board the steamer _Eclipse_ from Louisville to New Orleans,
and she was crowded with passengers. I knew all the officers, and
they were glad to see me, as they knew I would make it lively while
I was with them. I opened a few bottles of wine, and finally I
called them all in off the guards and opened up monte. I explained
the game to them. My partner stepped up and looked at it for some
time, and at last he bet me $1,000 and lost it. He then took up
one of my cards and bent up the corner, then showed it to the best
looking sucker that was standing by. Then he turned to me as he
threw it down, and said: "Please mix them up once more." So I
threw them over again, and then I was ready for a bet. He pulled
out his money and put it up in the gentleman's hand that he had
picked out for the solid one. I said, "How much have you got
there?" He said $1,000. I put up the money, and at the same time
I said: "I will make it $5,000 if you wish." "I have not got the
money, or I would." He turned the card over and won. Then he
wanted to bet $2,000; but I told him, "Whenever I get beat I never
want to bet with the same man again." Then the gentleman spoke up
and said, "I will try you once for $1,000." I said I would not
bet less than $2,000, so by a little persuasion he laid it up and
lost. He walked off, and I never saw him again about the table.
I played a short time longer and took in a few hundred dollars,
and then closed up for the evening.

MY CARDS.

The first trip the steamer _Eclipse_ made I was on board. There
were five games of poker running at one time in the cabin. I was
invited into one, and I represented myself as a horseman. I played
on the square, as I wanted to gain their confidence; so when the
game closed for the night, they all thought me a square man. After
all my new friends had retired to their little beds, I got out six
decks of my marked cards and went to the bar. I told the barkeeper
what I wanted, but he objected, as he did not own the bar, and was
afraid it would be found out, and then he would be discharged. I
told him that no one but old gamblers could detect the marks, and
not one in fifty of them, as it was my own private mark. I had
been a good customer at the new bar, so the new barkeeper finally
consented to take my cards and send them to the table where I would
be playing. The next morning after breakfast the games were started,
and my new friends wanted me to sit in