THE PROFESSIONAL SHARPER 



as he lost it all the very first night. " Yer see," he 

 went on, "I was a-stoppin' at a hotel thar in Kansas 

 City, and thar war a feller thar that war mighty handy 

 with the keerds, and he wanted to show me a game he 

 called monkey, or some such name as that. Oh, he 

 war a clever chap ! 

 Talk about throwiii' 

 keerds, he war the 

 boy that could rustle 

 'urn. Yerha'ntapack 

 o' keerds with yer, 

 have yer? I just 

 thought p'r'aps you'd 

 like to see how it war 

 done. I must 'a' left 

 mine in my swag. 

 No ; here they are," 

 producing a greasy 

 pack of cards from 

 his pocket, and begin- 

 ning to shuffle them. 



" Now, this war how he done it," he said, taking out 

 three aces from the pack, and, putting them half an inch 

 apart between his middle finger and thumb, he moved 

 his arm from left to right, and deposited the three 

 cards on the car-seat in such a way that it would be 

 difficult to tell which went down first. " Now I'll bet 

 yer ten dollars, yer can't pick up the diamond." Just 



; NOW, THIS WAR HOW HE DONE IT.' 



