advantage.  My companion asked me if I had ever played.  I told him no.  He said that I ought to try my luck:  that everybody won at first.  The tall man at my side was waving his arms in the air, exclaiming:  “Shoot the sixteen!” “Shoot the sixteen!” “Fate me!” Whether it was my companion’s suggestion or some latent dare-devil strain in my blood which suddenly sprang into activity I do not know; but with a thrill of excitement which went through my whole body I threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table and said in a trembling voice:  “I fate you.”

I could feel that I had gained the attention and respect of everybody in the room, every eye was fixed on me, and the widespread question, “Who is he?” went around.  This was gratifying to a certain sense of vanity of which I have never been able to rid myself, and I felt that it was worth the money even if I lost.  The tall man, with a whirl on his heels and a double grunt, threw the dice; four was the number which turned up.  This is considered as a hard “point” to make.  He redoubled his contortions and his grunts and his pleadings to the dice; but on his third or fourth throw the fateful seven turned up, and I had won.  My companion and all my friends shouted to me to follow up my luck.  The fever was on me.  I seized the dice.  My hands were so hot that the bits of bone felt like pieces of ice.  I shouted as loudly as I could:  “Shoot it all!” but the blood was tingling so about my ears that I could not hear my own voice.  I was soon “fated.”  I threw the dice—­sevens—­I had won.  “Shoot it all!” I cried again.  There was a pause; the stake was more than one man cared to or could cover.  I was finally “fated” by several men taking each a part of it.  I then threw the dice again.  Seven.  I had won.  “Shoot it all!” I shouted excitedly.  After a short delay I was “fated.”  Again I rolled the dice.  Eleven.  Again I won.  My friends now surrounded me and, much against my inclination, forced me to take down all of the money except five dollars.  I tried my luck once more, and threw some small “point” which failed to make, and the dice passed on to the next man.

In less than three minutes I had won more than two hundred dollars, a sum which afterwards cost me dearly.  I was the hero of the moment and was soon surrounded by a group of men who expressed admiration for my “nerve” and predicted for me a brilliant future as a gambler.  Although at the time I had no thought of becoming a gambler, I felt proud of my success.  I felt a bit ashamed, too, that I had allowed my friends to persuade me to take down my money so soon.  Another set of men also got around me and begged me for twenty-five or fifty cents to put them back into the game.  I gave each of them something.  I saw that several of them had on linen dusters, and as I looked about, I noticed that there were perhaps a dozen men in the room similarly clad.  I asked the fellow who had been my prompter at the dice table why they dressed in such a manner.