Read Online The Long Trail Home by Stephen A. Bly - Free Book Online

ear with the other. “Jist wonderin’ how close you are to finishin’ up. I got me two cash dollars and wanted to play some poker.”
    â€œYou’re looking at the wrong table, boys.” Rocklin tried to shoo them away with the wave of a hand. “Each of these chips are worth five dollars.”
    â€œWooowee! Did you hear that, Kiowa? These boys know how to play poker.” Fortune leaned over the closest man’s shoulder as if to glance at the hand, but the gambler next to that man pulled a pocket pistol out of his vest and shoved it into him.
    â€œBack off, mister!” the gambler growled.
    Fortune raised his hands and jumped back, sloshing hot coffee down the back of the man in front of him. The man’s cards tumbled to the table as he leaped up and spun around, gun in hand.
    â€œSorry, mister. . . . When he pulled a gun on me . . . like to scared me to death,” Sam stammered.
    â€œGet out of here before I shoot you both!” the scalded man bellowed.
    Hands and coffee cup still in the air, Fortune backed away. “We’ll leave. We don’t want to play poker with you anyways. Them kind of cards ain’t no fun.”
    Rocklin pushed his hat back and laid a tightly bunched hand face down in front of him. “What are you talking about?”
    â€œNothin’, nothin’,” Sam insisted. “I don’t ever encourage a man who’s holdin’ a gun on me.”
    â€œPut your guns away,” Rocklin told the two.
    â€œHe’s drunk.”
    â€œBy the looks of things, I seem to be financing this poker game tonight. Put your guns away,” Rocklin repeated.
    Both men hesitated, but they complied and sat back down.
    â€œWhat did you mean, these cards are no fun?” Rocklin re-addressed.
    â€œWell, me and Kiowa are out on the trail by ourselves from time to time, and we play a little poker. But the only deck we have is a marked one that belongs to my half-breed friend, here. Let me tell you, two-man poker with each of you knowin’ what’s in the other man’s hand is about as borin’ as visitin’ with the moon. I ain’t never tried it with four men, so maybe it’s a little more fun.”
    This time when the man went for his gun, Fortune tossed the rest of the coffee down the man’s neck and pressed his own revolver into his back before the man could rise to his feet. Kiowa covered the other two.
    Rocklin shoved the table forward and leaped up. “Are you saying this deck is marked?”
    â€œYou’re holdin’ sixes and twos and an ace of diamonds,” Kiowa reported.
    â€œThey’re just guessin’,” one of the gamblers groused.
    â€œWell, they guessed right.” Rocklin turned his hand over.
    â€œWe didn’t know these cards was rigged. How do we know this cattleman didn’t mark them?” the man to the left of Fortune whined.
    â€œBecause he’s losin’, that’s why. But this is your lucky day,” Fortune added. “I brought a fresh deck over.” He slapped the blueback cards down on the table.
    â€œWe ain’t goin’ to play if we’re insulted like this!” The third gambler rose to his feet.
    â€œIn that case all the money goes to the man over there,” Sam pointed at Rocklin. “If you refuse to play with a new deck, you forfeit all the winnin’s to the man who’s left. That’s the rules.”
    â€œI ain’t never heard that rule,” the gambler beside Fortune muttered.
    Kiowa shoved his revolver into the man’s shoulder blade. “You heard it now. What’s it goin’ to be? You goin’ to play fair or forfeit?”
    â€œI don’t have to put up with these insults. I’m leavin’,” the third man said.
    â€œGood choice,” Kiowa answered.
    The three men backed to the front door but paused by the bar. “We’ll be waitin’ outside for you,”