Chapter 33

"I know you think you should protect us, Tommy, since you're the man, and you do have a point, but you're not going by yourself, and Jerrilyn is the best shot and also is the fastest draw," Christine said, and none of them would be gainsaid afterward.

Jerrilyn had settled on three of the 46 Long Colt Super Blackhawks. She wore one on each hip and another just to the left of her belt buckle in a cross draw holster. I'd seen her use this setup at home, practicing, but I'd never thought it might one day be used for real life business.

"What's so odd Tommy, why are you starring at me?" she asked.

"It just hit me that we have a chance of actually needing to draw our guns for protection," I said.

"Not really much of one, but if we do need them they won't do us any good out here while we're in town. Face it - all we know about a saloon is what we've seen in cowboy movies or on Gunsmoke reruns. We'll have to take it by ear and keep our eyes open. Who knows, maybe you can find a poker game, you should feel right at home in one," Jerrilyn said, and then laughed.

"If I get into a poker game I'll need some money and I don't have any cash on me," I said.

"Well dig into one of your bags. That one you used today is still handy. Get it," Jerrilyn said, so I did. I went to get it out of my truck, but I was shocked as soon as I took hold of it.

I opened it up right there in my sleeper and I knew something was fishyer than fishy. There were no hundreds stuffed in it any more, but it was full of gold double eagles. I called the girls over to talk about it right then.

"What do you mean your money has changed? What did it change into?" Selene asked.

"It changed into double eagles. Twenty dollar gold pieces," I said.

"How did that happen?"

"The same way we got here I guess."

"That is just weird," Christine said.

"Not any weirder than everything else, and now we at least know we really aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto. At least we ain't in the time we went to bed in. Double eagles aren't legal tender any more, or they weren't when we went to sleep. They're worth a hell of a lot more than twenty dollars as plain old gold," I said.

No matter what they were worth we packed out pockets full of them and Selene came up with a leather pouch to put one hell of a bunch of them in Jerrilyn's saddlebags. No matter what we found in the town we'd be able to buy our way out if we needed to.

Our ride to the town was uneventful and of course we tied our mounts to the hitching rack in front of the biggest saloon. All talk stopped when we walked through the swinging batwing doors.

There were plenty of empty tables and we took one. I was surprised when a woman, obviously a waitress, came over.

"What'll ya have? Supper ain't ready yet."

"Beer for both of us," Jerrilyn said, and the waitress went to get it.

Things had gone back to normal by now, or at least I thought they had. No one was looking at us much and the background hubbub had picked back up. Then I spied the poker table and looked over at the game.

"Go on over and see if you can get in the game, but try to listen more than talk, you might find out something that'll be useful," Jerrilyn told me, sorta under her breath.

Hell, it couldn't hurt, I thought to myself, and I went over. They seemed glad to let me into the game.

They were playing five-card draw, not much of a game to me, but what the hell. The deal rotated after every hand. It was a quarter to ante and there were no limits to betting.

There were six people playing. I didn't get much of a hand the first time, but I did make a raise after one of them opened. I asked for three cards when it came to me and I still didn't have anything so I folded. The one that looked like he might be a banker won and the deal moved one seat.

The man with the cards now reminded me of what a professional gambler in this era should look like and when he shuffled it was plain that he knew how to handle cards. When he started dealing I almost laughed out loud, and I could barely keep the smile off my face.

"What's so funny mister?" he asked, when he saw my look.

"Well, it's just that from the way you shuffled I thought you could handle cards better than you seem to be able to. I can hear you dealing seconds even over all the noise in here."

I don't know why I said a stupid thing like that. The seconds weren't going to affect me, because I sure as hell wouldn't get in the hand. Hell, the quarter ante wasn't anything to worry about. I'd spoke up before thinking and that's something I almost never did at a poker table. It had been funny though, from my point of view. I'd never actually heard seconds being dealt in a real game.

It wasn't a damned bit funny to the guy who had been dealing them though, and I could tell that others around the table didn't think it was funny either. What I couldn't tell was who they were mad at - me for mentioning it or the gambler for doing it.

"Are you calling me a card cheat, mister?" he asked.

"Not really, I haven't been here long enough to catch you cheating. All you've done so far is deal seconds, nobody's even done any betting yet," I said.

That didn't seem to mollify the man and he cursed me while sliding his chair back. In my estimation he was going to reach for his pistol, so I produced mine at once and pointed it at his belly.

"Were you grouping for one of these?" I asked, waving the Blackhawk's muzzle slightly from side to side.

Everyone in the saloon who happened to be behind the gambler and happened to be paying attention to what was going on dove for the floor. To say the gambler was surprised with the speed of my draw was quite an understatement. I expected him to crawfish, at least a little, but he didn't.

"Sheriff, he's pulled a gun on me," was what he said.

"Who has?" asked a loud voice and I heard a chair scraping on the floor as someone out of sight to my left must have been standing up.

I felt better at once when I heard Jerrilyn speak up.

"I don't know who you are, bud, but if you reach for your gun you'll die before you get your hand on it," she said, to the Sheriff, I think.

"Who is that behind me Sam?" the Sheriff asked.

"It's the lady that came in with the gentleman in question. As soon as you stood up she drew two guns. Right now one is pointing right at your back and the other one is pointing right at me. Neither one of them is shaking one damned bit either," the bartender said, and I guessed, Sam was his name.

"Well, if it's just a woman why don't you take the guns away from her?" the Sheriff asked.

"You feel free to do all of that you want to, Sheriff. The one she has pointed at me has a damned big hole in this end of it and I'm keeping my hands right where they are, stretched up toward the ceiling as far as I can reach," the bartender said.

"Let's all try to remain calm here, for a few minutes at least. I want to hear what these seconds are the man mentioned. I've thought ever since you vouched for Jake being an honest gambler that he was an awful damned lucky one if he was honest," the man I'd thought must be a banker said.

"Hell with that, I'm the Sheriff of this town and I'm going to arrest whoever that is," the Sheriff said.

"Well I'm the mayor of this town and if you open your mouth again you won't be the Sheriff anymore. From what that lady said you might not be alive much longer," the mayor said.

"Lady, she can't be no lady coming in a saloon...

Jerrilyn showed them all, lady or not, she could actually shoot the big guns she was holding then. She shot the Sheriff through his right elbow. I'm not sure he was reaching for his gun, but I do know he said the wrong thing. After that, he yelped as he fell to the floor and shortly he was reduced to whimpering and moaning about how his arm hurt.

"You dumb bastard. Did you think it was going to feel good?" Jerrilyn asked.

She had also removed all doubt about whether she could actually shoot. I noticed that Jake, the gambler, looked a lot more nervous than he had just a few minutes ago.

"Now that the Sheriff has settled down, would you please explain to me what seconds are?" the banker/mayor asked.

"It's simple to say and hard to do. It's a way of stacking the deck and it requires a lot of practice and a very good memory. He knows what the order of the cards on the bottom of the deck are in, because he put them into that order while he shuffled. The noise that it makes when he deals is very distinctive, though with enough practice you can get rid of almost all of it. It comes from a card flicking against the one that was supposed to be dealt when he works it from the second spot in the deck," I said.

"What the hell good is that?" a different gentleman who had been playing with us asked.

"It lets him know exactly what cards everyone has and he can give himself the cards he wants," I said.

"Oh, is that why when he wins it's always against someone who has a real good hand of their own, just not as good as his?"

"Of course, what's the point in having the best hand if someone else doesn't have one that's worth betting on?" I asked.

I could almost see the others thinking back over the last few games they'd played with Jake, and it wasn't leading to a rosy future for him.

"You seem like you know an awful lot about it yourself mister," the banker mayor said.

"I hope I do, I'm a gambler myself, but don't get the cart before the horse, I haven't dealt any hands at all, and I've already explained how to tell when this trick is being played on you," I said.

"So, that means you're an honest gambler," the mayor banker said.

All I did was laugh at him, I didn't even try to say anything. In a few seconds most of the rest of the saloon was laughing too. Except the Sheriff, he was still wiggling around on the floor and crying.

"That's all well and good Mr Mayor, but would you mind asking the lady if I can let my arms down now? They're getting pretty tired," Sam, the bartender, said from his place behind the bar. I looked and sure enough he still had his hands up.

"It's probably safe to let him put his hands down now, isn't it Jerrilyn? I asked, since I wasn't about to sound like I was telling her to do anything.

"Sure, go on about your business, Sam. I just wanted to make sure you stayed out of it so I wouldn't have to hurt you," Jerrilyn said, and smiled at him.

"Well, I'm pretty damned glad you were thinking of my safety. I wouldn't want to be lying on the floor bleeding, even if I was still alive enough to cry," Sam said.

I was expecting something along the lines of all's well that ends well about now, but it wasn't to be. At least I wasn't directly involved in the negotiations that got started after that.