The man who had dealt said, "I don't quite understand how he did it yet. How did he get that other deck in here?"
Longarm jerked his head toward the waiter. "Very simple operation. He didn't have to do any fast shuffling, didn't have to stack the deck. He didn't have to do anything. That waiter over there did it all back behind the bar before he brought the round of drinks out. He came in carrying the tray with an identical deck underneath it, which was already arranged so that we would play them just as we did. When he set the tray down on the deck I'd just cut, he left that cold deck. And by the way, the reason they call it a cold deck is that the man who's dealing it has a cold lock--nothing's going to change it. When the waiter drops that deck, he picks the other one up as he's leaving, the one we've been playing with, the one that I'd just cut. It's a nice trick, but I've seen it before."
The man across the table said in a hard voice, "Well, you explained how he done it, but you ain't said yet what we're going to do with the cheatin' son of a bitch."
Longarm reached over with his free hand and spread out the money in front of Colton. He said, "Well, that looks to be about a thousand dollars in front of him." Then he reached his hand into Colton's coat, which was hanging over the back of the chair, and fumbled around until he found the man's wallet in an inside pocket. He pitched the wallet into the middle of the table. "Somebody look in there."
The man who had drawn the three jacks reached over and unfolded the leather wallet. He counted the money inside and said, "Looks to be about six hundred more here."
Longarm said, "Take it out. Pitch it in the middle of the table and then give Mr. Colton his wallet back."
Colton said, "You thieving son of a bitch. Are you planning on robbing me?"
Longarm said, "Well, which would you rather have? The beating of your life and then we rob you, or do we just take the money? Now, it's your choice. You can pay us in skin and blood and bruises and broken bones and money or maybe, and I'm only one vote, we'll just take your money."
Colton stood up very slowly, his eye on Longarm's gun. He said, "I haven't won that much. I started with almost one thousand two hundred dollars and you're going to take all my money? All sixteen hundred dollars?"
Longarm said, "That would be about right."
Colton turned to face him. He said, "I'll get you for this."
Longarm said evenly, "I wouldn't count on that, Mr. Colton. I wouldn't count on that at all. In fact, if I's you, I'd stay just as far away from me as you could get, because next time, I may not be so obliging."
The man who had the three jacks, a tall man with big shoulders and a broken nose said, "Wait a minute, you're not going to let the son of a bitch walk out of here scot-free, are you?" He put his big fist down on the table and hammered it up and down softly and said, "I want a piece of him."
Longarm said, "Never did catch your name, friend."
The man said, "The name is Frank Carson, but that ain't important right now. I want to beat this son of a bitch half to death. I don't like to be cheated."
"Neighbor, we've got to make the punishment fit the crime. He was trying to cheat us out of money, so we're going to take his money. If he had done something to us physical, then I'd be all in favor of beating the hell out of him, but I don't see how it would be fair to do both."
The man sat back down in his chair and thought for a moment. He glanced at Longarm and slowly leaned back. "Well, maybe you're right. The bastard will never play poker again in this town. I'll see to that." The man's face relaxed and he smiled ruefully. He said, "Anybody that would cheat in a card game ain't fit to live with himself anyway, and this bastard's got to live with himself the rest of his life. I reckon that'll be punishment enough."
"Along with the money that he won't be leaving here with," Longarm said.
The other men at the table laughed. Frank Carson said, "Yeah, along with the money."
Longarm gave Colton a small smile. He said, "Well, Mr. Colton, I guess you better start walking for that door. These gentlemen appear willing to let you go, and were I you, I'd just stick that empty wallet in my coat pocket and get the hell out of here."
Colton said as he edged away from the table, "I won't forget you. I won't forget this." He looked around the table. "You know, you people may be making a mistake. Maybe I was the one set up. How do you know this yahoo," he jerked his thumb toward Longarm, "didn't set it up with that guy leaning up against the wall just to rob me?"
Longarm said, "Now, Mr. Colton, you are starting to ask for some bruising. I don't much care for that kind of conversation. I think if you're still here by the time I count to five, I'm going to put this gun away and beat you to a small pulp myself."
Without a word, Colton walked around behind Longarm and straight through the door and out of sight. Longarm slowly holstered his gun and then sat down at the table. He said, "Y'all get busy and divide that money up. Everybody knows who lost what, so try and parcel it out evenly."
Frank Carson said, "What about that son of a bitch frozen up against the wall there?"
Longarm said, "I'm just going to let him stay there."
Carson said, "What makes you think he'll stay there?"
"Because if he moves, I'm going to shoot him in the leg."
One of the other players said, "Won't they miss him back at the bar?"
"I would imagine that Mr. Colton will tell them out at the bar that his partner is slightly tied up and likely to stay that way for some while. Meanwhile, let's get that money distributed, courtesy of Mr. Colton, and get on with this game. I can't believe this, but I'm down about fifty dollars, and the idea of me being down fifty dollars to the caliber of poker players like y'all is galling to me."
Frank Carson was busy counting the pile of money, including Colton's. He looked up and gave Longarm a look. He said, "Well, now. I don't know what caliber poker player you are, but I know that's a.44-caliber revolver you just used very nicely. Are you a bigger or smaller caliber poker player than that?"
Longarm gave him a smile. He said, "As it happens, I'm exactly the same caliber. Saves me from investing extra money in cartridges, if you understand what I mean."
Carson smiled and said, "Oh, yes. I understand exactly. But just for fun, let's play a few hands and see if you're as good at making money as that big revolver of yours." He gave Longarm an amused look. Carson, in spite of his crooked nose, looked friendly enough.
Longarm said, "Well, just deal the cards and see."
The man who had dealt the hand that exposed Colton sat holding the cards. He looked first at Frank Carson and then at Longarm. He said, "I take it that you two gents ain't from around here."
Carson looked curious. He said, "No, I'm just passing through, myself. So what? Is this a hometown game?"
Longarm said, "Yeah, what difference does it make if we're strangers?"
The man shrugged. He said, "Well, maybe you noticed that me and these other two fellows didn't take much of a hand in that business. We kind of left the play up to you two. Did you notice that?"
Longarm said, "Well, at that time, it wasn't your affair. I was the one who caught him, and I was the one holding the gun and giving the orders."
One of the other men smiled ruefully. He said, "I sure as hell hope that Morton Colton saw it that way."
"Why?"
The man holding the deck said, "Colton is bad news. He runs with a rough bunch, and he's some kind of kin to the sheriff. Word is that he can get even with you on either side of the law."
Longarm looked at the man. He said, "is that a fact?"
He looked slowly around the table and said, "Did you boys think he was cheating, or did you think he was just uncommonly lucky?"
The dealer said, "It was always just healthier to figure he was uncommonly lucky."