The gambler wiped his forehead and looked up anxiously.

For these were wagers in gold, and the doubling stakes were running high.

About Pierre a crowd had grown--a dozen cattlemen who watched the growing heap of gold with silent fascination.

Then they began to make wagers of their own, and there were faint whispers of wrath and astonishment as the dice clicked out and each time the winnings of Pierre doubled.
Suddenly the dealer stopped and held up his left hand as a warning.
With his right, very slowly, inch by inch lest anyone should suspect him of a gunplay, he drew out a heavy forty-five and laid it on the table with the belt of cartridges.

"Three years she's been on my hip through thick and thin, stranger.