"Some feller by the name ov McAdoo, down ter Saint Louee, who's just com' down frum the lead mines, tol' him thet Joe Kirby got all this yere property in a game o' kyards on the boat, an' thet it wan't no square game either.

I didn't git it all straight, I reckon, but accordin' ter the deal handed me thar wus two dead men mixed up in the affair--Beaucaire, an' a young army offercer.

Seems ter me his name wus Knox." "I didn't hear that." "Well, enyhow, that's the way Bill told it.

Beaucaire he naturally fell dead--heart, er som'thin'-- an' the other feller, this yere army man, he went out on deck fer ter see Kirby, an' he never cum' back.
McAdoo sorter reckoned as how likely he wus slugged, an' throwed overboard.

An' then, on top' all that, we're sent up yere in the night like a passel o' thieves ter take these niggers down ter Saint Louee.
What do yer make ov it, Jake ?" "Wal," said the other slowly, his mouth evidently loaded with tobacco, "I ain't never asked no questions since I wus made sheriff.