Tables of all
sizes filled the center of the room from the long roulette board to the
little round ones where drinks were served. Faro, monte, roulette, rouge
et noir, vingt-un, chuck-a-luck and poker: each found its disciples;
now and then a man went quietly out and another took his place; there
was nothing to indicate that he had lost perhaps thousands of dollars,
the "clean-up" of a summer of hardships at the mines. A bushy bearded
miner boasted that he had won $40,000 and lost it again in an hour and a
half. Henry Mellus offered him work as a teamster and the
other accepted.
"Easy come, easy go," he commented philosophically and, lighting his
pipe from one of the sticks of burning punk placed at intervals along
the bar, he went out.
In an out-of-the-way corner, where the evening's noise and activity
ebbed and flowed a little more remotely, Benito discovered Broderick
chewing an unlighted cigar and discussing the probabilities of election
with John Geary. They hailed him cordially, but in a little while Geary
drifted off to learn further news of the polls.
"And how is the charming Mrs. Windham?" asked Broderick.
"Well and happy, thank you," said Benito.
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