Roy Norton

“ When he turned there was a wicked-looking gun in his hand, and even the semblance of good humor was gone from his face.
“Slippers, you took a poke off a friend of mine up there in the trading-post. I’ve come to get it.”
It was a bold guess and a steady bluff, but it worked. Slippers retreated slowly until his back was against the frame of the tiny window. The light was shining full on the gambler’s face and brought out no sign of uncertainty or of mercy. Slippers read danger-signals, and, knowing the man, feared delay would prove dangerous. ”

“ He would take it, would go to it, and with his hands wrest from it a living, and then—and then!—he would come back to the woman. Would come, when he could, as other men who had injured none of their fellows or robbed women and children. He knew now that he wanted her more than anything on earth, that for her respect alone he would willingly give his life. To buy the claim and meet with success made all things possible. ”

“ It was the outgoing man who had been lucky that he wanted to meet, the one who played big stakes and suffered no serious setback if relieved of part of his gleanings.
“All they’re looking for is bags enough to hold the gold they’re going to pick up,” he muttered with a half grin, as he turned away up the trail back of the traders, and then he came to a stop. Alongside the trail, seated on a log and bathed in tears, was the chekako. The gambler always felt a little sorry for a man in tears, although they were unknown to his own make-up. ”

“ Big Jim drawled, “I’ve let you off easy. If I ever hear of you even whispering of that little woman again, I’ll kill you like a timber-wolf. Understand?” He gave the man a parting kick and went back into the cabin, where no one dared to speak of the incident, and calmly resumed the shuffling of the cards.
Daily his field of operations, despite the camp’s prosperity, became more limited. This was due to his more intimate knowledge of the men who came before him, for, strange as it might appear, he seemed to be drawing the line on those who had others dependent on them. ”

“ Big Jim threw the deck on the table. “Shuffle those,” he said. “I’ll give you a chance. No man lives who can say I didn’t give him his chance. Now cut! The highest card wins, and I’ll lay a hundred against your ten-dollar watch.”
The loser, with trembling hand, reached out and turned a deuce spot, and Big Jim quietly turned a king. The young man staggered to his feet, wiped his hand across his eyes feverishly, and started away.
“Here,” called Big Jim. “I don’t want your watch,” but the man jammed his hat over his eyes and went out through the cabin door. ”

“ Big Jim talked in a very low and unusually kind voice. “You’re nothing but a boy,” he said, “and a big fool. I’m going to tell you something. It’s off suckers like you that gamblers live. Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that you can beat a game, because you can’t. It was my business to make my living by winning. It’s professional skill, by men who know all about it, against the fellow who doesn’t understand what he’s up against. ”

“ Prospectors, though broke, were admittedly on a plane with millionaires, but no man might cleanly hold his head erect if he permitted any other human being to give him orders and dictate his goings and comings.
It was on a day when a little steamboat, bound up-river, had shoved her snub nose against the clay bank and dumped off, for a few hours, a throng of gold-seekers that the chekako came to grief. The trading-post was crowded with men seeking to add to their outfits of northern garb, to buy sealskin boots, or to replenish their tobacco supply. ”

“ Day by day he went to the restaurant, because he could not deny himself this one chance of seeing the trim woman with the brown eyes, although no words passed between them other than those of necessity. And he found many ways of assisting her without her knowledge. Once a pack-driver from up the river made a coarse remark regarding her. Big Jim deliberately arose from his table, walked around to where the man sat, caught him by the throat, and fairly threw him through the cabin door. The man arose from the snow gasping and rubbing his throat, while the gambler stood above him. ”

“ The woman was annoyed at the chekako’s ingratitude, but worse than that was the knowledge that the gambler had undoubtedly lied. He was beneath contempt.
The river took on its coating of ice, the snows fell, and the camp was locked in its long winter isolation. The woman prospered, and fortune played up and down with the gambler. He still made attempts to win the woman’s regard, but now she barely spoke to him. ”

“ It was in the days of the first rush, when innocents were plenty and the lure of the new camp had brought not only them and the hardened adventurers of the earth, but also those who, in divers forms, prey on quick prosperity. There had come among them in the first rush a chekako—tenderfoot—a man not versed in the lore of the hills, or familiar with the ways of the frontier, and he had worked for other men. ”

“ Maybe I ain’t never done anything good, and maybe I ain’t got much, but I’m not any worse than the worst man in camp. You might at least treat me as well as the others, because I want you to like me; but you won’t. What’s the reason? Come, let’s have it out!”
The woman came directly opposite him on her side of the rough slab counter before which he sat. “You want to know the reason? Well, I’ll tell you. When I first came here, I don’t know that I particularly disliked you. First, I learned that you were a gambler. ”

“ You were going to be a bigger fool yet, and a coward as well, while the girl who believed in you would have waited, and waited, and waited, till her heart grew sick and there wasn’t nothing worth living for. ”

“ She had been speaking quietly, but now she rested her hands on the edge of the counter and leaned toward him, talking with intensity. Her eyes glittered and were opened wide.
“You’re not only a gambler, but a thief—a common cutpurse! You robbed the chekako of his gold, then—God knows why—gave it back to him under the pretext that you had found it in a place which you couldn’t possibly have reached, let alone return from, in the time you said. ”

“ Stay aboard the boat till she gets you to some place where you’ve got friends.”
The door slammed behind him, and in a minute the gangplank shook beneath his feet as he retraced his steps to where he had left the forlorn chekako; but the latter was gone. Big Jim found him in the restaurant where held forth the woman.
“Hello,” he said by way of greeting, and the woman, who had been listening to the tale of woe, ended her attempt at condolence. The gambler nodded to her, looked around the place until satisfied that no one else was present, and then threw the poke down on the counter. ”

“ It may be that at times he had questioned whether there might not be better occupations for a man who was inherently honest, but such introspection had not shown him any other means of a livelihood to which he might turn his hand with equal gain. ”

“ Big Jim took it and slipped it into his pocket.
“I ain’t going to say nothing to anybody, Slippers,” he remarked, “because you’re in the wrong country. They hang men like you here, so I don’t reckon it’s a healthy place for you. Besides hanging there’s fevers and other things to take a man off. ”