y of money in sight. I then pretended that I
wanted to back out, and I offered to treat to a bottle of wine.
He said, "No sir; I hold you to the bet." I then acted a little
huffy (as he thought), and offered to bet him $1,000. He put up
$1,000; and as I saw some left, I said, "Here is $500 more, and I
will bet but once." He put up the extra $500. I said to him, "You
know you must turn over the baby card the first time, or you lose."
"All right," he said, and at the same time he grabbed a card as
though he thought it would get away, and turned it over; but it
was not the baby, and I was $1,500 winner, and did not have to
divide with a capper, as I played the old sucker single-handed.
I invited him to take another drink, and then bid him good morning.
As I was going out, I rolled up a fifty-dollar bill into a little
ball, and shot it at the barkeeper. He caught it on the fly, and
put it in his pocket. I went to my room and slept until evening,
when I was up and ready for the bank again.

LOST HIS WIFE'S DIAMONDS.

I was playing poker with a gentleman on board the steamer _John
Simonds_, bound for Louisville, late one night, and had won a few
hundred dollars from him, when he got up without saying a word,
and went to the ladies' cabin. In a short time he came back with
a small velvet-covered box in his hand, and said to me, "Come, let
us finish our game." He opened the box, and I saw it was full of
ladies' diamond jewelry. I said: "What are you going to do with
those?" Said he, "I will put them up as money." "Oh, no, I have
no use for ladies' jewelry." "Well," says he, "if I lose I will
redeem them when we get to Louisville." I told him I was not going
above Vicksburg. "Well," says he, "if you win, leave them with
the clerk and I will pay him." I then loaned him $1,500 on the
jewelry, and we sat down to play. It was about 3 A. M. when we
commenced, and before they wanted the tables for breakfast I had
won the $1,500 back. We drank a champagne cocktail, and he went
to his room. The barber was at work on me, so that I was a little
late for breakfast, and the steward had to take me into the ladies'
cabin to get me a seat. There was a gentleman, a very beautiful
lady, and a sweet little child at the same table; the lady's eyes
were red, as if she had been crying. I looked at the gentleman,
and saw it was the same persons who had lost the diamonds. Somehow,
my breakfast did not suit me; and the more