Instead of speaking, the Mexican held up two fingers, tossing his discards out and sweeping the new ones into his hand in a single motion. He laid his cards down, his face bland and unruffled.
"I~ I'll play what I got," Billy-Bob announced. His voice was a bit higher-pitched than usual and he was clenching his cards tightly between pressed palms.
"Luke?" the dealer asked the last man.
"Since I paid for 'em, you better gimme two." He got the requested cards, looked at them, added them to his hand, and tossed all the cards on the discard heap.
"I'm drawing two," George announced. He did so, discarded and stacked the discards neatly, then looked across the table. "You bought the bet when you raised, Gonzales."
"Five." Gonzales tossed a red chip in the pot.
The ranch hand and the second charro followed suit.
"And five," Billy-Bob said as soon as their chips had clattered to the table. He tossed in two reds from the small stack of chips he'd been clicking nervously.
There weren't enough chips in the young fellow's stake to drag the betting out, Longarm thought.
"Ten to me, then, gents," George said. "And you, too, Spud. If you're staying in, that is."
"Oh, I'm in," Spud replied. He threw in the chips, then leaned back in his chair, smiling to show that he hadn't a worry in the world.
George raised his eyebrows at Gonzales, who added another red chip without speaking. Then the dealer's eyes moved to the next player. "Fiddler?"
"Reckon I'll just cut my losses before I get tempted." The ranch hand slid his hand to George, who added it to the deadwood.
"Aleman?" George asked. The Mexican shrugged and fingered his chips for a moment. Impatiently, George repeated, "Aleman?"
"I find myself forced to raise," Aleman announced. "But only a small amount. Five more dollars, senores."
Defiantly, Billy-Bob tossed in the red chip, then added his last blue. "And ten more," he said, making an almost visible effort to keep his voice steady.
Wordlessly, George tapped the tabletop with his five stacked cards and added them to the discards. In equal silence, Spud added a red and a blue chip to the pot. Holding up two fingers, Gonzales dropped a red and two blues in the table's center. Aleman threw in two blues, his face still bland and unreadable.
Longarm hadn't been keeping close track of the betting, but it had registered subconsciously. He estimated that there was something just over a hundred dollars in the pot, three or four months' wages for the young cowhand whose raise had escalated the betting.
"Damn it!" Billy-Bob said. "I wanta raise, but all I got is enough to call!"
On impulse, Longarm flipped a double eagle onto the table in front of Billy-Bob. The youth looked up, startled. He identified Longarm as his unexpected benefactor and said, "Thanks, mister. I'll pay you back outa the pot."
"Win it first," Longarm told him.
Billy-Bob tossed the twenty-dollar gold piece in the pot. "I guess I don't need to buy chips with this." Then he added his last two reds to the growing heap on the table. "And up ten more."
"I got too much in there not to look, now," Spud observed. He fed the pot a pair of blues. "But all I'll do is call."
Gonzales announced regretfully, "That will not be good enough, senor." He put in three blue chips. "The game becomes more costly."
"Si, amigo, " Aleman agreed. "I also raise. Ten more dollars."
"Hell's bells!" Billy-Bob exploded. "You men are freezing me out!" He looked at the house man. "Unless I can play the pot short."
"Not a chance." George shook his head. "There's a house rule against short-played pots. Baskin says they give him too much trouble."
Billy-Bob looked pleadingly at Longarm.
"Sorry, friend," Longarm said. "I kept you in the game once, but that's as far as I go."
"Come look at my hand," Billy-Bob invited.
Longarm shook his head. "Nope. I didn't mean to, but I seen what one of these other men's holding, after I staked you. If I look at your cards now and put up money for your bet, it'd be just like you was playing with a marked deck."
"He's right," George said approvingly. "But there's sure not any house rule that says the rest of you can't make a side pot, if you want to. High hand out of the three'd take the side pot, Billy-Bob's hand would just count in the main pot."
"I won't get sucked into a three-way pot with them two greasers," Spud announced angrily.
Gonzales straightened up at the insulting word, but subsided when Aleman hissed a remark in a voice too low for Longarm to hear.
Gonzales said, "If the caballero"— he made the word sound like the sort of insult Spud had hurled at him as he indicated the deputy — "if the caballero objects, then the joven must find the chips with which to call or raise."
"Damn it, I got too much in that pot to be raised outa it," Billy-Bob protested. He appealed to the man on his left. "Luke, will you stake me? You know I'm good for it, if I happen to lose."
Luke sighed. "I guess it's only money. All right, Billy-Bob. I'll stake you if you promise you won't do nothing but call from here on in. You make any raises, I pull out."
Billy-Bob started to object, but caught Longarm's headshake out of the corner of his eye and settled back into his chair. "We got a deal, Luke. All right. I'll just call any raise that's made."
Somehow, the dispute had shattered the game's mood. Spud glared angrily at the two charros and they glared back. He looked with equal anger at Billy-Bob, who raised his chin defiantly.
George tried to make peace. "Billy-Bob's called your raise, Aleman. Luke, you owe the pot two blues for Billy-Bob. Spud, you're short two blues, and Gonzales is shy one, if you're going to let the call stand."
"I'm damn sure goin' to see what everybody's been bettin'," Spud said. He tossed the chips in.
"That will satisfy me, also," Gonzales said.
Aleman shrugged. "I would not want to be the only one who disagrees." He added a blue chip.
"Show 'em down, then, gents," George ordered.
Gonzales said, "These I would like better if they were in sequence, but with an ace at the top, I think they will get respect." He spread out a heart flush.
"They ain't good," Spud told him. "Not against my four tens."
"Que lastima!" Aleman murmured. "I have put too much trust in three treys and two queens."
As Billy-Bob watched the hands being displayed, the grin on his face grew bigger and bigger. Trying to match the calm of the other players and not quite succeeding, he laid his cards down one by one, all spades, in sequence from the five to the nine.
"I guess I got all of you topped," he said, exhaling gustily.
Spud exploded. He kicked his chair aside and swiveled to face Longarm. "Damn you, Custis! You begun this! If you hadn't staked that little cowpoke, he'd've been froze out and I could've run that pot up to a good one!"
"Cool down, Spud!" George commanded. "The gent didn't do anything that was out of line."
Longarm said nothing, but faced Spud with an expressionless face.
"That's twice today you butted into my business," Spud went on. "And that's just about two times too many!"
Longarm remained silent. He kept his features frozen, his hands still.
George was out of his chair by now, moving between Longarm and Spud, saying, "Hold yourself down, Spud! You know the boss don't like dustups in here!"
Over the house man's shoulder, Spud grated, "This ain't the time to settle with you, Custis. But stay outa my way! You hear?"
"Loud as you're yelling, I'd have to be deaf not to," Longarm replied quietly. When Spud began to sputter, he added, "I judge you ain't got any more to say, so I'll bid all you gents good night."