"By the time midnight came around Dunwoody’s friend with the pulmonary trouble had won about half as much again from us, and Dunwoody began to look at his watch nervously. The three of us were taking a little nip at frequent intervals, just enough to brush the cobwebs away, but the sick-looking man didn’t touch a drop. He smoked one cigarette after another, however, inhaling the smoke into his shrunken lungs, and the sight made all of us feel sorry, I guess, for the foolhardiness of the man. Finally Dunwoody looked at his watch and then raised his eyes and took a survey of the countenance of the consumptive, which was overspread with a deep flush. The consumptive’s eyes were extraordinarily bright, too.
"’Fatty,’ said Dunwoody, ’cash in and go to bed. 'You’ve had enough of this. Poker and 112 cigarettes for a one-lunger bound for Colorado for his health! Cash in and skip!’
"’No, I don’t want to quit, George,’ said the consumptive. 'I haven’t had anything like enough yet. What’s more, I’ve got all of you fellows too much in the hole. I only wanted to come in for the fun of it, anyhow, and here I am with a lot of the coin of the three of you. I’ll just play on until this pay streak deserts me and give you fellows a chance to win out.’
"When he finished saying this the man with the wasted lungs had another violent spell of coughing and Dunwoody looked worried. But he gave in.
"’All right, Fat,’ he said, ’do as you derned please, but I don’t want to be boxing you up and shipping you back to the lake front.’
"Then the game proceeded. I don’t think any of us felt exactly right, playing with a man who looked as if his days were as short-numbered as a child’s multiplication table, but maybe the fact that he was such a comfortable winner from us mitigated our sympathy for him just a little bit. He kept on winning steadily for the next hour, and about half past 1 in the morning there was a good-sized jackpot. It went around half a dozen times, all of us sweetening it for five every time the deal passed, and finally, on the seventh deal, which was the consumptive’s, Danforth, who sat on his left, opened the pot. I stayed, and so did Dunwoody. When it was up to the dealer he nodded his head to indicate that he would stay. We were all looking at him, and we noticed that he had gone pale. It was noticeable after the deep flush that had covered his face when he entered.