Smoke Bellew by Jack London (chrome ebook reader txt) đ
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âIt ainât no system,â Shorty expounded at one of their bed-going discussions. âI follow you, anâ follow you, but they ainât no figgerinâ it out. You never play twice the same. All you do is pick winners when you want to, anâ when you donât want to, you just on purpose donât.â
âMaybe youâre nearer right than you think, Shorty. Iâve just got to pick losers sometimes. Itâs part of the system.â
âSystemâhell! Iâve talked with every gambler in town, anâ the last one is agreed they ainât no such thing as system.â
âYet Iâm showing them one all the time.â
âLook here, Smoke.â Shorty paused over the candle, in the act of blowing it out. âIâm real irritated. Maybe you think this is a candle. It ainât. No, sir! Anâ this ainât me neither. Iâm out on trail somewheres, in my blankets, lyinâ flat on my back with my mouth open, anâ dreaminâ all this. That ainât you talkinâ, any more than this candle is a candle.â
âItâs funny, how I happen to be dreaming along with you then,â Smoke persisted.
âNo, it ainât. Youâre part of my dream, thatâs all. Iâve hearn many a man talk in my dreams. I want to tell you one thing, Smoke. Iâm gettinâ mangy anâ mad. If this here dream keeps up much more Iâm goinâ to bite my veins anâ howl.â
On the sixth night of play at the Elkhorn, the limit was reduced to five dollars.
âItâs all right,â Smoke assured the gamekeeper. âI want thirty-five hundred tonight, as usual, and you only compel me to play longer. Iâve got to pick twice as many winners, thatâs all.â
âWhy donât you buck somebody elseâs table?â the keeper demanded wrathfully.
âBecause I like this one.â Smoke glanced over to the roaring stove only a few feet away. âBesides, there are no draughts here, and it is warm and comfortable.â
On the ninth night, when Shorty had carried the dust home, he had a fit. âI quit, Smoke, I quit,â he began. âI know when I got enough. I ainât dreaminâ. Iâm wide awake. A system canât be, but you got one just the same. Thereâs nothinâ in the rule oâ three. The almanacâs clean out. The worldâs gone smash. Thereâs nothinâ regular anâ uniform no more. The multiplication tableâs gone loco. Two is eight, nine is eleven, and two-times-six is eight hundred anâ forty-sixâanââanâ a half. Anything is everything, anâ nothingâs all, anâ twice all is cold-cream, milk-shakes, anâ calico horses. Youâve got a system. Figgers beat the figgerinâ. What ainât is, anâ what isnât has to be. The sun rises in the west, the moonâs a pay-streak, the stars is canned corn-beef, scurvyâs the blessinâ of God, him that dies kicks again, rocks floats, waterâs gas, I ainât me, youâre somebody else, anâ mebbe weâre twins if we ainât hashed-brown potatoes fried in verdigris. Wake me up! Somebody! Oh! Wake me up!â
The next morning a visitor came to the cabin. Smoke knew him, Harvey Moran, the owner of all the games in the Tivoli. There was a note of appeal in his deep gruff voice as he plunged into his business.
âItâs like this, Smoke,â he began. âYouâve got us all guessing. Iâm representing nine other game-owners and myself from all the saloons in town. We donât understand. We know that no system ever worked against roulette. All the mathematic sharps in the colleges have told us gamblers the same thing. They say that roulette itself is the system, the one and only system, and, therefore, that no system can beat it, for that would mean arithmetic has gone bug-house.â
Shorty nodded his head violently.
âIf a system can beat a system, then thereâs no such thing as system,â the gambler went on. âIn such a case anything could be possibleâa thing could be in two different places at once, or two things could be in the same place thatâs only large enough for one at the same time.â
âWell, youâve seen me play,â Smoke answered defiantly; âand if you think itâs only a string of luck on my part, why worry?â
âThatâs the trouble. We canât help worrying. Itâs a system youâve got, and all the time we know it canât be. Iâve watched you five nights now, and all I can make out is that you favour certain numbers and keep on winning. Now the ten of us game-owners have got together, and we want to make a friendly proposition. Weâll put a roulette-table in a back room of the Elkhorn, pool the bank against you, and have you buck us. It will be all quiet and private. Just you and Shorty and us. What do you say?â
âI think itâs the other way around,â Smoke answered. âItâs up to you to come and see me. Iâll be playing in the barroom of the Elkhorn tonight. You can watch me there just as well.â
That night, when Smoke took up his customary place at the table, the keeper shut down the game. âThe gameâs closed,â he said. âBossâs orders.â
But the assembled game-owners were not to be balked. In a few minutes they arranged a pool, each putting in a thousand, and took over the table.
âCome on and buck us,â Harvey Moran challenged, as the keeper sent the ball on its first whirl around.
âGive me the twenty-five limit,â Smoke suggested.
âSure; go to it.â
Smoke immediately placed twenty-five chips on the âdouble naught,â and won.
Moran wiped the sweat from his forehead. âGo on,â he said. âWe got ten thousand in this bank.â
At the end of an hour and a half, the ten thousand was Smokeâs.
âThe bankâs bust,â the keeper announced.
âGot enough?â Smoke asked.
The game-owners looked at one another. They were awed. They, the fatted proteges of the laws of chance, were undone. They were up against one who had more intimate access to those laws, or who had invoked higher and undreamed laws.
âWe quit,â Moran said. âAinât that right, Burke?â
Big Burke, who owned the games in the M. and G. Saloon, nodded. âThe impossible has happened,â he said. âThis Smoke here has got a system all right. If we let him go on weâll all bust. All I can see, if weâre goinâ to keep our tables running, is to cut down the limit to a dollar, or to ten cents, or a cent. He wonât win much in a night with such stakes.â
All looked at Smoke.
He shrugged his shoulders. âIn that case, gentlemen, Iâll have to hire a gang of men to play at all your tables. I can pay them ten dollars for a four-hour shift and make money.â
âThen weâll shut down our tables,â Big Burke replied. âUnlessââ He hesitated and ran his eye over his fellows to see that they were with him. âUnless youâre willing to talk business. What will you sell the system for?â
âThirty thousand dollars,â Smoke answered. âThatâs a tax of three thousand apiece.â
They debated and nodded.
âAnd youâll tell us your system?â
âSurely.â
âAnd youâll promise not to play roulette in Dawson ever again?â
âNo, sir,â Smoke said positively. âIâll promise not to play this system again.â
âMy God!â Moran exploded. âYou havenât got other systems, have you?â
âHold on!â Shorty cried. âI want to talk to my pardner. Come over here, Smoke, on the side.â
Smoke followed into a quiet corner of the room, while hundreds of curious eyes centered on him and Shorty.
âLook here, Smoke,â Shorty whispered hoarsely. âMebbe it ainât a dream. In which case youâre sellinâ out almighty cheap. Youâve sure got the world by the slack of its pants. Theyâs millions in it. Shake it! Shake it hard!â
âBut if itâs a dream?â Smoke queried softly.
âThen, for the sake of the dream anâ the love of Mike, stick them gamblers up good and plenty. Whatâs the good of dreaminâ if you canât dream to the real right, dead sure, eternal finish?â
âFortunately, this isnât a dream, Shorty.â
âThen if you sell out for thirty thousanâ, Iâll never forgive you.â
âWhen I sell out for thirty thousand, youâll fall on my neck anâ wake up to find out that you havenât been dreaming at all. This is no dream, Shorty. In about two minutes youâll see you have been wide awake all the time. Let me tell you that when I sell out itâs because Iâve got to sell out.â
Back at the table, Smoke informed the game-owners that his offer still held. They proffered him their paper to the extent of three thousand each.
âHold out for the dust,â Shorty cautioned.
âI was about to intimate that Iâd take the money weighed out,â Smoke said.
The owner of the Elkhorn cashed their paper, and Shorty took possession of the gold-dust.
âNow, I donât want to wake up,â he chortled, as he hefted the various sacks. âToted up, itâs a seventy thousanâ dream. Itâd be too blamed expensive to open my eyes, roll out of the blankets, anâ start breakfast.â
âWhatâs your system?â Big Burke demanded. âWeâve paid for it, and we want it.â
Smoke led the way to the table. âNow, gentlemen, bear with me a moment. This isnât an ordinary system. It can scarcely be called legitimate, but its one great virtue is that it works. Iâve got my suspicious, but Iâm not saying anything. You watch. Mr. Keeper, be ready with the ball. Wait. I am going to pick â26.â Consider Iâve bet on it. Be ready, Mr. KeeperâNow!â
The ball whirled around.
âYou observe,â Smoke went on, âthat â9â was directly opposite.â
The ball finished in â26.â
Big Burke swore deep in his chest, and all waited.
âFor âdouble naughtâ to win, â11â must be opposite. Try it yourself and see.â
âBut the system?â Moran demanded impatiently. âWe know you can pick winning numbers, and we know what those numbers are; but how do you do it?â
âBy observed sequences. By accident I chanced twice to notice the ball whirled when â9â was opposite. Both times â26â won. After that I saw it happen again. Then I looked for other sequences, and found them. âDouble naughtâ opposite fetches â32,â and â11â fetches âdouble naught.â It doesnât always happen, but it USUALLY happens. You notice, I say âusually.â As I said before, I have my suspicions, but Iâm not saying anything.â
Big Burke, with a sudden flash of comprehension reached over, stopped the wheel, and examined it carefully. The heads of the nine other game-owners bent over and joined in the examination. Big Burke straightened up and cast a glance at the near-by stove.
âHell,â he said. âIt wasnât any system at all. The table stood close to the fire, and the blamed wheelâs warped. And weâve been worked to a frazzle. No wonder he liked this table. He couldnât have bucked for sour apples at any other table.â
Harvey Moran gave a great sigh of relief and wiped his forehead. âWell, anyway,â he said, âitâs cheap at the price just to find out that it wasnât a system.â His face began to work, and then he broke into laughter and slapped Smoke on the shoulder. âSmoke, you had us going for a while, and we patting ourselves on the back because you were letting our tables alone! Say, Iâve got some real fizz Iâll
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