it us; and for fear some one would use it when we
were out traveling for our health, we paid for it all the time.
We had a good boy that liked to lie down and make money, so we
would put him in the upper berth while the game was in progress.
He would look through the peep-hole, and if our friend had one pair
he would pull the wire once; if two pair, twice; if threes, three
times; if fours, four times, etc. We would kick off one boot and
put our foot over the nail, and then we would be able to tell what
hand our friend held. One day I was playing a friend at our table,
and he was seated in his chair. I got the signals all right for
some time, and then the under-current seemed to be broken. I waited
for the signals until I could not wait any longer, for I was a
little behind (time), so I picked up a spittoon and let fly at our
room. That restored communications, and I received the signals
all right. My friend wanted to know what I threw the spittoon for.
I told him the cards were running so bad that I got mad; and that
an old nigger had told me once it was a good sign to kick over a
spittoon when playing cards; so I thought I would not only kick it
over, but would break the d----d thing all to pieces. He replied,
"I noticed that your luck changed just after you threw her, and I
will try it the next time I play in bad luck."

GOT UP TOO SOON.

We were passengers with Captain J. M. White on board the steamer
_Katie_, bound for New Orleans, one night, and I had taken a look
over the boat, but there was nothing in sight. I was sitting in
the hall near the bar, drinking wine and enjoying myself, when a
fine looking gentleman came out of his room near by and asked me
if supper was over. I told him it was, and asked him to join me
in some wine, as he looked like he wanted something. He accepted
the invitation, and told me he was hungry. I called the porter
and told him to go to the pantry and get the gentleman a lunch,
which he did. He thanked me for my kindness, for he thought I
acted from pure motives (which I did), and then invited me to join
him in some wine. I accepted, for I thought his intentions were
honorable. While we were talking and drinking, I asked the barkeeper
if he had any of the tickets that the gentleman played the new game
with before supper. He said he had, and gave me some of them. I
began throwing. We bet the drinks, cigars, and drinks again. I
lost most of the time. My capper lost