Judge saw a great light.

"You, _Thompson_!" he roared. "Turn over that hand! I feel that you
have treated this Court with the greatest contemptibility!" He pawed
the discard with frantic haste, producing the seven of hearts.

"Why, you pink-cheeked, dewy-eyed catamaran! What----_have_ you got,
anyway?"

"Why, Judge," said Steve earnestly, "I've got a strong case of
circumstantial evidence." He turned over the eight of hearts; then,
after a pause, the ace, king, queen and jack of spades; and resumed
the stacking of his chips. "I discarded that seven of hearts," he
said, smiling at the Merchant.

A howl of joyous admiration went up; the Transient raked in the pot.

"The Crime of the Century!" bellowed the Judge. "I'm the victim of the
Accomplished Fact! Cash my checks! I'm going to join the Ladies' Aid!"

"Aw, shut up," gasped the Transient. "No sleep till morn where youth
and booty meetsh! Give ush 'nother deck!"

But Steve, having stacked his chips, folded the bills and put them in
his pocket.

"What's the matter with you, you old fool?" demanded the Eminent
Person affectionately. "You can't quit now."

Steve rose, bowing to right and left, spreading his hand over his
heart. "Deeply as I regret and, as I might say, deplore, to quit a
good easy game," he declaimed, "I must now remove myself from your
big midst. For a Lalla-Cooler can only be played once in one night.
Besides, I've always heard that no man ever quit ahead of the game,
and I'm going to prove the rule. I will never play another card, never
no more!"

"What--not in your whole life?" said the Stockman, chin on hand,
raising his eyebrows at the last word.

"Oh--in my whole _life_!" admitted Steve. He drew a dollar from his
pocket, balanced it on his thumb, and continued: "We will now invoke
the arbitrament of chance to decide the destinies of nations. Heads, I
order an assortment of vines and fig trees, go back to the Jornado
and become a cattle-king, I proceed to New-York-on-the-Hudson, by the
Ess-Pee at 3:15 this A.M. presently, and arouse that somnolent city
from its Rip Van Winkle."

The coin went spinning to the ceiling. "Tails!" said the Merchant,
picking it up. "I must warn my friends on Wall Street, Hello! this is
a bad dollar!"

"I'll keep it for a souvenir of the joyful occasion," said Steve.
"Just one more now, and we'll all go home!"

"Hold on, you abandoned profligate!" said the Judge. "You don't know
any one in the Big Burgh,