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Hodges. They were all well to do men and business owners in Abilene and didn’t need to worry about where their next meal was coming from. Willie Hodges had been consistently losing and you could see the agitation on his face.
    “You sure seem to be having a run of good luck today, Sloan,” Hodges remarked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
    Sloan never looked up from his hand, which was a good one, especially since he had palmed a pair of aces when he had dealt the hand. “Luck has nothing to do with it, Hodges. I’m just too damn good. Of course, you knew that when you sat down at the game so why complain about it now?”
    “Because I’m losing all my money, that’s why.” “Then maybe you shouldn’t have joined the game today. Every man that sits down knows he is either going to win or lose, it’s that simple.”
“Yeah, well you seem to be doing a lot of winning, especially when you deal the cards.”
Sloan looked up at Hodges. “Now, don’t go making accusations you can’t prove or it might get you into a spot you can’t get out of,” said Sloan, with a hint of a threat in his voice. Hodges knew of Sloan’s reputation at poker, but more importantly, he also knew about his reputation with a gun. The glaring look in Sloan’s eyes made Hodges shut up, and he returned his attention to his hand again. None of the other three men spoke during the banter between Hodges and Sloan because they knew better than to do so.
About five hands later, a slim built, neatly dressed man walked into the Blue Diamond Gambling House. He looked around for a moment and then walked up to the bar and ordered a whiskey. Sloan had noticed that the man was wearing a nice pistol and holster worn low and tied down, the mark of a gunslinger. Sloan did not recognize the man but he made a mental note to keep an eye on the man, anyway. Willie Hodges had won a few hands now, but Will Morton and Stan Nobel both had folded up, losing all of their money. Sloan had about six thousand dollars, Willie Hodges had about three thousand dollars and Gabby Hunt had almost two thousand. They decided to take a break and the saloon owner had two men with scatterguns watch the table so that no one would get the idea of trying to grab the money. Willie Hodges and Gabby Hunt sat at a table together and ordered some drinks and something to eat. They had known each other for a long time. Sloan went up to the bar and ordered the best brandy the saloon had. He figured he could afford it, especially with his winnings today. The game wasn’t over yet, but Sloan knew what the outcome would be in the end.
The man who had walked in earlier was Jack Stone. He hadn’t recognized Eddie Sloan when he had walked in but he recognized him now as he leaned on the bar; five other men separating them. He put his drink down after he almost had it up to his lips.
“Well, I’ll be damned, if it ain’t the one and only card shark, Eddie Sloan. I didn’t even notice you when I walked in, even though I saw a poker game going on. I should’ve known if there was a high stakes game going on, you’d be in it.”
Sloan looked down at the man and then he recognized him. “Jack Stone?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Remember? You took all my money in that high stakes game over in Dodge City last year. You shot a friend of mine a few months after that. I didn’t have a problem with you taking my money but killing my friend, well, that wasn’t right.”
“You know, now that you mention it, I do remember killing a man a few months after that big game in Dodge City. It was in some small town, I don’t even remember the name of the town, but I do remember why I killed him. He called me a cheat and then he drew on me. He shouldn’t have done either of the two. Now, do you still have a problem with that?”
Jack Stone took another shot of whiskey and sat his shot glass down ever so gently and then looked up at Sloan. “I guess I do.”
“Well, if we’re going to settle a problem,