Chapter 3

The loot consisted of three pocket watches of uncertain value, two bowie knives, two clasp knives, one small club, two Colt Navy revolvers, and $138 in gold and silver coins. Both men already had watches and bowie knives, so they went into the pile of stuff to be sold. Each took a clasp knife, and Bob took the small club. Each man took a revolver, and Bob tossed his two pistols into the pile to be sold. They divided the money in half and found that they'd had a very profitable night.

Billy had to be shown how to operate the revolver, so they planned to make a trip to the river where it would be safe to shoot the guns so that Billy could learn what he needed to know.

The next morning, they rented a carriage and stopped at a gunsmith's shop to purchase powder, shot, and caps. They drove out of town following the gunsmith's directions to find a place where they could practice with their new guns. Billy was an expert shot with his rifle, but the pistol was an entirely foreign entity for him. Fortunately, Bob was a competent instructor, so Billy had the fundamentals down in a very short time. In principle, loading the pistol was the same as loading his rifle, so all he needed was a little practice to get his muscle memory set for the job. Shooting was a different story!

They used up quite a bit of powder and shot over four days of practice until Bob was satisfied that Billy knew what he was doing so that he could hit what he was aiming at. Billy was still not really good with the revolver, but he was better than most people of the time, so Bob was willing to trust Billy to carry a loaded gun without killing or injuring something unintended.

At the time, it was common for men to carry a gun loose in a pocket, but that was inconvenient for a pistol as large and heavy as the Colt. Bob insisted that they have holsters made that they could wear on a belt and not drag their coats out of shape. They visited a leather worker and ordered holsters to be worn on the left side and angled for a crossdraw. That way, the gun would be hidden by their coattails, yet would be convenient to reach in case of more trouble with muggers or other outlaws.

It took 10 days for the holsters to be ready, and both men spent a day at their shooting stand practicing with the unfamiliar gun and holster. Billy and Bob had little problem learning what they needed to know, as they were already familiar with the similar maneuver of pulling a knife from under the coat.

After a month in New Orleans, the two men decided to move on. They were already bored with the city and wanted to see what some of the rest of the country looked like. Therefore, they booked passage on a steamboat headed to St. Louis. They hedged their bets a little bit and paid for passage only as far as Cairo, Illinois. They planned to amuse themselves on board the boat with draw poker. Surely, they could find other men interested in a friendly game.

In fact, the boat had not even left the dock before they were invited into a game. This game was not like the one on the packet boat from Mobile. Here, the game was run by an avowed professional gambler. There was no more surety that the game would be honest, but they knew who to look at if there were any suspicions. To his surprise, over the first two days, Billy won steadily. He did not win a large amount of money, but he did win often. In fact, he was winning more than the pro.

When they broke for supper on the second day, the pro asked Billy to have a private word with him. "Mr. Oldham, Sir, may I ask if ya are a professional gambler? Ya seem ta know what ya are doing so well, that I feel that ya have the talent for the profession."

"No, Sir, Mr. Greenfield, I am not a professional gambler. I simply enjoy the game an' seem ta have a knack ta know when an' how much ta wager."

"Well, Mr. Oldham, Sir, I have a request ta make. I would take it as a great kindness if ya would move on ta another game so that I could win more often."

"Mr. Greenfield, since ya ask so kindly, I'll do that, an' I wish ya all the luck in the world. However, I will take my friend with me. I hope that don't bother ya too much."

"No, I expected that. I would suggest that ya start yer own game. Ya have the talent for it, an' I'm sure that ya wouldn't have any trouble findin' other players."

Billy discussed that with Bob over supper, and he agreed to join Billy at a new table. They spoke to the first mate and agreed to the boat's cut, which was a very reasonable 5%. That evening, they started their own table of draw poker. At first, only Billy and Bob were players at the table, but they soon drew three more men into the game. Billy won often enough to make the project worthwhile, but not so much that the other players lost interest. For some reason which Billy never understood, there seemed to be a waiting line of players for his game.

The several days it took to get to Cairo made it obvious that Billy and Bob had a moneymaker in their poker game. They booked passage all the way to St. Louis, and they kept their game going the whole time. They were so successful and their game was so popular that the first mate asked if they would consider making the run back to New Orleans in two weeks. Both men declined to commit to the trip, but did say that they would consider it.

They left the boat and found lodging in the finest hotel in St. Louis. They had won so much money at poker that they could afford it. They took a suite, and each man had his own bed.

St. Louis was not nearly as sophisticated as New Orleans, so there was not as much to do there. As a result, the men returned to playing poker to keep from being bored. This time, as an experiment, Billy and Bob each set up his own table. They located in the saloon, "Gentlemen's Lounge," as the hotel called it and paid the bartender 6% for the privilege. Billy was the more successful of the two, but Bob had no trouble making enough to hold up his end of the expenses. They were having so much luck with their poker careers that they looked up First Mate Marlin of the Southern Queen and told him that they would take him up on the offer of the free trip back to New Orleans.

By this time, they had accumulated enough gold to require a strongbox to store it in. They simply could not comfortably carry so much money in their moneybelts. The bartender agreed to keep an eye on the strong box while they were traveling on condition that they would spend their next layover playing poker in his saloon. This seemed like a fair deal, so each one took $500 in gold from the box and left the rest with the bartender. This would be their stake to get the new games started on the Southern Queen.

The first two days went well, but on the third day, they were interrupted by river pirates who stormed the boat while it was tied up at a refueling dock. This was a bloody mess of a fight! A few passengers had been on deck watching the loading of the wood for fuel when a band of about 30 pirates stormed the dock and the boat. The timing by the pirates had been perfect, since virtually every crew member was on the dock helping to move the wood aboard for stowage below deck.

The attack started with a withering volley of gunfire from the pirates aimed at the crew members on the dock. Nearly every man was either killed or seriously wounded, so there were not many left to fight the pirates when they boarded the Southern Queen. The boat was swept by the pirates in teams of three, so there was little chance of anybody forming an adequate defense. Both Billy and Bob were caught in the lounge at the poker tables when pirates stormed in. All they had for protection was their revolvers with five shots each and their bowie knives. Both men put up a stout defense, but were eventually clubbed into submission.

All of the surviving crew and passengers were assembled in the lounge while the boat was sacked for anything valuable that was moveable. This took several hours, so Bob and Billy had time to recover consciousness before the next stage of the pirates' activity.