Chapter 7

The poker game that Ethel and Adam found was in a rougher saloon than they realized. This was the kind of place where cheating was rampant, and, not only did you have to watch your cards, you had to watch your back. As a matter of course, Ethel and Adam did sit on opposite sides of the table so that they could keep an eye out for the safety of the other. That was not because of this particular saloon, they would have done it at any saloon.

The first few hands did not bode well for Ethel, as usual, though Adam seemed to be holding his own. A little later on, though, Ethel hit her stride and started on her usual sort of winning streak. She had won six pots in a row, some of them for substantial sums, so it was not surprising that suspicions began to rise. She won the next pot, though it was not a very large one, but that was enough to bring one man's resentment to the boiling point.

As Ethel reached for the pot, the disgruntled player said, "Stop right where ya are, dammit. Ya've won too damned many pots in a row ta be honest. I don't know how ya're doin' it, but I'm shore that ya're cheatin'!"

Ethel said, "Well, Sir, I am well known west of here to be an honest, but very lucky player. I am sorry that you think that I have been cheating, but I assure you that I have not."

"I don't give a shit what they say west of Austin. Ya're in Austin, now, an' I say that ya're cheatin'."

"You're beginning to annoy me, Mister. Back off before you get hurt!"

The man pulled his gun and pointed it at Ethel. "Roll up yer sleeves. I want ta see what ya got up there besides yer arms."

"NO! I will not do that!"

Adam decided that the silliness had gone far enough. He was sitting next to the man with the drawn gun, so he quietly drew his own gun and pushed it into the ribs of the belligerent man, hard enough so that there would be no doubt what it was. "This has gone far enough! There has been no cheatin'. I know that person, and she does not need to cheat."

Uh-oh! That pronoun caught everybody's attention. The man with the gun asked, "Are ya really a woman?"

"Yes, I am. I am the one known as 'The Poker Queen.' Perhaps you have heard of me."

The man holstered his gun. "Well, shit, Ma'am. I shore have heard of ya. Ifen I had known who ya wuz, I'd of been proud ta lose ta ya. I hope ya will forgive me fer gittin' carried away like that. I ain't never lost so much so quick, even when there wuz cheatin' in the game." He laughed a little ashamedly at that point.

"Of course I forgive you. I should have introduced myself when I sat down. I know some men don't want to play poker with a woman, and I messed up. I hope all of you gentlemen will forgive me for my mistake."

There was general nodding in acknowledgment from around the table, and the situation seemed to be defused. Several people had heard the comments from the table, and the word quickly spread that "The Poker Queen" had graced The Lucky Spur Saloon. The poker pro running the game asked it they were ready to continue, and he began dealing when everybody anted up. By now, there was quite a crowd collected around the table, and the bartender was delighted at the way this prompted the sale of more drinks.

Ethel won two more hands before she had to fold, and she never again had another winning streak like that first one, but she still did well, and Adam even won a few hands. By midnight, Ethel had to plead tiredness, so she was finally released by the crowd, and she and Adam left to cheers from the crowd.

When they got out of the saloon, they realized that, between them, they had won $127. That was enough to pay for their trip to Austin. Adam also realized that he was in no way the poker player that Ethel was. Any time she wanted to, she could clean his clock at draw poker.

They went to bed and slept late. They met in the lobby at 7:30 AM for breakfast and barely made it in time to be served. The waiter teased them about oversleeping. They fooled around until 10:00 o'clock before they went to the bank.

The teller at the bank immediately called the manager when Ethel presented her paperwork to withdraw her money. The manager tried to weasel out of giving her the money, then he tried to give her paper instead of the gold coin that she was entitled to. Finally, Ethel lost her temper. She said in a very steady voice, "You give me my money right now! If you don't, I am going to the law. Now, make up your mind. You have 10 seconds to decide."

They never knew if it was the threat in her voice or the threat of the law, but whatever it was, the bank manager caved in and directed the teller to start gathering the money. He wanted to pay most of it in $500 gold bars. Ethel agreed, but demanded that every one be weighed in front of her eyes before she accepted it. When the ordeal was over, Ethel had 36 gold bars in two saddle bags. The total weight was nearly 51½ pounds. The 26 pounds in each bag was a welcome burden as they marched out of the bank.

They caught a cab to their hotel where they checked out and went to the train station. They had about an hour to wait for their train, and they used that time to eat a quick dinner. They went to the last car in the train to get away from the crowd. They found some empty seats near the middle of the car and settled in for the trip. They had checked their luggage, but they had kept the saddle bags with the gold with them. Adam had also kept the lever action shotgun with him just in case somebody tried to help them transport the gold.

Things went fine until the last water stop before Harley Springs. Pretty much everybody aboard the train was tired from the traveling, and that is what the robbers were counting on. When the train stopped, two men jumped into the engine and pointed guns at the engineer. There was no express car with this train, so the baggage car was the target of two more bandits. Two more bandits jumped aboard each of the three passenger cars.

They were carrying cloth sacks, and they ordered the passengers to throw their valuables into the sacks. Ethel whispered to Adam, "Let them get close. You take the one with the red bandanna, and I'll take the one with the black hat." Adam nodded, and they waited patiently for the bandits to get close enough.

They were both wearing crossdraw holsters, so they had no trouble drawing their pistols while sitting down. Both bandits were caught completely by surprise when they were hit in the chest with .44 caliber bullets at nearly point blank range (Adam had switched to an S&W .44-40 like Ethel's).

Adam called for the passengers to collect their belongings from the sacks while they looked into the situation in the other cars. Adam moved the saddle bags from the floor to the seat as if he was just marking the place where they had been sitting. He took up the shotgun after reloading his pistol, and the two walked toward the next car.

Just as they opened the door from the platform to the car interior, two men rushed out the door at the other end of the car. Adam ducked out onto the platform and spotted the two men running toward the front of the train. Without hesitation, he fired his shotgun at the fleeing men. They were already too far away for the small #4 buckshot to do much damage through their heavy clothes, but he did hit one. That man would probably die in a week or so from blood poisoning or gangrene.

Ethyl ran through the car and went out the other door. Adam had fired by the time she reached the platform, but she still had time to take a shot at the unwounded man. She jumped to the ground and used both hands to steady her pistol as she fired. Perfect! She scored a hit in the man's thigh and broke his leg. The remaining bandits heard the shooting and recognized that the shotgun blast meant that they were in trouble, so they jumped down from the train on the side opposite the shooters and ran for the woods.