“Gosh!  Don’t cry!” begged the Mocha Kid.  With a counterfeit assumption of juvenile hilarity he exclaimed:  “Oh, look at the pretty pies!  They got little Christmas-trees on their lids, ’ain’t they?  Um-yum!  Rich and juicy!  I stuck up the baker and stole his whole stock, but I slipped and spilled ’em F. O. B.—­flat on the boardwalk.”

Rouletta laughed.  “Let’s end the game and all have lunch,” she suggested, and her invitation was accepted.

Big Lars spoke up with his mouth full of pastry:  “We don’t allow anybody to go hungry in this camp,” said he.  “We’re all your friends, miss, and if there’s anything you want and can’t afford, charge it to me.”

Rouletta stopped to speak with Miller, on her way out.  “Do I get the position?” she inquired.

“Say!  You know you get it!” he told her.  “You go on at eight and come off at midnight.”

“What is the pay?”

“I pay my dealers an ounce a shift, but—­you can write your own ticket.  How is two ounces?”

“I’ll take regular wages,” Rouletta smiled.

Miller nodded his approval of this attitude; then his face clouded.  “I’ve been wondering how you’re going to protect your bank-roll.  Things won’t always be like they were to-day.  I s’pose I’ll have to put a man on—­”

“I’ll protect it,” the girl asserted.  “Agnes and I will do that.”

The proprietor was interested.  “Agnes?  Holy Moses!  Is there two of you?  Have you got a sister?  Who’s Agnes?”

“She’s an old friend of my father’s.”

Miller shrugged.  “Bring her along if you want to,” he said, doubtfully, “but those old dames are trouble-makers.”

“Yes, Agnes is all of that, but”—­Rouletta’s eyes were dancing—­ “she minds her own business and she’ll guard the bank-roll.”

Lucky Broad and Kid Bridges had found employment at the Rialto soon after it opened.  As they passed the gold-scales on their way to work Pierce Phillips halted them.

“I’ve some good news for you, Lucky,” he announced.  “You’ve lost your job.”

“Who, me?” Broad was incredulous.

“Miller has hired a new faro-dealer, and you don’t go on until midnight.”  Briefly Pierce retold the story that had come to his ears when he reported for duty that evening.

Broad and Bridges listened without comment, but they exchanged glances.  They put their heads together and began a low-pitched conversation.  They were still murmuring when Rouletta appeared, in company with ’Poleon Doret.

’Poleon’s face lighted at sight of the two gamblers.  He strode forward, crying:  “Hallo!  I’m glad for see you some more.”  To the girl he said:  “You ‘member dese feller’.  Dey he’p save you in de rapids.”

Rouletta impulsively extended her hands.  “Of course!  Could I forget?” She saw Pierce Phillips behind the scales and nodded to him.  “Why, we’re all here, aren’t we?  I’m so glad.  Everywhere I go I meet friends.”