“‘If you will give me your promise to go as far south as St. Louis for sixty days, and tell nobody that you are going, I’ll take that as an equivalent for the five thousand,’ said Martin very slowly and distinctly. “Gilmartin flushed. He knew that everybody in the room understood the proposition. He was asked to sell out his honor, for going away in that fashion meant betraying his employer and running away with his money, as well as leaving him in the lurch. I expected to hear an indignant outburst of invective and abuse, and indeed the man was about to speak when another thought seemed to strike him, and he grew deathly white. The gambling fever had seized him, and he looked at his cards again. “While he was hesitating Martin spoke again, and the devilish coolness of his speech made me shudder. “‘I need not say anything to impress on the minds of all the gentlemen present that this is a private party,’ he said, ‘and that nothing which happens here can be told outside while it can by any possibility work injury to any one concerned.’ “Gilmartin looked round at every man in the room, and seeing by our faces that we all recognized the obligation, he seemed nerved, as Martin had meant that he should be, to take the risk. “‘I’ll take the bet,’ he said at length, and he spoke desperately. ‘But God help you, Martin, if you win it. I don’t believe you can, for I’ve got almost a sure hand.’ “‘If you lose,’ said Martin, ‘you have no cause of quarrel with me. I am not forcing you to play. But if you mean enmity, all right. I’ll gamble your friendship, too, along with the rest, if you like.’ “‘So be it,’ said Gilmartin. ‘It’s a call, then. If you lose you pay me five thousand. If I lose I leave.’ “‘Correct,’ said Martin, and the hands were shown. “Martin had drawn to kings and caught the other two. Gilmartin had drawn to three queens and drawn the other. “His face as he left the room was such a picture as I hope never to see again, but he kept to his bargain. At least, I imagine he did, for he was not seen again in that part of the country while I was there. I never spoke to Martin again, but his friend was elected Senator at the next session of the Legislature by a majority of two votes. Both men are dead, or I would not have told the story.” The Bill Went Through _THE USE THE LOBBY USED TO MAKE OF POKER_