But he was in fast company--too fast for his modest means.

The Transient seemed to have a bottomless purse.

The Stockman had cattle on a thousand hills, the Merchant habitually sold goods at cost.
As for the Judge--his fine Italian hand was distinctly traceable in the frenzied replies to frenzied attacks upon certain frenzied financial transactions of his chief, a frenzied but by no means verdant copper magnate, to whom he, the Judge, was Procureur-General, adviser legal and otherwise.

The Judge took no thought for the morrow, unless his frequently expressed resolve not to go home till that date may be so regarded.
The Eminent Person, a Republican for Revenue Only, had been awarded a remunerative Federal position as a tribute to his ambidextrous versatility in the life strenuous, and his known prowess as a "Stand-Patter." Upon all these things Steve reflected.

With caution, some caution, and again caution, a goodly sum might well be abstracted from these reckless and capricious persons; provided always that he had money on the table to play a good hand for what it was worth.
For long his luck held good.