University of Virginia Library

10. The Gamblers Outwitted.

The following story was narrated by a gentleman who
desires his name withheld from from the public:

“Any man living on the lower Mississippi twenty years
ago, who was not in favor of playing all sorts of games for
all manner of sums, would have been at once pronounced
no gentleman or a minister of the Gospel. I was myself
not a little scandalized, on my first going South, at being
asked by a gentleman to play cards for money; but universal
custom is every thing in settling a man's mind upon
the matter of right or wrong; and I regret to say I soon
found myself as much disposed for the exciting sport as the
most ardent of my companions, though never at any time
so much attached to it as to play with a professional
gamester.

“In this latter respect I materially differed from a friend
of mine—a young planter by the name of Paul Rathbun—
who, having become a great adept in the handling of cards,
rather prided himself on the belief that he could outwit the
most adroit gambler to be found; and he never went

aboard a passing steamer without trying his hand with one
or more of the chance-operating fraternity.

“Now Paul Rathbun and myself had agreed to take a trip
to New Orleans, to enjoy a few week's pleasure and recreation
in that great city of the South; and as he was going
to take down a large sum of money, to meet some notes of
country merchants falling due, his father, knowing his penchant
for cards and adventure, called me aside, and requested
me as a friend to have an eye to him and restrain
him from carrying his proclivities to the extent of ruin.

“It was a cold, dark, stormy night that we embarked
on board a downward steamer, from the then pleasant little
town of Grand Gulf; and though we were in fine sprits,
exhilarated to a highly talkative degree by a few parting
glasses with the jovial friends who had seen us off, yet I felt
nothing like intoxication, and was very much astonished
and mortified to discover that my friend did, and within
fifteen minutes after our appearance in the splendid saloon
of the boat.

“What could it mean? Was it the effect of the liquor
he had drank on shore? or had he been imbibing since? I
had left him but a few minutes only; and now, on my
return to the saloon from the guards, I found him almost
reeling, and surrounded by a group of four or five dark-visaged,
villanous-looking fellows, whom I believed to be
pick-pockets, or gamblers of the lowest order, and with

whom he was conversing with a familiarity that both astonished
and vexed me. Whether sober or otherwise, I felt
in duty bound to withdraw him from such company, and
immediately approached him for that purpose.

“`Come, Paul, my dear fellow,' said I, quietly running
my arm through his, `let us retire to our state-room; I
have something important to communicate to you.'

“`You have?' he replied with a strong emphasis on the
pronoun, and partially turning his face to me, with a
drunken man's quizzical leer. `You've got something to
communicate, have you, old boy?'

“`Yes, Paul, I have something very important to tell
you.'

“`That's a (hic) lie!' returned he, straightening himself
up with drunken dignity, and winking at his delectable
companious, who laughed approvingly, at my expense.
`You've got nothing to tell me—you only think I'm drunk,
and want to be a father to me. But I'm not drunk yet, and
you're not a going to be a father to me. Ain't I right,
(hic) gentlemen, eh?'

“`Of course you are,' chorused the villanous group, with
a general laugh. `You want no father at your age.'

“`Ha! ha! ha!' laughed my friend, in drunken glee;
`it's funny enough, and I know you'll (hic) laugh; but
this old fellow is my paternal progeni-(hic)-tor.' And
griping my arm in a manner to cause pain, he began to

push me around from one to the other, remarking to each:
`I want you to know the old chap that's a father to me.'

“`Paul,' said I sternly, attempting to force him away,
`come with me.'

“He threw me from him with force, and made use of an
insulting expression that I need not repeat.

“`Paul Rathbun,' I angrily rejoined, `if you were sober,
that remark should cost your life or mine.'

“`Oh, don't be afraid!' be rejoined, with a hiccough;
`I'm not so drunk as I look. I know exactly what I'm
saying, and hold myself responsi-(hic)-ble for it.”

“Grieved, angered, and mortified, I left him abruptly,
and went out upon the guards. A furious northeaster was
blowing, bringing wintry airs to a summer clime, but they
felt delicious to my heated brow and burning temples.

“For half an hour I stood there, looking off upon the
blackness, listening to the howling wind, driving sleet,
coughing steam, and gurgling waters, but thinking that
the whole pleasure of my trip, if not of my life, would be
marred by the misfortune that had turned the brain of my
friend. Suddenly it occurred to me that it was my duty
to stand by and protect him till sober, let him be never so
insulting, and forthwith I returned to the saloon.

“I found him, as I did not wish to find him, seated at a
table, with a large pile of money before him, engaged in
playing cards with the five villanous fellows in whose conpany

I had left him. What could result from such a
condition of affairs but his entire ruin, and the ruin perhaps
of others?—for, as I have mentioned, he was taking
down to New Orleans large sums for his friends, which
would probably be as freely staked as his own money.
And should I not, to a certain degree, be held accountable
for this loss, since I had been empowered by his father to
restrain him from the excess of ruin? It was certainly my
duty to act, and my resolution was soon taken. Advancing
to the table, I laid my hand upon his shoulder, and said,
calmly but firmly:

“ `Paul Rathbun, if you are intoxicated, this is no place
for you, and I shall take you away by force; and if you are
sober enough to comprehend the words of a friend, permit
me to inform you, that you are in the hands of the lowest
order of Mississippi gamblers.'

“The five strangers simultaneously started to their feet;
and the one nearest to me said, in a low, threatening tone,
fixing his eyes sullenly upon mine, as he thrust his hand
into his bosom for a weapon:

“ `Take that back, sir, and acknowledge us to be gentlemen,
or I will have your heart's blood!'

“ `Wait a moment,' said I, returning his gaze with an
unquailing eye; `wait a moment, and I will show you how
I recant. Now you dare not touch me, let me say what I
will, and for two reasons: first, you would lose your victim,

and a few thousands; and secondly, what is of less consequence,
you would all lose your unworthy lives; therefore,
I boldly defy you to do your worst, and deliberately repeat
here that you are gamblers and no gentlemen.'

“These remarks were made impulsively, under the
excitement of anger, and with my hand upon a pistol,
which I intended to use should I perceive the least attempt
upon my life. What the consequences might have been,
had not Paul Rathbun interfered, I cannot say; but he
started suddenly to his feet, and, reeling forward a step,
thus effectually covered my person with his.

“ `Gentlemen,' he said to the gamblers, `sit down, and
don't mind this (hic) boy! If there's to be any quarrel
with him, I'm the man for that. Don't let us spoil our
night's sport to please him. There, that's (hic) right, gentlemen—sit
down. And now, boy,' turning to me, `go to
bed, and don't bother (hic) yourself about matters too old
for your compre-(hic)-hension. Here,' he added, producing
a large pocket-book, as I stood looking sorrowfully
into his face, considering what course was best to pursue:
`take this, Frank, and don't bother (hic) me. In there
you'll find all the money that don't belong to me; and the
rest's my own, and I'll do as I (hic) like with it. Take
that, now, and go to bed—that's a (hic) good fellow!

“I seized the pocket-book with avidity, thankful that I
could get possession of what would save my friend from

[ILLUSTRATION]

"Hold! The first man that lays his hand on a dollar, I will kill as I would a dog!"

[Description: 480EAF. Image of a chaotic card game. The speaker is standing and pointing a gun at the other players, as bystanders look on in horror.]

utter ruin and disgrace; and finding I could do nothing
with him in his present condition, without resorting to
force, I left him, as it were to his fate.

“But I did not retire to bed; it was impossible, under
the circumstances, for me to sleep; and I spent hour after
hour in alternately clambering over the cotton-piled deck,
exposed to a cold, furious storm—in standing on the
guards, dripping with rain—and in walking up and down
the saloon, pitying the weakness of my friend, who still
drank and played with men who had the same regard for
him that so many wolves would have for a lamb.

One round after another of liquor was brought and
drank, pack after pack of cards disappeared under the
table, large sums of money changed hands continually, and
still my poor, demented friend, as I considered him, sat
among five human fiends, the victim of all.

“Almost wearied out with long-continued excitement
and loss of rest, I had at last taken a seat some distance
from the players, and, with my head upon my hand, was
just giving way to an overpowering somnolency, when I
was suddenly aroused, and much astonished, at hearing my
friend exclaim, in that sharp, clear, cold, determined tone
peculiar to him when carrying his point at the point of a
Bowie-knife or the muzzle of a pistol:

“ `Hold! The first man that lays his hand on a dollar, I
will kill as I would a dog!”

“I started up, and beheld an unlooked-for tableau.
The gamblers were all upon their feet, standing around
the table, three with hands extended, as if to grasp a large
pile of money, which one hand of my friend carelessly
covered, while his other held death for the most daring in
the shape of a loaded pistol. He was still seated in his
chair, his cold, penetrating gray eye looking up unflinchingly
from under his massive brow, and turning deliberately
with his pistol from one to the other of those dark
men, whose swarthy features expressed astonishment, rage
and fear.

“ `It's a swindle!' said the boldest, suddenly, with his
hand still extended as if to grasp the money. `You never
got them cards honest; that money's ours, and we'll have
it!'

“ `Take it!' said Paul Rathbun, quietly, without the
change of a muscle; and with the words there came a
sharp click, as his thumb drew back the hammer of his
pistol.

“By this time I was standing at his back, with a Bowie-knife
in my teeth, and a cocked and levelled pistol in
either hand.

“ `Be modest, fellows, and only claim what is your own,'
said I.

“ `Ah, Frank, are you there?' cried Paul, with animation,
partly turning his head to me, though without

removing his eyes from his antagonists. `A thousand
pardons, my dear fellow, for the way I abused and insulted
you! So you thought I was in liquor, eh? Ha! ha! you
may be pardoned for that, considering that these shrewd
sharpers thought the same. But it was necessary to
deceive you, my boy, in order to deceive them—and so
forgive me! Drunk, eh? I tell you, old gamblers, you are
caught for once, and by a mere boy—for I am only a boy;
and so if you were to play with men, where would you be?
It is a swindle, is it? and no honest hand? Look there,
Frank!—four aces against four kings! Is not that honest,
eh? And see, my dear fellow, what those four aces won—
seventeen hundred dollars—all the money these rascals
have, and enough to pay our trip to New Orleans and
back. Go to, for shame! five against one, and that one a
youth! Do me the favor to play next with a mere child,
and never pride yourselves on being the equal of any
Southern gentleman of any age.'

“While Paul Rathbun continued to rattle on in this
manner, sometimes addressing me and sometimes the
gamblers, several gentlemen came out of their state-rooms
and gathered around us. On learning the true state of
affairs, they greeted with a laugh the discomfited villains,
who, in attempting to fleece my friend, had themselves
been fleeced by him.

“Though at first evidently determined to fight for their

money, the gamblers soon became cowed by the appearance
of numbers, gradually slunk away, with crestfallen
looks, and finally left the boat at the next landing, swearing
vengeance.

“Paul Rathbun hugely enjoyed what he termed his
practical joke, but promised me he would never attempt
the like again.

“Poor fellow! I believe he never did. At New Orleans
he spent most of his downward winnings in charity,
and was suddenly recalled home by a letter from his father,
announcing the illness of a beloved sister. He left the
city a couple of days before me, but I arrived first at his
father's mansion. In fact he never arrived; and what
became of him is not certainly known to this day. He had
a state-room to himself on his upward trip, and one morning
he was found missing, with blood on the sheet of his
berth. It is supposed he was stabbed in his sleep, and his
body thrown into the river. The murderer or murderers
rifled his baggage, and probably robbed him of a large
amount in money and jewels.

“But whether or not his death indirectly arose through
revenge of any of the parties who figured in the scenes I
have described, is a matter I have never been able to
decide. All is mystery, and will probably ever remain so.
Peace to his ashes!”