That was hack in the winter of 1849—or maybe it was
the spring of the’ 50s—I don’t remember exactly, but what makes me think it was
one or the other of those times is that the big flume wasn’t finished when he
first came to Angel’s Camp. But anyway, he was the most curious man you ever saw
about betting. 1 . It didn’t matter
which side he was on, as long as he could bet if he had a bet on with a person,
he was happy; if he didn’t, he wasn’t satisfied until he did. 2 . He almost always won his bets, even when he
had changed sides on a bet. He was always waiting and ready for someone to come
along so he could offer him some sort of bet if there was a horse race, he’d bet
all he had, and at the end of it he’d either be broke or he’d have a lot of
money. If there was a dog fight, he’d bet on it; if there was a cat fight, he’d
bet on it; if there was a chicken fight, he’d bet on it;
3 . Even if he saw a little bug on the ground walking along
somewhere, he’d bet you how long it would take the bug to get there (wherever it
was the bug was going), and then he’d follow that bug all day to see if he won.
Lots of people are still here who remember Jim. They’ll tell you what he was
like. 4 . One time the preacher’s wife
was sick and we all thought she was going to die. A few days later, the preacher
came out and told us how the Lord had smiled on his good wife and that she was
going to live. 5 .
Smiley owned a horse while he was here. We used to kid Jim and call her the
fifteen-minute nag because she was so slow, but actually she wasn’t too slow, we
just liked to kid Jim. He used to win money betting on her.
6 . The other horses would always catch up and pass her,
but then near the end of the race, she’d get all excited and desperate and start
running faster. 7 , but somehow she
would pull all of her strength together at the very end and she almost always
won by a nose. A. It never made a bit of difference to him—he’d
bet on anything B. He would bet on anything and everything he
could, and if he couldn’t get anyone to bet on the other side, then he’d change
sides C. why, if there were two birds sitting on a fence, he’d
bet you which one would fly first D. She looked as if she were
going to fail clown with her crazy legs going in all directions and with her
coughing and sneezing and almost falling over E. The dog had to
fight another dogs, as usual, but this time the other dog had no hind
legs F. She was sick a lot, so in races the others used to give
her a few hundred yards’ head start G. Smiley offered to bet
him a dollar that she wouldn’t H. And the interesting thing is
that he was pretty lucky I. But when the time came to fight
another dog, Jim’s pup was another dog