noon
Rumor had it that he had quit five hundred dollars ahead of the game , and the most conservative estimate could not reduce it more than half . For the first time Camp Almy awoke to the conclusion that an experienced gambler was in their midst -- one who had spared the soldier and his scanty pay that he might feed fat , eventually , on the officer . Rumor had it that Case 's trunk contained a roulette wheel and faro `` layout . '' In fine , long before orderly call at noon , in the whimsical humor of the garrison , he was no longer Case , the bookkeeper , but `` Book , the Case Keeper , '' and every frontiersman , civil or military , in those days knew what that meant . And even as they exalted Case , who toward afternoon had disappeared from public gaze , refusing to be lionized , so would they have abased Willett , who likewise had concealed himself , on the plea of needed sleep , yet had done but little sleeping . Willett was haunted by a memory , and not pleasantly . The fact that he had lost over a month 's pay troubled him less by far than that he had lost repute .