piker made a smash at me. I
dodged and caught him an upper cut, and the bouncer grabbed him and
threw him out. This sort of sobered Arthur up, and for a while he
played 'em 'cagey.' I goes over by him, and puts up a bluff to the
gang that I 'm a friend of his. You see I wanted to get him out before
they got his money away. It was a 'pipe' he'd lose it all the minute
his luck turned. But as long as I was n't playing myself, I knew I 'd
better not get too gay, but I watched his bets, and stacked his chips,
and saw that no one pinched his sleepers.

"Well, every few minutes he 'd call for a drink, and what do you think
he was drinking? Sherry. Did you ever get a jag on sherry? Well,
neither did I, but it gives you a 'beaut.' Arthur had a 'carry-over'
that lasted him for about three days. He 'd slap his chips down any
old place. It was the funniest thing you ever saw. But he was playing
in drunken luck, and I let him do what he wanted to.

"Well, to make a long story short, I finally 'cashed him in' for $200.
I got him into a hack, and took him to my room. But say, when I got
that boy undressed and abed and asleep, I 'll tell you like these: I
was just three minutes ahead of a fit, and the fit was gaining on me
fast. I had to take a couple of absinthes before I could get myself
together. But you ought to have seen Kendall in the morning. He had a
horrible 'sorry' on. The wheels were buzzing around in his head until
I believe if he 'd have put his fingers in his ears, they 'd have been
cut off--I do on the square. He could n't remember a thing he 'd done,
except that he started out on a 'sandy' after he left me playing
roulette--the night before, you recollect, and he got a 'package'
aboard that he ought to have made at least two trips for.

"I gave him his money, and told him where I found him, and how I saved
it for him, and he began to cry like a baby. You see his nerves were
all to pieces. He wanted me to take him home; nothing would do but he
must go home. He felt too rocky to go alone, and besides he could n't
trust himself. He begged me for God's sake not to leave him or he 'd
get full again, or shoot himself.

"I found out afterward that he had solemnly promised his girl that he
'd never get drunk again. That's what it was that gave him that awful
'sorry.' You know how it is when you love a girl. While you 're with
her it seems dead easy to live decent, and do what 's right, and you
pro