ll good night. Then tiptoeing back he whispered in my ear: "Say, I
want to give you a little advice: Never come in on less than jacks, and
never raise a one-card draw, unless you 've got a 'pat' yourself. If
you stick to that you 'll have the coin when the rest of the gang are
'on the tram.'"

IV

The following morning at about 10 o'clock Checkers sauntered into my
office; his hands in his pockets; his hat on the back of his head;
smoking the ubiquitous cigarette.

I was busy at the time with my morning's mail.

Picking up the daily paper he tilted back comfortably in a chair, and
interested himself in the sporting news.

"Well, Checkers," I said, when at last I had finished, "How are you
this morning, my boy?"

"If I felt any better I could n't stand it," he answered, throwing down
the paper. "But you do n't look very fit. How did you come out with
the boys last night?"

"About even," I replied, deprecatorily.

He smiled in a most exasperating way.

[Illustration: MR. PRESTON]

"Now I'll tell you," he said growing suddenly confidential. "There 's
a 'hot thing' coming off to-day, and I want you to put a swell bet on
it. They've been laying dead with it all the meeting--pulled his head
off his last two outs--but to-day they 've got him in a good soft spot,
and they 're going to 'put it over the plate.'"

"Checkers," I said, "I want you to understand, once and for all, that I
am no gambler. I went to the races Derby Day, as I would go to any
other show, and now and then I play a little quarter limit game with my
friends. But even that I do n't approve of. I tell you I consider
gambling the most insidious of all the vices, and it's on just that
point that I want to talk to you.

"I want you to give up that kind of life, get a position in some good
house, and begin to make a man of yourself. I tell you you 're too
bright a boy to be throwing yourself away as you are. Suppose your
'good thing' wins to-day--suppose you do make some money on it--you
will lose it on something else to-morrow. You are simply living from
hand to mouth, growing older every day with nothing to show for the
time you have spent.

"Now, what I propose is simply this. I shall look about among all my
friends in the wholesale lines, and try to find you a position where
you can learn some business from the beginning. If you are industrious
and quick it will be but a comparatively short time when you 'll have a
chance t