a sudden rosy view of life through a temporary mist of
watering eyes.

"A-ah! That puts guts into a man," quoth Jim. "Shall we have another? One
more?"

"Not now. The next shall be on me. Let's look around," I gasped.

"We'll find her," he promised. "Take a stroll. I'll steer you right. Have
a seegar, anyway."

As smoking vied with drinking, here in the Big Tent where even the dancers
cavorted with lighted cigars in their mouths, I saw fit to humor him.

"Cigars it shall be, then. But I'll pay." And to my nod the bartender set
out a box, from which we selected at twenty-five cents each. With my own
"seegar" cocked up between my lips, and my revolver adequately heavy at my
belt, I suffered the guidance of the importunate Jim.

We wended leisurely among games of infinite variety: keno, rondo coolo,
poker, faro, roulette, monte, chuck-a-luck, wheels of fortune--advertised,
some, by their barkers, but the better class (if there is such a
distinction) presided over by remarkably quiet, white-faced,
nimble-fingered, steady-eyed gentry in irreproachable garb running much to
white shirts, black pantaloons, velvet waistcoats, and polished boots, and
diamonds and gold chains worn unaffectedly; low-voiced gentry, these,
protected, it would appear, mainly by their lookouts perched at their
sides with eyes alert to read faces and to watch the play.

We had by no means completed the tour, interrupted by many jests and nods
exchanged between Jim and sundry of the patrons, when we indeed met My
Lady. She detached herself, as if cognizant of our approach, from a little
group of four or five standing upon the floor; and turned for me with hand
outstretched, a gratifying flush upon her spirited face.

"You are here, then?" she greeted.

I made a leg, with my best bow, not omitting to remove hat and cigar,
while agreeably conscious of her approving gaze.

"I am here, madam, in the Big Tent."

Her small warm hand acted as if unreservedly mine, for the moment. About
her there was a tingling element of the friendly, even of the intimate.
She was a haven in a strange coast.

"Told you I'd find him, didn't I?" Jim asserted--the bystanders listening
curiously. "There he was, lookin' as lonesome as a two-bit piece on a
poker table in a sky-limit game. So we had a drink and a seegar, and been
makin' the grand tower."

"You got your outfit, I see," she smiled.

"Yes. Am I correct?"

"You have saved yourself annoyance. You'll do,"