game of his antagonist, Ben raised his foot and gave him a kick which doubled him up in a sort of pretzel-shaped bow-knot. He rolled about on the stage like a kangaroo suffering from the colic, while his backers shouted and swore, and the crowd yelled itself hoarse. In the midst of this general hubbub, “The Sailor Boy” quietly slipped out of the hall.

Thus ended Ben Hogan’s first public sparring match. It came precious near ending the fellow who fought against him, and it is safe to assume that he never kicked a man after that without first looking to see whether he wore brogans.

THE PIRATE “SPHINX” CAPTURING A RICH TREASURE.

CHAPTER II.

A Remarkable Game of Poker and What Came of it—Ben as a Pirate—Fast Life in New York—How he gave a Combination Show in Oswego.

After remaining in New York for a short time, Hogan returned to Syracuse, where he opened a boxing-room. His rates for instruction were certainly low enough, the price for a lesson being fixed at three cents. He became a member of Hose Company No. 4, and was well known throughout the city as a boy who could use his fists to good advantage.

Syracuse, however, did not ofter attractions enough to keep our hero long within its borders. He struck out again for himself, and drifted to the West, where occurred an incident of tragic interest.

By a stroke of remarkable luck, Ben had invested five dollars in a St. Louis lottery—which city he had reached in the course of his wanderings—and the number which he bought drew a prize of seven hundred and fifty dollars. With this money in his pocket, Ben determined to visit New Orleans. On the trip down the Mississippi he fell in with a party of professional gamblers, who used to infest the boats in those days.

Although Ben, as we know, had already knocked about the world a good deal, he was comparatively ignorant of cards. Draw-poker, which was the great game on Mississippi steamers, he knew little about. He had played it once or twice, and learned to hold a pair or flush when he got them; but the intricate points of the science he had not mastered. This explanation is necessary that the reader may understand what follows. The gamblers in question succeeded in persuading Ben to sit down to a quiet little game. He alternately won and lost for some time, when one of the players dealt him four aces. Of course Ben went his last dollar on this hand. The money was promptly covered by one of the sharpers, and at last the call was made.

“I’ve got four aces!” exclaimed Ben, showing his hand, and making a move as if to take in the money.

“One minute!” said the gambler. “I beat your four aces. I have got five jacks!”

Ben looked a little dazed.

“The money is certainly his,” said one of the cappers, who had led Ben into the game.

“But I thought,” stammered Ben, “I thought four aces beat anything in the pack.”

“So they do,” replied the oily-tongued sharper; “anything except five of a kind. Of course five jacks are better than four aces. There’s no question about that. And of course the money is mine!”

Saying this, he raked in Ben’s seven hundred dollars, leaving the young fellow without a cent.

Hogan couldn’t exactly get it through his head how he could have lost the money with four aces; but, as explained above, he was too ignorant of the game to detect the swindle.

He went to the captain, hoping to get some explanation, but that functionary declined to listen to his story. He said he must settle his gambling disputes as best he could.

Then he went back to the sharpers, and begged them to let him have twenty-five or thirty dollars, as he had lost every penny; but they refused to give up a dollar.

Ben was dazed and half-maddened by his loss. Finally he told the gamblers that he would find somebody else on the boat to be fleeced, providing they would give him a percentage of the spoils. This they readily agreed to do, and so Ben went up on to the hurricane deck in search of a victim.

There he fell in with rather of a green merchant, who soon revealed to him the fact that he had between fifteen and sixteen hundred dollars about his person. Ben invited him down to play. As they were passing through the gangway, a sudden impulse seized Hogan to possess himself of this stranger’s money at any hazard. The gangway was open at either end, and as they were passing close to the unguarded space, Ben pretended to trip, falling against the stranger and knocking him overboard; but he immediately shouted and jumped into the water, with a view to save the unfortunate fellow.

It may not be wise to enter into these details too fully; but it may be said that the merchant struggled to the surface alive. Furthermore, when Ben was dragged on board the boat, he had not about him the fifteen hundred and odd dollars which had previously belonged to the stranger. It is a wonder that the latter was not swallowed by an alligator. But how the money was allowed to rest in his pocket must remain a mystery.

Hogan continued his trip to New Orleans, but did not engage in any more draw-poker with the gentlemen who were accustomed to hold five jacks. If the money had come to him in a doubtful manner, it went in the same way. He drifted about for a few weeks, and finally brought up in Charleston without a dollar.

Now comes a period in his career which for wild adventure and hairbreadth escapes surpasses any romance. Finding himself in Charleston with no money and nothing to do, he determined to “make a raise” in some manner, whatever it might be. Money was his god, and he was prepared to lay burnt offerings or any other kind of offerings upon the altar. The opportunity came to him in a remarkable way.

Late one night Ben was sitting in a saloon near the docks when a black-haired, savage-faced man entered the place, and, taking three fingers of brandy straight, sat down near our hero. After eyeing him intently for a few minutes, he said:

“Would you like a job?”

“I should like nothing better,” answered Ben.

The man dropped his voice to a whisper.

“Are you particular about the kind of work?”

“I am ready for anything,” answered our hero.

The stranger cast a look about the room to see that nobody was watching them, and then bending down, said. “I am a pirate!”

The announcement did not in the least disconcert Ben. On the contrary, he expressed his perfect willingness to join the black craft, and on the day following he sailed out of Charleston on board the “Sphinx.” It is, perhaps, unnecessary to explain that the real name of this ship is not given. In this narrative, however, “Sphinx” will serve as well as any other word to designate the craft.

During the six months that Ben Hogan sailed under the flag of the skull and cross-bones he encountered adventures enough to fill a larger volume than this. As he has since described it, he lost all semblance to humanity, and became more like a wild beast than a man. Among the rich booty which the “Sphinx” succeeded in capturing was a ship returning from the Bahama Islands with a chest of gold and jewels valued at two hundred thousand dollars. After this prize had been securely stored away in the “Sphinx” a quarrel arose as to the distribution of the treasure. The pirate captain refused to share with the men on equal terms. Ben, although the