went back to their bunks, the
kicking contractor went to his room, and we held the fort. I was
told that the same man had lost his money about a year previous
while playing poker with John Deming, and he brought his men up,
threw Deming down, and did not only take the money he lost, but a
large amount besides. I had the same thing tried on me once; so
when I saw a fellow-gambler imposed upon, I went to the front.
Besides, if we let such a thing go too far it would ruin our
business, so I thought it was best to nip it in the bud.

THE BIG SUCKER.

We were out from New Orleans with Captain Bill Harrison one day on
board the steamer _Doubleloon_, and was having a good game of
roulette, when we noticed that most of the fish were suckers, and
did not bite so well at roulette; so we changed our tackle, and
used monte for bait. We were fishing along, and had caught some
pretty good fish, but none of the large ones we saw about the hooks.
Every time we would get one of them to come up and begin nibbling
around, something would scare him away. We put on fresh bait, spit
on it, and threw it out with all the care that we were capable of;
but somehow or another they would not suck in the hook. I knew
the bait was good, for I had caught thousands of suckers with it,
and I could see that there was plenty of that kind of fish around
us. I began looking, and soon discovered the trouble. It was a
great big old sucker who wanted to be a kind of teacher over the
school; for every time one of the young suckers would get up too
close, he would pull his tail, and that would scare the young one
so he would not take hold in earnest. I watched the big sucker
for some time, and I saw it was no use trying to catch anything
until I caught the old school teacher. So I put up my tackle, and
began looking for a bait that would land the old one.

I was walking on the guards, when I saw the man that had back-capped
and spoiled my game. I went up to him and entered into conversation.
I did not let him know I was mad; but I was, all the same, and
would have given $100 to give him one between the eyes; but I soon
thought of a plan to make him contribute a part of what he had kept
me from winning, so I said to him, "I was surprised to see you back-
capping my game, for I could see you were a sporting man. I tried
to give you the wink, and have you come up and win out something,
so the suckers would take hold, but I could not get your eye."