More Poker

Zach finds an opportunity to rob a rich, powerful old man. His opportunities don't usually turn out the way he expects.

Right around the turn of the 20th century on Earth I was in Cripple Creek, Colorado in the U.S. It was a booming mining town then and I was making money gambling. Poker was my game and I was good at it. I wasn't the best, but I was good enough to build up a fair sum of money. One night I was on a winning streak when I got accused of cheating. The dude pulled a gun on me but I got him first with a derringer I kept up my sleeve when I played. Turned out the dude had some pretty powerful friends and I got run out of town. They threw me out on the north side of town so I just kept heading north.

Came to Denver and a jewel of a hotel, The Brown Palace. I spent one of the greatest month's of my life there. When I was let in to see the old man, there it was, just the way I remembered it, The Brown Palace.

Well, seeing the old Brown Palace sitting there like that kind of threw me off a bit and I whistled and muttered, "The Brown Palace." One of the guards looked at me kind of funny. When we got inside, I saw it was all like it was that month I was there, down to the staff and what they wore. The guard left me in the lobby to cool my heels a bit and when he got back he had this old dude dressed like some kinda gambler with him. I figured it was the old man everyone talked about and that gave me an idea. "I am the owner of this hotel," was his introduction. I nodded a hello, "Thought maybe you were one of the gamblers here." He gave me a little look of surprise, "How did you recognize this place and my clothes?" I gave him a little smile, "Spent one of the best months of my life in The Brown Palace." Now his look was suspicious, "The Brown Place was torn down hundreds of years ago." I just shrugged. Now a look of understanding came into his eyes, "The Man Who Doesn't Die. I thought you had a different name... Zach Packer." I shrugged again. Now he started to look a little angry but his interest won out and I also saw a look of calculation in his eyes, "I'll bet you've got a lot of interesting stories." That was my opening, "Tell ya what, Pard, I'll do you one better. I'll give you what you really want, I'll play you some poker. Now, I ain't got much in the way of money, so I'll give you stories if I lose and you put up Standard credits." Well, he was pleased, real pleased, and so was I.

I lost on the first night. It was kinda fittin, I lost on the first night I ever went to the The Brown Palace. It was kinda eerie. I got into this poker game with some rich rancher's trail boss and I couldn't beat him even one hand. It was like he saw every one of my cards, but I knew he wasn't cheating. I had to quit early so I wouldn't blow my whole load my first night there. That trail boss was the best damn poker player I ever saw. The old man was pretty good, not good enough but I wanted to stick around a bit, after all, it was The Brown Palace. I told him, "I'll tell you a story and you pay me what you think it's worth." That was fine by him.

"Some good sippin whiskey and fine cigars would help the story." He motioned to a servant and it was the best I'd ever had. I leaned back in my chair and propped my boots on the table.

"I'd been lookin for work for a while when I heard where there was a cattle drive two days ride north of me." The old man interrupted, "When was this?" "I came to The Brown Palace at the turn of the 20th century and this was some years before that." and I went on with the story. "They were already on the trail when I got there and I was just hopin they'd lost some men by then. When I found the trail boss I asked him for a job. 'What can you do?' 'Done it all.' I told him."

"One night I woke to sounds from the remuda, when I got there they'd just been cut loose and some fellas were runnin them off. I spotted some more dudes cutting out a group of cattle from the herd. I let out a shout to alert the camp and then whistled for my horse. He broke out of the pack of horses running off and came for me. About this time shots were goin off and a lot of confusion. I figgered it would be best to round up the horses, we could track the rustlers down and get our cattle back later."

"We left a skeleton crew with the remaining cattle and took out after the rustlers. We found them watering the cattle that morning, there were ten of them and seven of us. They had men posted in some rocks where they could fire down on anyone that came into view. I told the men to wait in the draw where we were hiding, I had an idea. I followed the draw down a little ways where I saw a line of rocks that would provide enough cover for one man if he kept low, from where I was I was only in the line of sight of one of the men in the rocks. I kept a watch on him and when his attention was elsewhere I made for the first rock. I kept this up until I was where I could climb up behind him. I crept up on him and cut his throat then I put on his hat and stood up. I kept a watch on the other dudes and when they were all looking away I shot one of them. The others started looking around to see where the shot came from, so did I. Down by the water the other six rustlers started getting the cattle moving, I took two of them out before anyone got wise to me. The rocks were plenty of cover and it was nothing to take the other four by the water out. I couldn't get a clear shot at the last two in the rocks so I shouted out for my pards. They came riding out of the draw with guns blazin and the last two rustlers threw out their guns and stood up."

"We got the cattle back to camp and went on with the drive. Well, damned if four nights later we didn't get rustled again."

"We posted extra sentries but they ran off our remuda and cut off a bunch of cattle without us seein our hearin a thing. It took us a day to get our horses together then we set off on their trail. We were two days out when a dust storm started blowin up. Some of the men wanted to turn back but I wasn't about to give up. We kept on the trail until we couldn't see in front of our faces. When the storm passed the trail was gone. Again the men wanted to turn back but I talked them into goin on for one more day. Good thing we did, too, because at the end of that day we heard cattle lowin in the distance."

"There was an outcropping of rock up ahead where we could hide ourselves. When we got there I climbed up to get a look. There they were, off aways waterin the cattle at a stream. I called down to the men, 'Get ready to move out.' and I brought one of the rustlers down with my rifle. I figgered the rustlers'd take off but they started firin their guns. I knew they couldn't hit me at that distance, then I saw what they were up to. They got the cattle spooked and runnin and they were headin the cattle for a ravine. I shot one more rustler and then got on my horse, the other men were already on the move. When the rustler's saw us coming they lit out but we weren't interested in them anymore."

"It was a hell of a job cuttin the cattle off from the ravine and we damn near lost them. When we got back to the drive we slept for a day then went back to work. Well, wouldn't you know it, we ran into more rustlers six days later."

"We were ready for them this time and they didn't even get near the horses. We put four of them down and the rest got away, but not before puttin one in my shoulder. A bunch of the men took out after them but I wasn't one of them. The hole in my shoulder wasn't too bad, the bullet went clean through, but I'd had it... I hadn't signed on to be chasin rustlers the whole way. I collected my pay from the trail boss and headed out. It was the last cattle drive I ever went on." I drained my glass and asked, "What did ya think of that, Pard?" He tried to look like he hadn't been that interested, but I'd seen it on his face the whole time I'd been tellin him the story. "I'll give you 500 credits." I was satisfied with that, a little more than I thought I'd get and I wasn't in any hurry to go anywhere. I looked disappointed, "Well... it was late and I didn't have any time to think on it... that'll do. Tell you what, what do you want to hear about next? I've been around."

Excerpt from The Godz of Earth by S.E.Estes