Read Online Eureka by William Diehl - Free Book Online

him, thanking him for saving the valley.
    O’Dell threw his suit jacket over his shoulder and propped his derby on the back of his head. He started toward the door and over his shoulder he yelled, “Hey, Gorman.”
    Eli stared at him through the friends gathered around him.
    â€œI just want you to know that I sold the six square blocks of Eureka to Arnie Riker this afternoon for a dollar. You got rid of me, I’m leaving tonight. But you’re gonna have Riker up your ass until the day you die.”

    The celebrating was over, and Ben and Brodie had gone off to bed. Eli decided to have a final cigar and told Maddy he would be upstairs in a few minutes. He went out the back door, snipped the end off his stogie, and lit it. He heard Brodie’s voice down near the stable and followed it out to the paddock.
    Brodie was feeding Cyclone an apple, telling the horse about the game.
    â€œIt was really somethin’ to see,” he said softly to the white horse.
    The remark surprised Eli.
    â€œDo you have something to tell me, Thomas?” he asked.
    When Brodie didn’t answer, the old man went in. “I can read you like I can read a hand of cards. I can see it in your face.”
    â€œSee what?”
    â€œA kind of admiration toward me I’ve never seen before.”
    â€œWell, sure. You won the game.”
    â€œNot just that.”
    Brodie could not lie to Eli Gorman. He stuck his hands in his pockets and thought for a moment and said, “We was . . . were . . . there, Mr. Eli. Ben and me were hiding up in the loft.”
    â€œWhat!” he snapped, his face clouding up.
    â€œAh, c’mon, sir, you think we could pass it up? We were behind you and we had the opera glasses. I saw every hand you played.” Brodie flashed his crooked smile. “You were really something, Mr. Eli.”
    Eli glowered for a moment more, then the glower slowly turned to a smile. He nodded.
    â€œI should have guessed,” he said. “Too good a show to miss, eh?”
    â€œBut I got one question,” Brodie said.
    â€œWhat question is that?”
    â€œOn that last hand? Why did you only bet a hundred dollars?”
    â€œDid you watch him? He’s a sloppy player. He never counted his money, he just piled it up. I’m a numbers man, Thomas. I knew after every hand where we both stood.
    â€œThe pot was sixty-four hundred dollars. I knew O’Dell had his full house already, he barely looked at his last card. And I had my straight flush. O’Dell had sixty-nine hundred, I had sixty-seven hundred. By betting a hundred dollars, it limited the pot to sixty-six hundred, which is what I had, so there was no way he could bet me out of the game. When I beat him, he had two hundred dollars left, just enough for an ante and one bet, so he was beat. Had I bet the limit, he could have raised me four hundred, and with only two hundred left, I couldn’t call the bet and he would have won.”
    â€œI saw you throw in four winning hands during the night.”
    â€œActually five. So he pegged me for a poor bluffer. On that last hand, he figured me for a small straight and thought I was trying to bluff him out with a small bet when he checked. There’s no way he wasn’t going to bump my hundred-dollar bet and run me out of the game.”
    Brodie shook his head. “You didn’t have your winning hand until the last card.”
    â€œThat’s right. If I hadn’t drawn that three of diamonds when he checked I would have checked, too. He would have won the hand, but I still would have had sixty-seven hundred dollars.
    Eli ground out his cigar, started for the house, then stopped and turned back around. “Did you learn anything tonight, Thomas?”
    â€œOh yes, sir. I learned two things.”
    â€œAnd what were they?”
    â€œThe art of the bluff,” Brodie answered. “And the luck of the draw.”

    Writing the letters was the hardest