THE PMOfSSSOM'S  YARN,	Sftl
*	I caU yon !' said Backus, heaving Ms golden shot-bag oa the
pile.    * What lia¥e you got!'
f Four Mugs, you d—d fool! * and Wiley threw down Ms cards
and surrounded the stakes with Ms arms.
*	Four aces, you ass !* tinindered Backus* coTering Ms man with
a cocked revolver,    * I'm a professional	myself9         I've
been laying for yon dwffers aU tku voyage !*
Down weat the anchor, nimbledy-dmn-diini! and the long trip
was ended.
Well—well, it is a sad world. One of the three gamblers was
Backus's * paL* It was he that dealt the fateful hands. According
to an understanding with the two victims, he was to have given
Backus four queens, "but alas, he didn't.
A week later, I stumbled upon Backus—arrayed in the height of
fasMon—in Montgomery Street, He said? cheerily,, as we were
parting—
*	Ah, by-tlae-way, you needn't mind about those gores,    I don't
really know anything about cattle, except what I was able to pick up
in a week's apprenticeship OTer in Jersey jusfe "before we sailed,    iiy
cattle-culture and cattle-enthusiasm have served their turn—1
need them any raore.J
Next day we reluctantly parted from the * Gold Dust * and her
officers, hoping to see that boat and all those officers again, some day,
A thing which the fates were to render tragically impossible !