Shorty Dreams

by Jack London

I."Funny you don't gamble none," Shorty said to Smoke one night in theElkhorn. "Ain't it in your blood?""It is," Smoke answered. "But the statistics are in my head. Ilike an even break for my money."All about them, in the huge bar-room, arose the click and rattle andrumble of a dozen games, at which fur-clad, moccasined men triedtheir luck. Smoke waved his hand to include them all."Look at them," he said. "It's cold mathematics that they will losemore than they win to-night, that the big proportion is losing rightnow.""You're sure strong on figgers," Shorty murmured admiringly. "An'in the main you're right. But they's such a thing as facts. An'one fact is streaks of luck. They's times when every geezer playin'wins, as I know, for I've sat in in such games an' saw more'n onebank busted. The only way to win at gamblin' is wait for a hunchthat you've got a lucky streak comin' and then to play it to theroof.""It sounds simple," Smoke criticized. "So simple I can't see howmen can lose.""The trouble is," Shorty admitted, "that most men gets fooled ontheir hunches. On occasion I sure get fooled on mine. The thing isto try, an' find out."Smoke shook his head."That's a statistic, too, Shorty. Most men prove wrong on theirhunches.""But don't you ever get one of them streaky feelin's that all yougot to do is put your money down an' pick a winner?"Smoke laughed."I'm too scared of the percentage against me. But I'll tell youwhat, Shorty. I'll throw a dollar on the 'high card' right now andsee if it will buy us a drink."Smoke was edging his way in to the faro table, when Shorty caughthis arm."Hold on. I'm gettin' one of them hunches now. You put that dollaron roulette."They went over to a roulette table near the bar."Wait till I give the word," Shorty counselled."What number?" Smoke asked."Pick it yourself. But wait till I say let her go.""You don't mean to say I've got an even chance on that table?" Smokeargued."As good as the next geezers.""But not as good as the bank's.""Wait and see," Shorty urged. "Now! Let her go!"The game-keeper had just sent the little ivory ball whirling aroundthe smooth rim above the revolving, many-slotted wheel. Smoke, atthe lower end of the table, reached over a player, and blindlytossed the dollar. It slid along the smooth, green cloth andstopped fairly in the centre of '34.'The ball came to rest, and the game-keeper announced, "Thirty-fourwins!" He swept the table, and alongside of Smoke's dollar, stackedthirty-five dollars. Smoke drew the money in, and Shorty slappedhim on the shoulder."Now, that was the real goods of a hunch, Smoke! How'd I know it?There's no tellin'. I just knew you'd win. Why, if that dollar ofyourn'd fell on any other number it'd won just the same. When thehunch is right, you just can't help winnin'.""Suppose it had come 'double nought'?" Smoke queried, as they madetheir way to the bar."Then your dollar'd ben on 'double nought,'" was Shorty's answer."They's no gettin' away from it. A hunch is a hunch. Here's how.Come on back to the table. I got a hunch, after pickin' you for awinner, that I can pick some few numbers myself.""Are you playing a system?" Smoke asked, at the end of ten minutes,when his partner had dropped a hundred dollars.Shorty shook his head indignantly, as he spread his chips out in thevicinities of '3,' '11,' and '17,' and tossed a spare chip on the'green.'"Hell is sure cluttered with geezers that played systems," heexposited, as the keeper raked the table.From idly watching, Smoke became fascinated, following closely everydetail of the game from the whirling of the ball to the making andthe paying of the bets. He made no plays, however, merelycontenting himself with looking on. Yet so interested was he, thatShorty, announcing that he had had enough, with difficulty drewSmoke away from the table. The game-keeper returned Shorty the goldsack he had deposited as a credential for playing, and with it wenta slip of paper on which was scribbled, "Out . . . 350 dollars."Shorty carried the sack and the paper across the room and handedthem to the weigher, who sat behind a large pair of gold-scales.Out of Shorty's sack he weighed 350 dollars, which he poured intothe coffer of the house."That hunch of yours was another one of those statistics," Smokejeered."I had to play it, didn't I, in order to find out?" Shorty retorted."I reckon I was crowdin' some just on account of tryin' to convinceyou they's such a thing as hunches.""Never mind, Shorty," Smoke laughed. "I've got a hunch right now--"Shorty's eyes sparkled as he cried eagerly: "What is it? Kick inan' play it pronto.""It's not that kind, Shorty. Now, what I've got is a hunch thatsome day I'll work out a system that will beat the spots off thattable.""System!" Shorty groaned, then surveyed his partner with a vastpity. "Smoke, listen to your side-kicker an' leave system alone.Systems is sure losers. They ain't no hunches in systems.""That's why I like them," Smoke answered. "A system is statistical.When you get the right system you can't lose, and that's thedifference between it and a hunch. You never know when the righthunch is going wrong.""But I know a lot of systems that went wrong, an' I never seen asystem win." Shorty paused and sighed. "Look here, Smoke, ifyou're gettin' cracked on systems this ain't no place for you, an'it's about time we hit the trail again."II.During the several following weeks, the two partners played at crosspurposes. Smoke was bent on spending his time watching the roulettegame in the Elkhorn, while Shorty was equally bent on travellingtrail. At last Smoke put his foot down when a stampede was proposedfor two hundred miles down the Yukon."Look here, Shorty," he said, "I'm not going. That trip will taketen days, and before that time I hope to have my system in properworking order. I could almost win with it now. What are youdragging me around the country this way for anyway?""Smoke, I got to take care of you," was Shorty's reply. "You'regetting nutty. I'd drag you stampedin' to Jericho or the North Poleif I could keep you away from that table.""It's all right, Shorty. But just remember I've reached full man-grown, meat-eating size. The only dragging you'll do, will bedragging home the dust I'm going to win with that system of mine,and you'll most likely have to do it with a dog-team."Shorty's response was a groan."And I don't want you to be bucking any games on your own," Smokewent on. "We're going to divide the winnings, and I'll need all ourmoney to get started. That system's young yet, and it's liable totrip me for a few falls before I get it lined up."III.At last, after long hours and days spent at watching the table, thenight came when Smoke proclaimed he was ready, and Shorty, glum andpessimistic, with all the seeming of one attending a funeral,accompanied his partner to the Elkhorn. Smoke bought a stack ofchips and stationed himself at the game-keeper's end of the table.Again and again the ball was whirled and the other players won orlost, but Smoke did not venture a chip. Shorty waxed impatient."Buck in, buck in," he urged. "Let's get this funeral over. What'sthe matter? Got cold feet?"Smoke shook his head and waited. A dozen plays went by, and then,suddenly, he placed ten one-dollar chips on '26.' The number won,and the keeper paid Smoke three hundred and fifty dollars. A dozenplays went by, twenty plays, and thirty, when Smoke placed tendollars on '32.' Again he received three hundred and fifty dollars."It's a hunch." Shorty whispered vociferously in his ear. "Rideit! Ride it!"Half an hour went by, during which Smoke was inactive, then heplaced ten dollars on '34' and won."A hunch!" Shorty whispered."Nothing of the sort," Smoke whispered back. "It's the system.Isn't she a dandy?""You can't tell me," Shorty contended. "Hunches comes in mightyfunny ways. You might think it's a system, but it ain't. Systemsis impossible. They can't happen. It's a sure hunch you'replayin'."Smoke now altered his play. He bet more frequently, with singlechips, scattered here and there, and he lost more often than he won."Quit it," Shorty advised. "Cash in. You've rung the bull's eyethree times, an' you're ahead a thousand. You can't keep it up."At this moment the ball started whirling, and Smoke dropped tenchips on '26.' The ball fell into the slot of '26,' and the keeperagain paid him three hundred and fifty dollars. "If you're plumcrazy an' got the immortal cinch, bet'm the limit," Shorty said."Put down twenty-five next time."A quarter of an hour passed, during which Smoke won and lost onsmall scattering bets. Then, with the abruptness that characterizedhis big betting, he placed twenty-five dollars on the 'doublenought,' and the keeper paid him eight hundred and seventy-fivedollars."Wake me up, Smoke, I'm dreamin'," Shorty moaned.Smoke smiled, consulted his note-book, and became absorbed incalculation. He continually drew the note-book from his pocket, andfrom time to time jotted down figures.A crowd had packed densely around the table, while the playersthemselves were attempting to cover the same numbers he covered. Itwas then that a change came over his play. Ten times in successionhe placed ten dollars on '18' and lost. At this stage he wasdeserted by the hardiest. He changed his number and won anotherthree hundred and fifty dollars. Immediately the players were backwith him, deserting again after a series of losing bets."Quit it, Smoke, quit it," Shorty advised. "The longest string ofhunches is only so long, an' your string's finished. No morebull's-eyes for you.""I'm going to ring her once again before I cash in," Smoke answered.For a few minutes, with varying luck, he played scattering chipsover the table, and then dropped twenty-five dollars on the 'doublenought.'"I'll take my slip now," he said to the dealer, as he won."Oh, you don't need to show it to me," Shorty said, as they walkedto the weigher. "I ben keepin' track. You're something likethirty-six hundred to the good. How near am I?""Thirty-six-thirty," Smoke replied. "And now you've got to pack thedust home. That was the agreement."IV."Don't crowd your luck," Shorty pleaded with Smoke, the next night,in the cabin, as he evidenced preparations to return to the Elkhorn."You played a mighty long string of hunches, but you played it out.If you go back you'll sure drop all your winnings.""But I tell you it isn't hunches, Shorty. It's statistics. It's asystem. It can't lose.""System be damned. They ain't no such a thing as system. I madeseventeen straight passes at a crap table once. Was it system?Nope. It was fool luck, only I had cold feet an' didn't dast let itride. It it'd rid, instead of me drawin' down after the third pass,I'd a won over thirty thousan' on the original two-bit piece.""Just the same, Shorty, this is a real system.""Huh! You got to show me.""I did show you. Come on with me now and I'll show you again."When they entered the Elkhorn, all eyes centred on Smoke, and thoseabout the table made way for him as he took up his old place at thekeeper's end. His play was quite unlike that of the previous night.In the course of an hour and a half he made only four bets, but eachbet was for twenty-five dollars, and each bet won. He cashed inthirty-five hundred dollars, and Shorty carried the dust home to thecabin."Now's the time to jump the game," Shorty advised, as he sat on theedge of his bunk and took off his moccasins. "You're seven thousan'ahead. A man's a fool that'd crowd his luck harder.""Shorty, a man would be a blithering lunatic if he didn't keep onbacking a winning system like mine.""Smoke, you're a sure bright boy. You're college-learnt. You knowmore'n a minute than I could know in forty thousan' years. But justthe same you're dead wrong when you call your luck a system. I'veben around some, an' seen a few, an' I tell you straight an'confidential an' all-assurin', a system to beat a bankin' game ain'tpossible.""But I'm showing you this one. It's a pipe.""No, you're not, Smoke. It's a pipe-dream. I'm asleep. Bime byI'll wake up, an' build the fire, an' start breakfast.""Well, my unbelieving friend, there's the dust. Heft it."So saying, Smoke tossed the bulging gold-sack upon his partner'sknees. It weighed thirty-five pounds, and Shorty was fully aware ofthe crush of its impact on his flesh."It's real," Smoke hammered his point home."Huh! I've saw some mighty real dreams in my time. In a dream allthings is possible. In real life a system ain't possible. Now, Iain't never ben to college, but I'm plum justified in sizin' up thisgamblin' orgy of ourn as a sure enough dream.""Hamilton's 'Law of Parsimony,'" Smoke laughed."I ain't never heard of the geezer, but his dope's sure right. I'mdreamin', Smoke, an' you're just snoopin' around in my dream an'tormentin' me with system. If you love me, if you sure do love me,you'll just yell, 'Shorty! Wake up!' An' I'll wake up an' startbreakfast."V.The third night of play, as Smoke laid his first bet, the game-keeper shoved fifteen dollars back to him."Ten's all you can play," he said. "The limit's come down.""Gettin' picayune," Shorty sneered."No one has to play at this table that don't want to," the keeperretorted. "And I'm willing to say straight out in meeting that we'dsooner your pardner didn't play at our table.""Scared of his system, eh?" Shorty challenged, as the keeper paidover three hundred and fifty dollars."I ain't saying I believe in system, because I don't. There neverwas a system that'd beat roulette or any percentage game. But justthe same I've seen some queer strings of luck, and I ain't going tolet this bank go bust if I can help it.""Cold feet.""Gambling is just as much business, my friend, as any otherbusiness. We ain't philanthropists."Night by night, Smoke continued to win. His method of play varied.Expert after expert, in the jam about the table, scribbled down hisbets and numbers in vain attempts to work out his system. Theycomplained of their inability to get a clew to start with, and sworethat it was pure luck, though the most colossal streak of it theyhad ever seen.It was Smoke's varied play that obfuscated them. Sometimes,consulting his note-book or engaging in long calculations, an hourelapsed without his staking a chip. At other times he would winthree limit-bets and clean up a thousand dollars and odd in five orten minutes. At still other times, his tactics would be to scattersingle chips prodigally and amazingly over the table. This wouldcontinue for from ten to thirty minutes of play, when, abruptly, asthe ball whirled through the last few of its circles, he would playthe limit on column, colour, and number, and win all three. Once,to complete confusion in the minds of those that strove to divinehis secret, he lost forty straight bets, each at the limit. Buteach night, play no matter how diversely, Shorty carried homethirty-five hundred dollars for him."It ain't no system," Shorty expounded at one of their bed-goingdiscussions. "I follow you, an' follow you, but they ain't nofiggerin' it out. You never play twice the same. All you do ispick winners when you want to, an' when you don't want to, you juston purpose don't.""Maybe you're nearer right than you think, Shorty. I've just got topick losers sometimes. It's part of the system.""System--hell! I've talked with every gambler in town, an' the lastone is agreed they ain't no such thing as system.""Yet I'm showing them one all the time.""Look here, Smoke." Shorty paused over the candle, in the act ofblowing it out. "I'm real irritated. Maybe you think this is acandle. It ain't. An' this ain't me neither. I'm out on trailsomewheres, in my blankets, lyin' on my back with my mouth open, an'dreamin' all this. That ain't you talkin', any more than thiscandle is a candle.""It's funny, how I happen to be dreaming along with you then," Smokepersisted."No, it ain't. You're part of my dream, that's all. I've hearnmany a man talk in my dreams. I want to tell you one thing, Smoke.I'm gettin' mangy an' mad. If this here dream keeps up much moreI'm goin' to bite my veins an' howl."VI.On the sixth night of play at the Elkhorn, the limit was reduced tofive dollars."It's all right," Smoke assured the game-keeper. "I want thirty-five hundred to-night, as usual, and you only compel me to playlonger. I've got to pick twice as many winners, that's all.""Why don't you buck somebody else's table?" the keeper demandedwrathfully."Because I like this one." Smoke glanced over to the roaring stoveonly a few feet away. "Besides, there are no draughts here, and itis warm and comfortable."On the ninth night, when Shorty had carried the dust home, he had afit."I quit, Smoke, I quit," he began. "I know when I got enough. Iain't dreamin'. I'm wide awake. A system can't be, but you got onejust the same. There's nothin' in the rule o' three. The almanac'sclean out. The world's gone smash. There's nothin' regular an'uniform no more. The multiplication table's gone loco. Two iseight, nine is eleven, and two-times-six is eight hundred an' forty-six--an'--an' a half. Anything is everything, an' nothing's all,an' twice all is cold cream, milk-shakes, an' calico horses. You'vegot a system. Figgers beat the figgerin'. What ain't is, an' whatisn't has to be. The sun rises in the west, the moon's a paystreak,the stars is canned corn-beef, scurvy's the blessin' of God, himthat dies kicks again, rocks floats, water's gas, I ain't me, you'resomebody else, an' mebbe we're twins if we ain't hashed-brownpotatoes fried in verdigris. Wake me up! Somebody! Oh! Wake meup!"VII.The next morning a visitor came to the cabin. Smoke knew him,Harvey Moran, the owner of all the games in the Tivoli. There was anote of appeal in his deep gruff voice as he plunged into hisbusiness."It's like this, Smoke," he began. "You've got us all guessing.I'm representing nine other game-owners and myself from all thesaloons in town. We don't understand. We know that no system everworked against roulette. All the mathematic sharps in the collegeshave told us gamblers the same thing. They say that roulette itselfis the system, the one and only system, and, therefore, that nosystem can beat it, for that would mean arithmetic has gone bug-house."Shorty nodded his head violently."If a system can beat a system, then there's no such thing assystem," the gambler went on. "In such a case anything could bepossible--a thing could be in two different places at once, or twothings could be in the same place that's only large enough for oneat the same time.""Well, you've seen me play," Smoke answered defiantly; "and if youthink it's only a string of luck on my part, why worry?""That's the trouble. We can't help worrying. It's a system you'vegot, and all the time we know it can't be. I've watched you fivenights now, and all I can make out is that you favour certainnumbers and keep on winning. Now the ten of us game-owners have gottogether, and we want to make a friendly proposition. We'll put aroulette table in a back room of the Elkhorn, pool the bank againstyou, and have you buck us. It will be all quiet and private. Justyou and Shorty and us. What do you say?""I think it's the other way around," Smoke answered. "It's up toyou to come and see me. I'll be playing in the bar-room of theElkhorn to-night. You can watch me there just as well."VIII.That night, when Smoke took up his customary place at the table, thekeeper shut down the game."The game's closed," he said. "Boss's orders."But the assembled game-owners were not to be balked. In a fewminutes they arranged a pool, each putting in a thousand, and tookover the table."Come on and buck us," Harvey Moran challenged, as the keeper sentthe ball on its first whirl around."Give me the twenty-five limit," Smoke suggested."Sure; go to it."Smoke immediately placed twenty-five chips on the 'double nought,'and won.Moran wiped the sweat from his forehead."Go on," he said. "We got ten thousand in this bank."At the end of an hour and a half, the ten thousand was Smoke's."The bank's bust," the keeper announced."Got enough?" Smoke asked.The game-owners looked at one another. They were awed. They, thefatted proteges of the laws of chance, were undone. They were upagainst one who had more intimate access to those laws, or who hadinvoked higher and undreamed laws."We quit," Moran said. "Ain't that right, Burke?"Big Burke, who owned the games in the M. and G. Saloon, nodded."The impossible has happened," he said. "This Smoke here has got asystem all right. If we let him go on we'll all bust. All I cansee, if we're goin' to keep our tables running, is to cut down thelimit to a dollar, or to ten cents, or a cent. He won't win much ina night with such stakes."All looked at Smoke. He shrugged his shoulders."In that case, gentlemen, I'll have to hire a gang of men to play atall your tables. I can pay them ten dollars for a four-hour shiftand make money.""Then we'll shut down our tables," Big Burke replied. "Unless--"He hesitated and ran his eye over his fellows to see that they werewith him. "Unless you're willing to talk business. What will yousell the system for?""Thirty thousand dollars," Smoke answered. "That's a tax of threethousand apiece."They debated and nodded."And you'll tell us your system?""Surely.""And you'll promise not to play roulette in Dawson ever again?""No, sir," Smoke said positively. "I'll promise not to play thissystem again.""My God!" Moran exploded. "You haven't got other systems, haveyou?""Hold on!" Shorty cried. "I want to talk to my pardner. Come overhere, Smoke, on the side."Smoke followed into a quiet corner of the room, while hundreds ofcurious eyes centred on him and Shorty."Look here, Smoke," Shorty whispered hoarsely. "Mebbe it ain't adream. In which case you're sellin' out almighty cheap. You'vesure got the world by the slack of its pants. They's millions init. Shake it! Shake it hard!""But if it's a dream?" Smoke queried softly."Then, for the sake of the dream an' the love of Mike, stick themgamblers up good and plenty. What's the good of dreamin' if youcan't dream to the real right, dead sure, eternal finish?""Fortunately, this isn't a dream, Shorty.""Then if you sell out for thirty thousan', I'll never forgive you.""When I sell out for thirty thousand, you'll fall on my neck an'wake up to find out that you haven't been dreaming at all. This isno dream, Shorty. In about two minutes you'll see you have beenwide awake all the time. Let me tell you that when I sell out it'sbecause I've got to sell out."Back at the table, Smoke informed the game-owners that his offerstill held. They proffered him their paper to the extent of threethousand each."Hold out for the dust," Shorty cautioned."I was about to intimate that I'd take the money weighed out," Smokesaid.The owner of the Elkhorn cashed their paper, and Shorty tookpossession of the gold-dust."Now, I don't want to wake up," he chortled, as he hefted thevarious sacks. "Toted up, it's a seventy thousan' dream. It's betoo blamed expensive to open my eyes, roll out of the blankets, an'start breakfast.""What's your system?" Big Burke demanded. "We've paid for it, andwe want it."Smoke led the way to the table."Now, gentlemen, bear with me a moment. This isn't an ordinarysystem. It can scarcely be called legitimate, but its one greatvirtue is that it works. I've got my suspicious, but I'm not sayinganything. You watch. Mr Keeper, be ready with the ball. Wait, Iam going to pick '26.' Consider I've bet on it. Be ready, MrKeeper--Now!"The ball whirled around."You observe," Smoke went on, "that '9' was directly opposite."The ball finished in '26.'Big Burke swore deep in his chest, and all waited."For 'double nought' to win, '11' must be opposite. Try it yourselfand see.""But the system?" Moran demanded impatiently. "We know you can pickwinning numbers, and we know what those numbers are; but how do youdo it?""By observed sequences. By accident I chanced twice to notice theball whirled when '9' was opposite. Both times '26' won. Afterthat I saw it happen again. Then I looked for other sequences, andfound them. 'Double nought' opposite fetches '32,' and '11' fetches'double nought.' It doesn't always happen, but it USUALLY happens.You notice, I say 'usually.' As I said before, I have mysuspicions, but I'm not saying anything."Big Burke, with a sudden dawn of comprehension reached over, stoppedthe wheel, and examined it carefully. The heads of the nine othergame-owners bent over and joined in the examination. Big Burkestraightened up and cast a glance at the near-by stove."Hell," he said. "It wasn't any system at all. The table stoodclose to the fire, and the blamed wheel's warped. And we've beenworked to a frazzle. No wonder he liked this table. He couldn'thave bucked for sour apples at any other table."Harvey Moran gave a great sigh of relief and wiped his forehead."Well, anyway," he said, "it's cheap at the price just to find outthat it wasn't a system." His face began to work, and then he brokeinto laughter and slapped Smoke on the shoulder. "Smoke, you had usgoing for a while, and we patting ourselves on the back because youwere letting our tables alone! Say, I've got some real fizz I'llopen if all you'll come over to the Tivoli with me."Later, back in the cabin, Shorty silently overhauled and hefted thevarious bulging gold-sacks. He finally piled them on the table, satdown on the edge of his bunk, and began taking off his moccasins."Seventy thousan'," he calculated. "It weighs three hundred andfifty pounds. And all out of a warped wheel an' a quick eye.Smoke, you eat'm raw, you eat'm alive, you work under water, you'vegiven me the jim-jams; but just the same I know it's a dream. It'sonly in dreams that the good things comes true. I'm almightyunanxious to wake up. I hope I never wake up.""Cheer up," Smoke answered. "You won't. There are a lot ofphilosophy sharps that think men are sleep-walkers. You're in goodcompany."Shorty got up, went to the table, selected the heaviest sack, andcuddled it in his arms as if it were a baby."I may be sleep-walkin'," he said, "but as you say, I'm sure inmighty good company."

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