comfortable with the situation.
“Ha!” Stillwater said. He shoved the cards across the table to Clark. “It’s your deal. You do know how to deal, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know how to deal. Everyone knows how to deal,” Clark replied, as if he had been offended by Stillwater’s comment.
Clark picked up the cards, then skillfully, and without being detected, felt them as he began shuffling, checking for pinpricks and uneven corners. He was satisfied that they were playing with an honest deck.
In truth, Clark was exceptionally skilled at cards, but had purposely passed himself off as a novice. Evidently, his ruse had worked, because Stillwater was sure of himself to the point of overconfidence. And that, Stillwater’s overconfidence, was the only edge Clark needed in the game.
Clark dealt the cards. The other players, perhaps motivated by the supposed recklessness of Clark and Stillwater, bet briskly so that, within a few moments, the pot was over two hundred dollars.
“Wait a minute,” Conklin said. “What am I doing here? I’m forty dollars into this pot. How did it get so big? I can’t afford to stay in this game.”
Well, you have this fella to thank for that,” Stillwater said. “He’s all full of himself because he won the last hand.”
“I haven’t been raising the bets, I have just been matching them,” Clark said. “And I think Conklin is right, it has gotten too high, but I am almost too afraid to drop out now. I wish I had been more prudent. I fear that I have too much invested.”
“Hah! Now, sonny, you are in a man’s game,” Stillwater said. “Let’s just see how much of a man you are. It’s going to cost you one hundred dollars to stay in.”
“That’s it, I’m out also,” McWorthy said. “Stillwater, you ain’t got no right to just up and buy a pot like that.”
“Same rules goes for you as goes for the kid here,” Stillwater said. “If you ain’t man enough to stay in the game, you shouldn’t of got into it in the first place. I guess that means I won.” Stillwater chuckled, then reached for the pot and started to pull it toward him. “And now, kid, this is what I mean about teaching you a lesson.”
“Wait a minute,” Clark said. “Don’t I get a chance to bet?”
“You want to bet? Sure, go ahead. Me an’ Cindy can have us a fine old time on your money. The bet to you is one hundred dollars.”
The hesitancy and confusion left Clark’s face, and he stared across the table at Stillwater and smiled. Then the smile turned to a quiet, confident chuckle.
“I’ll see your one hundred, and two hundred more to you,” he said.
“What?” Stillwater gasped.
Clark laid his hand down, putting four cards to one side, and one card separated from the others.
“If you want to see my hand, it’s going to cost you two hundred dollars.”
“I ain’t got that much money. Conklin, lend me two hunnert dollars.”
“Now, tell me, Jules. If I ain’t goin’ to put up the money to stay in the game myself, why should I back you?” Conklin asked.
“McWorthy?”
“I ain’t got two hunnert dollars, Stillwater. I ain’t even got one hunnert dollars. And I wouldn’t lend it to you if I did have it,” McWorthy answered. “Look at the way he laid them cards down. Hell, he’s got four of a kind, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t four aces. I mean, you seen how slow he’s been to bet. You know damn well he wouldn’t be bettin’ no two hunnert dollars if he didn’t have hisself a winnin’ hand.”
By now, the stakes of the game had grown high enough to attract the attention of everyone else in the saloon, and there were several men standing around the table, watching the game with intense interest.
“He’s bluffin', Stillwater,” one of the onlookers said. “Hell, I can tell by lookin’ at him that he’s bluffin'. Call his hand.”
“You got two hunnert dollars?” Stillwater asked.
The man shook his head. “This ain’t my game,” he said. “But if it was my game, I’d call him.”
“Really? Don’t forget, this is the fella who wouldn’t even raise a full house. Is that what you’ve got, Clark? A full house?”
“It can’t be a full house,” Conklin said. “Look at the way he has them cards lyin’ there. Four to one side, and one to the other.”
“It’s like I said,” McWorthy said. “He’s got four of a kind.”
“What are you going to do, Stillwater?” one of the bystanders asked. “You can’t just sit there all night.”
“Will somebody lend me two hunnert dollars?” Stillwater called out. “Anybody?”
The room was quiet for a long moment.
“I will,” Cindy said.
A huge smile spread across Stillwater’s face. “Ha! I know’d that when it come right down to it, you would come back over to my side.”
“If you win, I’ll take the money right now,” Cindy said. “But if you lose, then I’m going to want to be repaid four hundred dollars.”
“What makes you think I have four hundred dollars?”
