like that--it's ups an' downs. But, in
the long run, a man gets about what's comin' to him. It's like
poker--in the long run the best player is bound to win. There's times
when luck is against him, maybe for months at a stretch. He'll lose
every time he plays, but if he stays with it, an' keeps on playin' the
best he knows how, an' don't go tryin' to force his luck by drawin'
four cards, an' fillin' three-card flushes, why, some day luck will
change an' he wins back all he's lost an' a lot more with it, because
there's always someone in the game that's throwin' their money away
drawin' to a Judson."

"What is a Judson?"

"Bill Judson was a major, an' next to playin' poker, he liked other
things. Every time he'd get three cards of a suit in a row, he'd draw
to 'em, hopin' for a straight flush. That hope cost him, I reckon,
hundreds of dollars, an' at last he filled one--but, hell! Everyone
laid down, an' he gathered the ante." The Texan rolled another
cigarette. "An' that's the way it is with me--I tried to force my
luck. I might as well own up to it right here an' get it over with.
You've be'n square, straight through, an' I haven't. I was stringin'
you with all that bunk about politics, an' you bein' sure to get hung
for shootin' Purdy. Fact is, the grand jury would have turned you
loose as soon as your case come up. But, from the first minute I laid
eyes on that girl, I wanted her. I'm bad enough, but not like Purdy.
I figured if she'd go half-way, I'd go the other half. So I planned
the raid on the wool-warehouse, an' the fake lynchin', purpose to get
her out of town. I didn't care a damn about you--you was just an
excuse to get her away. I figured on losing you after we hit the
mountains. The first jolt I got was in the warehouse, when we didn't
have to drag you out. Then I got another hell of a one in the coulee
under the cottonwoods. Then they got to comin' so thick I lost track
of 'em. An' the first thing I knew I would have killed any man that
would look crossways at _her_. It come over me all of a sudden that I
loved her. I tried to get out of it, but I was hooked. I watched
close, an' I saw that she liked me--maybe not altogether for what she
thought I'd done for you. But you was in the road. I knew she liked
you, too, though she wouldn't show it. 'Everything's fair in love or
war,' I kept sayin' over an' over to myself when I'd lay thinkin' it
over of nights. But, I knew it was a