one man havin' sense enough and nerve enough to git in on
it.

"Do I see any more of your money, gents, before I roll the dice? Do I
see any more of your money of the ream and dominion of Uncle Sam, with
the eagle a spreadin' his legs, with his toes full of arrers, and his
mouth wide open a hollerin' de-fiance and destruction ag'in' his
innimies on land and sea, wheresomever they may be, as the feller said?

"Do I see any more of your money, gents? Do I git sight of any more?
Lowest bet's one dollar, gents, and you might as well git in on the
finish and let the old man go up with a whoop. I'm game, gents; I go the
limit. Do I see any more of your money? Do I see any more?"

He did. He saw considerably more than he had seen at one time since he
opened the game in Comanche. He seemed greatly affected by the sight,
shaking his head with solemnity and casting his eye around with
reproach.

"That's right! That's right!" said he. "Sock it to a old feller when
you've got him down! That's the way of this cold world. Well, all I ask
of you, gents"--he paused in his request to shake the box again, holding
it poised for the throw--"is this: When you clean me I ask you to stake
me, between you, to twenty-seven dollars. Twenty-seven's my lucky
number; I was borned on the 27th day of Jannewarry, and I always bet on
twenty-seven."

He poured the dice upon the table, reaching for his pile of bills and
gold as if to cash in on the winnings as he set the box down, even while
the dice were rolling and settling. But at that point the one-eyed man
stayed his hand, bending over the dice as if he could not believe his
eye.

"Well, bust me!" said he, sighing as if honestly disappointed in the
throw. "M' luck's turned! Dang me, fellers, if I didn't win!"

Without enthusiasm, still shaking his head sadly, he drew the winnings
over the table, sorting the bills, shuffling them into neat heaps,
adding them to his enticing pile, which lay heaped upon a green cloth at
his hand.

"I don't know why I stick to this game, gents," said he, "for it's all
ag'in' me. I don't win once in nine hundred times. This here's more
money than I've took in at any one time since I come to Comanche, and
it's more'n I ever expect to take in ag'in if I stay here forty-nine
years.

"But it's in m' blood to bet on twenty-seven. I can't help it, boys.
It'll be the ruination of me ag'in, like it's ruined me many a time
before; but I got to roll 'em! I got to roll