k which nearly proved fatal.
At last they doctored him up so he could talk. We were then _en
route_ for St. Louis, but I was too smart to take them there, so
I disembarked at Cape Girardeau, and sold the mules at a reduced
price, for what did a gambler want with a pack of hungry mules
trailing around after him anyhow?

THE CATTLE BUYER.

We had been playing monte one night on the steamer _Southern Belle_,
out from New Orleans, and had closed up. My partner was sitting
out on the guards, and I was in the hall near the bar, when I saw
a gentleman coming down the cabin toward me. I stepped up and
ordered a drink, and as the man came up I invited him to join me.
He accepted, and we entered into conversation. I proposed a game
of euchre to pass the time; he assented, and we sat down. He
proposed to play for ten dollars a game, as it would be more
interesting. I said, "All right." I found him one of the best
players I had ever met. He beat me two straight games, and I saw
I could not beat him on the square, so I began to complain of my
bad luck, and said the deck was unlucky to me. He proposed that
we get another, so I told the barkeeper to bring us a new deck of
cards, which he did, and when he put them on the table I saw they
were my old friends. At this time my partner came up to the table
and remarked: "You gentlemen seem to be enjoying yourselves." I
replied, "We have played four games, and it's a stand-off." He
then said, "If you were playing poker, I would like to take a hand."
The gentleman said, "That will suit me, if you are satisfied." I
said, "All right," and I invited my partner to sit in, which he
did. We bought fifty checks each at a dollar apiece, and commenced
playing. There were a great many of the passengers around the
table, so we played on the square until everybody went to bed and
left us alone; then I ran him up three large jacks, and gave my
partner three queens, and guarded both hands so that nothing could
drop in. Our friend was on my left, and had up a big blind; my
partner just saw his blind. I exposed my hand and said, "That is
too good a pot to lose, so I will raise you gentlemen $150." Our
friend put up, and my partner said, "I believe you are both bluffing;
I see that and raise you $100." I did not want to drive our friend
out, so I raised $100. He put up, and we came to a draw. They
both took two cards, and I stood pat with a nine-spot high. It
was my partner's fir