his tents and let him
take your money away from you?

"It is true that, once in a while, a solitary player gets a few dollars
away from a gambler. Yet, in the end, the gambler has every dollar of
the crowd that patronizes him. You men have been out in the hot sun for
weeks, working hard to earn the money that the pay train is bringing
you. Has Jim Duff done any work in the last few weeks? While you men
have been toiling and sweating, what has Duff been doing? Hasn't he been
going around wearing the clothes and the air of a gentleman, while you
men have been giving all but your lives for your dollars, while you have
been denied most of the comforts of living. Hasn't Duff been up at the
Mansion House, living on the fat of the land and smiling to himself
every time he thought of you men, who would be ready to hand him all of
your money as soon as it came to you? Is the gambler, who grows fat on
the toil of others, but never toils himself, any better than the vulture
that feeds upon the animals killed by others? Isn't the gambler a
parasite, pure and simple? On whose lifeblood does the gambler feed,
unless it's on yours?"

Tom continued his harangue, becoming more and more intense, yet carrying
his talk along in all simplicity, and with a directness that made scores
of the workmen look sheepish.

"Whenever you find a man anywhere who professes to be working for your
good, or for your amusement, and who gets all the benefit in the end,
why don't you open your eyes to him?" Tom inquired presently. "Over
in Paloma there are saloon keepers who are cleaning up their dives and
opening new lots of liquor that they feel sure they're going to sell you
to-night. These dive keepers are ready to welcome you with open arms,
and they'll try to make you feel that you're royal good fellows and that
they are the best friends you have in the world. Yet, to-morrow morning,
how will the property be divided? The keepers of these saloons and Jim
Duff will have all your money and what will you have?"

Tom paused, whipping out a white handkerchief that he deftly bound
around his head, meanwhile looking miserable.

"That's what you men will have--and that's all that you'll have left,"
croaked the young chief engineer dismally. "Now, friends, is the game
worth a candle of that sort? How many of you have money in the bank? Let
every man here who has put up his hand. Not one of you? Who's keeping
your money in bank for you? Jim Duff and the selle