Frank Merriwells Chums | Page 8

money, for all
that he had been the heaviest loser.
Finally there came a good-sized jackpot, which Dare opened. Snell was
the next man, and he promptly raised it fifty cents. Winslow dropped
out, and Hodge raised Snell fifty cents. Then it came Frank's turn, and
he simply staid in. Harris was dealing, and he dropped out, while Dare
simply "made good."
This gave Snell his turn, and he "boosted" two dollars.
"Whew!" breathed Winslow. "That settles me. I'm out."
Hodge was game, and he "came up" on a pair of nines.
Snell was watching Merriwell, and the latter quietly pushed in two
dollars, which finished the betting till cards were drawn, as Dare
dropped out, after some deliberation.
"How many?" asked Harris, of Snell.
"Don't want any," was the calm reply.

Hodge took three, as also did Merriwell, which plainly indicated they
had a pair each.
"Snell has this pot in a canter," said Harris.
Snell bet five dollars, doing it in a way that seemed to say he was not
risking anything.
Hodge dropped his nines, which he had not bettered, and that left
Merriwell and Snell to fight it out.
"This is why I object to a limit being taken off a game," said Frank. "It
spoils the fun, and makes it a clean case of gambling."
"It's too late to make that kind of talk," sneered Snell. "You are in it
now. Do you call?"
"No," replied Frank, "but I will see your five dollars, and put in
another."
This created a stir, but Snell seemed delighted.
"I admire your blood," he said, "but the bluff won't go with me. Here's
the five, and I will raise ten."
Now there was excitement.
Frank's cards lay face downward on the table, and every one was
wondering what he could have found to go up against Snell's pat hand.
He was wonderfully calm, as he turned to Bart, and asked:
"Will you loan me something?"
"Every cent I have," was the instant reply, as Hodge took out a roll of
bills and threw it on the table. "Use what you want."
There were thirty-five dollars in the roll. Frank counted it over
carefully, and then put it all into the pot, raising Snell twenty-five
dollars!

When he saw this, Snell's nerve suddenly left him. His face paled and
his hands shook.
"Whoever heard of such infernal luck as that fellow has!" he grated.
"Held up a pair, and must have fours now!"
Frank said not a word. His face was quiet, and he seemed waiting for
Snell to do something.
"If you haven't the money to call him----" began Harris.
"I have," declared Snell; "but what's the use. A man can't beat fool-luck!
Here's my hand, and I'll allow I played it for all it is worth."
He threw the cards face upward on the table, and smothered
exclamations of astonishment came from the boys.
His hand contained no more than a single pair of four-spots!
"Then you do not mean to call me?" asked Prank.
"Of course not! Think I'm a blooming idiot!"
"The pot is mine?"
"Yes."
"Well, I will allow I played this hand for all it is worth," said the
winner, as he turned his cards over so all could see what they were.
Wat Snell nearly fainted.
Merriwell's hand was made up of a king, eight spot, five spot, and one
pair of deuces!
It had been a game of bluff, and Frank Merriwell had won.
CHAPTER V.

FRANK'S REVELATION.
"Great Caesar!" gasped Harvey Dare. "Will you look at that! That is
what I call nerve for you! That is playing, my boys!"
Wat Snell rose slowly to his feet, his face very white.
"It's robbery!" came hoarsely from his lips.
"Steady, Snell!" warned Harvey Dare. "You were beaten at your own
game--that's all."
Snell knew this, but it simply served to make his rage and chagrin all
the deeper.
"I am not a professional card player," he said, bitterly, "and I am no
match for a professional."
He was more deeply cut by the manner in which he had been beaten
than by the loss of his money.
"Nor am I a professional," came quietly from Frank Merriwell's lips, as
he quickly sorted from the pot the money he had placed therein. "I
simply sized you up as on the bluff, and I was right. I don't want your
money, Snell; take it. I set into this game for amusement, and not with
the idea of beating anybody to any such extent as this."
Snell hesitated, and then the hot blood mounted quickly to his face,
which had been so pale a few moments before.
"No, I will not take the money!" he grated. "I take the offer as an insult,
Merriwell."
"No insult is