yes. When I saw the mail sacks, it struck me that there might be
quite a crowd; so I came up as quickly as I could and got in line. There
were a number before me, but I got a place pretty well up in front. Sold
the place for five dollars, and only had to stand there about an hour at
that."

"Good head!" I admired. "I'd never have thought of it. How have you
gotten on?"

"Pretty rotten," confessed Johnny. "I tried all morning to find a decent
opportunity to do something or deal in something, and then I got mad and
plunged in for odd jobs. I've been a regular errand boy. I made two
dollars carrying a man's bag up from the ship."

"How much all told?"

"Fifteen. I suppose you've got your pile."

"That twenty-five you saw me get is the size of it."

Johnny brightened; we moved up closer in a new intimacy and sense of
comradeship over delinquency. It relieved both to feel that the other,
too, had failed. To enter the Plaza we had to pass one of the larger of
the gambling places.

"I'm going in here," said Johnny, suddenly.

He swung through the open doors, and I followed him.

The place was comparatively deserted, owing probably to the distribution
of mail. We had full space to look about us; and I was never more
astonished in my life. The outside of the building was rough and
unfinished as a barn, having nothing but size to attract or recommend.
The interior was the height of lavish luxury. A polished mahogany bar
ran down one side, backed by huge gilt framed mirrors before which were
pyramided fine glasses and bottles of liquor. The rest of the wall space
was thickly hung with more plate mirrors, dozens of well-executed oil
paintings, and strips of tapestry. At one end was a small raised stage
on which lolled half-dozen darkies with banjos and tambourines. The
floor was covered with a thick velvet carpet. Easy chairs, some of them
leather upholstered, stood about in every available corner. Heavy
chandeliers of glass, with hundreds of dangling crystals and prisms,
hung from the ceiling. The gambling tables, a half dozen in number, were
arranged in the open floor space in the centre. Altogether it was a most
astounding contrast in its sheer luxury and gorgeous furnishing to the
crudity of the town. I became acutely conscious of my muddy boots, my
old clothes, my unkempt hair, my red shirt and the armament strapped
about my waist.

A relaxed, subdued air of idleness pervaded the place. The gamblers
lounged back