_Stacked Cards_ The game opened slowly.

The first, second, and third hands were won by Jerry Smith.

He tucked away his chips with a smile of satisfaction, as if the three hands were significant of the whole progress of the game.
But Ronicky Doone pocketed his losses without either smile or sneer.

He had played too often in games in the West which ran to huge prices.
Miners had come in with their belts loaded with dust, eager to bet the entire sum of their winnings at once.

Ranchers, fat with the profits of a good sale of cattle, had wagered the whole amount of it in a single evening.