who was flirting outrageously with
her admirers. Every time her flippant laugh reached him a pained look
crossed his sensitive face, but she pretended to be as unconscious of
it as she appeared to be of his reproachful glances.

Despite his loose play, however, Harry drew a number of hands that a
child could have won with. Finally he laid down his cards and said, "I
guess I won't play any more to-night, Shuter."

"Bring us a drink, Nellie," was Shuter's response.

As Harry raised to his lips the glass of reddish-looking fluid which
Nellie brought, Shuter said insolently, "It's not the custom of men in
this country to run away when they are winning." His daughter heard
the words--as he had intended--and looking Harry full in the face,
shrugged her shoulders contemptuously. No plan of attack could have
been more subtle. Harry's face flushed violently, and sitting down
hastily, he said: "You know it would take me weeks to win back the
money I have lost with you; but it's all right; deal the cards."

As Joe sat and watched this by-play, he was so enraged that he could
scarcely keep from springing to his feet and laying his huge hands on
Shuter.

The biting insult appeared to somewhat sober Harry, and he watched his
play more carefully. As his run of luck still continued, Shuter's
ill-humor increased, till it was quite marked. After the fifth or
sixth deal the crucial game arrived. Both players began to bet heavily
on their hands. Harry met his opponent's bets without a tremor of
excitement, and twice Shuter hesitated as though he would throw up the
game--seeing he could not bluff Harry into doing so, and,
consequently, forfeiting what was already on the table. Suddenly
Shuter said, with an air of quiet confidence, "The stakes are pretty
high now; what do you say to having only one raise more and then
showing our hands? We evidently can't bluff each other, and the best
hand will then have to win."

This subtle effort to discourage his opponent, and make him afraid of
the next raise, failed, as Harry merely nodded and said, "Make your
raise."

There was silence for a few seconds, and then Shuter said, "I will
raise you thirty dollars better." Before this advance the stakes had
run up to about forty dollars, so the raise, among such men, was a
most unusual one. If Harry lost, it meant the forfeiture of his entire
month's salary. Joe was now so intensely interested that he was
leaning eagerly forward; he was suspiciou