ightest
increase of light in the eyes. She laid the hand face down again on
the table, and slowly the lingering eyes withdrew from her, having
learned nothing.

MacDonald smiled benevolently. "I see you, Daylight, and I hump this
time for two thousand. How's that hunch, Jack?"

"Still a-crawling, Mac. You got me now, but that hunch is a
rip-snorter persuadin' sort of a critter, and it's my plain duty to
ride it. I call for three thousand. And I got another hunch:
Daylight's going to call, too."

"He sure is," Daylight agreed, after Campbell had thrown up his hand.
"He knows when he's up against it, and he plays accordin'. I see that
two thousand, and then I'll see the draw."

In a dead silence, save for the low voices of the three players, the
draw was made. Thirty-four thousand dollars were already in the pot,
and the play possibly not half over. To the Virgin's amazement,
Daylight held up his three queens, discarding his eights and calling
for two cards. And this time not even she dared look at what he had
drawn. She knew her limit of control. Nor did he look. The two new
cards lay face down on the table where they had been dealt to him.

"Cards?" Kearns asked of MacDonald.

"Got enough," was the reply.

"You can draw if you want to, you know," Kearns warned him.

"Nope; this'll do me."

Kearns himself drew two cards, but did not look at them.

Still Harnish let his cards lie.

"I never bet in the teeth of a pat hand," he said slowly, looking at
the saloon-keeper. "You-all start her rolling, Mac."

MacDonald counted his cards carefully, to make double sure it was not a
foul hand, wrote a sum on a paper slip, and slid it into the pot, with
the simple utterance:--

"Five thousand."

Kearns, with every eye upon him, looked at his two-card draw, counted
the other three to dispel any doubt of holding more than five cards,
and wrote on a betting slip.

"I see you, Mac," he said, "and I raise her a little thousand just so
as not to keep Daylight out."

The concentrated gaze shifted to Daylight. He likewise examined his
draw and counted his five cards.

"I see that six thousand, and I raise her five thousand...just to try
and keep you out, Jack."

"And I raise you five thousand just to lend a hand at keeping Jack
out," MacDonald said, in turn.

His voice was slightly husky and strained, and a nervous twitch in the
corner of his mouth followed speech.

Kearns was pale, and those who loo