Part 17 (2/2)

”How do you know he wants 'em?”

”'Cause I know Eugene,” sez I. ”I'll fix up Shorty's tale for him.”

Well, we explained to Shorty the bettin' principle of guinea-pigs, an'

gave him the pigs, tellin' him he could have all he won from Eugene on the first bet; but to then sell 'em to Eugene without lettin' any o'

the other fellers know anything about it, an' to make Eugene think that he had picked 'em up from a train pa.s.senger, not from us.

Shorty said that he'd go over that afternoon as soon as the pa.s.senger had gone-Shorty was the telegraph operator-so Spider an' I came back, he sleepin' all the way.

”Where do we come in on this deal?” sez Spider next day.

”We'll give Eugene a chance to cut their hair a new way, an' then we'll go over to Boggs an' line things up.”

”I'm beginnin' to see how it could be worked out,” sez Spider, grinnin'.

In about a week we went over to Boggs, an' found the town purty well deserted. We dropped into ol' man Dort's to compliment Columbus some an' sympathize with Ben Butler a little, while tryin' to hear if Eugene had made his play yet. The ol' man was gloatin' over the fact that Eugene wasn't havin' much trade, but he didn't mention anything about guinea-pigs.

”You don't seem rushed, yourself,” sez I.

”Course I ain't,” he flares back. ”Most o' the fellers are still roundin' up, an' the rest are out huntin' for Red Erickson.”

”Red been gettin' thoughtless again?” sez I. Red Erickson was a big Dane who had the habit o' runnin off stock an' shootin' any one who disagreed with him.

The ol' man merely pointed to a paper pinned up on the wall offerin'

fifteen hundred dollars for Red, dead or alive. He hadn't been operatin' on Diamond Dot stuff, so we hadn't paid much heed to him.

We strolled on over to Eugene's an' found him sittin' down an' talkin'

about the peculiar custom o' guinea-pigs; so we knew that he had swallered the bait; but he didn't offer to bet with us.

Then we went back an' asked ol' man Dort if he believed that a guinea-pig's eyes would fall out if he was held up by the tail.

”It's all rot!” sez the ol' man, indignant. ”Any one who sez such nonsense never studied the way eyes is fastened in. The tail ain't got nothin' to do with it.”

”What kind o' tails has guinea-pigs got?” sez I.

”Why they got-?” sez the ol' man, an' then stopped an' looked blank.

”What kind o' tails have they got?”

”They haven't got any,” sez I. ”Now listen; would you be willin' to risk a little money to even up with Eugene?”

”I'd risk every thing I got, down to my very hide,” sez the ol' man, earnest to a degree.

”Well, then, you play careful an' we'll provide you with the cards,”

sez I. ”Eugene has some guinea-pigs, an' he is plannin' to string you on a bet. You come right along just as though you was as ignorant as you look, have a day fixed to decide the bet, let us know, an' for the small sum of fifty dollars we'll provide you with a guinea-pig which has a tail.”

”I'll make a pauper out of him,” sez the ol' man. ”I haven't had a chance to get a bet on Columbus since I owned him.”

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