. He had learned to read human
nature, and this gambler interested him as a thoroughly brutal specimen.

"It'll cost yuh-all another hundred to stay and see this out," the
bearded man announced with a sneer.

"I'm out," grunted one of the players.

Another, with "more in sight" than the bearded gambler, turned over his
cards in disgust, and with a chuckle of joy, the first speaker dragged
in the pot and added the chips to his mounting stacks. He seemed to
have the others buffaloed.

The card players had been absorbed in their game until now. But as the
new deal was begun, the bearded gambler saw the Texan's eyes upon him.

"Are yuh starin' at me?" he rasped. "Walk away, or get in--one o' the
two. Yuh'll kill my luck."

"Pahdon me, sah. I don't think I could kill such luck as yo's."

The Kid's voice was full of soothing politeness. The gambler made the
mistake of thinking the stranger in awe of him. Many a man before him
had taken the Texan's soft, drawling speech the wrong way.

"Well, are yuh gettin' in the game?"

"I'm not a gamblin' man, sah." The Texan smiled.

The bearded man exposed his teeth in a contemptuous leer.

"From yore talk, yo're nothin' but a cheap cotton picker. Guess this
game's too stiff fer yuh," he said.

The expression of the Texan's face did not change, but curious little
flecks of light appeared in his steellike eyes. He laughed quietly.

"I'd get in," he said, "but I'd hate to take yo' money."

"Don't let that worry yuh," the big-chested gambler snarled. "Sit in,
or shut up and get out!"

If Kid Wolf was angered, he made no sign of it. His lips still smiled,
as he drew a chair up to the table.

"Deal me in," he drawled.

The atmosphere of the game seemed to change. It was as if all the
players had united to fleece the newcomer, with the bearded desperado
leading the attack.

At first, Kid Wolf lost, and the gambler--called "Blacksnake" McCoy by
the other men--added to his chip stacks. Then the game seesawed, after
which the Texan began to win small bets steadily. But the crisis was
coming. Sooner or later, Blacksnake would try to run Kid Wolf out, and
the Texan knew it.

The size of the bets increased, and a little crowd began to gather
about the stud table. In spite of the fact that Blacksnake was a
swaggering, abusive-mouthed fellow, the sympathies of the Longhorn
loafers seemed to be with him.

He seemed to be a sort of leader among them, and a grou