guns, in these diggin’s. Where you from?”
 
“Albany, New York State.”
 
“I sized you up as a pilgrim. You ’t been long in camp, either, have you?”
 
“No. But plenty long enough,” I replied.
 
“Long enough to be plucked, eh?”
 
We had drunk the whiskey. Under its warming influence my tongue loosened. Moreover there was something strong and in the voice and the rough face of this rudely clad plainsman, black bearded to the piercing black eyes.
 
“Yes; of my last cent.”
 
“All at gamblin’, mebbe?”
 
“No. Only a little, but that me. The hotel had robbed me of practically everything else.”
 
“Had, had it? Wall, what’s the story?”
 
I told him of the hotel part; and he nodded.
 
“Shore. You can’t hold the hotel responsible. You can leave stuff loose in regular camp; nobody enters flaps without permission. But a room is a different proposition. I’d rather take chances among Injuns than among white men. Why, you could throw in with a Sioux village for a year and not be robbed permanent if the chief thought you straight; but in a white man’s town—hell! Now, how’d you get up with this other ?”
 
“Which?” I .
 
“That outfit I found you with.”
 
“The fellow is a stranger to me, sir,” said I. “I simply was foolish enough to stake what little I had on a sure thing—I was into following the lead of the rest of you,” I reminded. “Now I see that there was a trick, although I don’t yet understand. After that the fellow assaulted the lady, my 133companion, and you stepped in—for which, sir, I owe you more thanks than I can utter.”
 
“A trick, you think?” He opened his hairy mouth for a of short laughter. “My Gawd, boy! We were nicely took in, and we desarved it. When you the tiger, look out for his claws. But I reckoned he’d the turn till next time. He would have, if you fellers hadn’t come down so handsome with the dust. I stood pat, at that. So, you notice, did the capper, your other friend.”
 
“The capper? Which was he, sir?”
 
“Why, Lord bless you, son. You’re the greenest thing this side of Omyha. A capper touched him on the shoulder, a capper that there card, a capper you all on with a dollar or two, and another capper fed the come-ons to his table. Aye, she’s a purty piece. Where’d you meet up with her?”
 
“With her?” I .
 
“Yes, yes. The woman; the main steerer. That purty piece who damn nigh lost you your life as well as losin’ you your money.”
 
“You mean the lady with the blue eyes, in black?”
 
“Yes, the golden hair. Lady! Oh, pshaw! Where’d she hook you? At the door?”
 
“You shall not speak of her in that fashion, sir,” I answered. “We were together on the train from Omaha. She has been kindness itself. The only part she has played to-night, as far as I can see, was to chaperon me here in the Big Tent; and whatever small winnings I had made, for amusement, was due to her and the skill of an acquaintance named Jim.”
 
“Jim Daily, yep. O’ course. And she befriended you. Why, d’you suppose?”
 
“Perhaps because I was of some assistance to her on the way out West. I had a little setto with Mr. Daily, when he annoyed her while he was drunk. But sobered up, he seemed to wish to make .”
 
“Oh, Lord!” My friend’s mouth . “Amends? Yep. That’s his nature. Might call it mendin’ his pocket and his lip. And you don’t yet that your ’lady’ ’s Montoyo’s wife—his woman, anyhow?”
 
“Montoyo? Who’s Montoyo?”
 
“The monte thrower. That same spieler who trimmed us,” he rapped impatiently.
 
The light that broke upon me dazed. My heart pounded. I must have looked what I felt: a fool.
 
“No,” I in my thin small voice of the hotel. “I imagined—I had reason to suspect that she might be married. But I didn’t know to whom.”
 
“Married? Wall, mebbe. Anyhow, she’s bound to Montoyo. He’s a breed, some Spanish, some white, like as not some Injun. A devil, and as slick as they make ’em. She’s a power too white for him, herself, but he uses her and some day he’ll kill her. You’re not the fust gudgeon she’s hooked, to feed to him. Why, she’s known all back down the line. They two have been followin’ end o’ track from North Platte, along with Hell on Wheels. Had a layout in Omyha, and in Denver. They’re not the only double-harness outfit hyar, either. You can meet a friendly woman any time, but this one got hold you fust.”
 
I to the words.
 
“And that fellow Jim?” I asked.
 
“He’s jest a common roper. He alluz wins, to encourage suckers like you. ’Tisn’t his money he plays with; he’s on commish. Beginnin’ to understand, ain’t you?”
 
“But the bent card?” I insisted. “That is the mystery. It was the queen. What became of the queen?”
 
“Ho ho!” And again he laughed. “A cute trick, shore. That’s what we got for bein’ so ourselves. Why, o’ course it was the queen, once. You see ’twas this way. That she-male and the capper in cahoots with her tolled you on straight for Montoyo’s table; teased you a leetle along the trail, no doubt, to keep you interested.” I nodded. “They promised you winnin’s, easy winnin’s. Then at Montoyo’s table the game was a leetle slack; so one capper touched him on the shoulder and another marked the card. O’ course a gambler like him wouldn’t be up to readin’ his own cards. Oh, no! You sports were the smart ones.”
 
“How about yourself?” I retorted, .
 
“Me? I know them tricks, but I reckoned I was smart, too. Then that capper Jim led out and we all made a small winnin’, to prove the system. And Montoyo, he gets tired o’ losin’—but still he’s blind to a card that everybody else can see, and he calls for real play so he can go broke or even up. I didn’t look for much of a deal on that throw myself. Usu’ly it comes less promisc’yus, with the gudgeon stakin’ the big roll, and then I pull out. But you-all slapped down the stuff in a stampede, sartin you had him buffaloed. On his last he’d straightened the queen and turned down the eight, usin’ an extra finger or two. Them card sharps have six fingers on each hand and several in their sleeve, and he was slicker’n I thought. He might have refused all bets and got your mad up for the next pass; but you’d come down as handsome as you would, he figgered. So he let go. ’Twas fair and squar’, robber eat robber, and we none of us have any call to howl. But you mind my word: Don’t aim to put something over on a professional gamblin’ sharp. It can’t be done. As for me, I broke even and I alluz expect to lose. When I look to be skinned I leave most my dust behind me where I can’t get at it.”
 
Now I saw all, or enough. I had received no more than I deserved. Such a wave of surged into my mouth—but he was continuing.
 
“Jest why he struck his woman I don’t know. Do you?”
 
“Yes. She had cautioned me and he must have heard her. And she showed which was the right card. I don’t understand that.”
 
“To save her face, and egg you on. Shore! Your twenty dollars was nothin’. She didn’t know you were . Next time she’d have you to the of a hundred or two and cleaned you proper. You hadn’t been worked along, yet, to the right pitch o’ smartness. Montoyo must ha’ mistook her. She encouraged you, didn’t she?”
 
“Yes, she did.” I arose unsteadily, clutching the table. “If you’ll excuse me, sir, I think I’d better go. I—I—I thank you. I only wish I’d met you before. You are at liberty to regard me as a saphead. Good-night, sir.”
 
“No! Hold on. Sit down, sit down, man. Have another drink.”
 
“I have had enough. In fact, since arriving in Benton I’ve had more than enough of everything.” But I sat down.
 
“Where were you goin’?”
 
“To the hotel. I am privileged to stay there until to-morrow. Thank Heaven I was obliged to pay in advance.”
 
“Alluz safer,” said he. “And then what?”
 
“To-morrow?”
 
“Yes. To-morrow.”
 
“I don’t know. I must find employment, and ear............