Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/45

 vacancy. A heavy step came around from the other deck, and a hand tapped him on the shoulder. The Colonel turned. It was Cap Wright. "Come, pardner," the Cap spoke with pleasant assurance, "split up."

"What do you mean?" the puzzled Colonel asked.

"You won $785.00," said Cap.

"Maybe so; I didn't count it. What of that?"

"Half for me and Joe—three ninety: two fifty. Quick settlement is our motto. We don't keep no books."

Colonel Spottiswoode stared at the gambler, "I—I do not understand."

Cap Wright stared back in bewilderment; was Prince Jim going to hog him for the whole pile? "Why don't you understand?" he argued. "Warn't it our room? Warn't they our suckers? Didn't Joe invite you there, and didn't I deal you the hands?" Cap Wright slapped him sportily on the shoulder, "Oh, hell, Prince, quit yer joshin'. You didn't think you got them hands fair, did you. Ef twarn't for my dealin' you'd a-been a thousand loser."

Deck lights glowed dimly, and fog horns gasped out their strangling cry. In his rain coat, gray as the night, Colonel Spottiswoode stood leaning against the rail where the mist blew in,